BATTLE OF CARRION, TURN 25

     The battle continued the other night on Turn 24, which saw building, but minor activity on the Allied right flank.

     Meanwhile, on the Allied left flank, the French 3/36eme Ligne charged the 3/1st Foot and forced them to fall back.  The cavalry melee between the 22eme Dragoons and the 7th Hussars was also resolved, also resulting in a fallback, which led to the entire brigade's morale failing and the remaining units then falling back as well.

     At this point, Moore had had enough.  Although the Merle's Division and Franceschi's cavalry had been roughly handled, the French right flank was unbroken and Soult's Corps remained in control of Carrion.  Under the cover of his reserves, he was able to extricate his army and deftly made his way back to Benevente where Napoleon finally caught up with him.
     Casualties for the battle were as follows:

French

1st Division
-1980 infantry
-45 gunners
-3 guns dismounted

2nd Division
-360 infantry

Franceschi's Cavalry Division
-routed with heavy casualties

TOTAL
-2340 infantry
-1500 cavalry
-135 artillery
-Total = 3985

Allies

1st Division
-2280 infantry

2nd Division
-2160 infantry

Cavalry Division
-600 cavalry

Spanish Division
-300 infantry

TOTAL
-4740 infantry
-600 cavalry
-Total = 5340

This was a much closer battle than may have been portrayed in the posts.  At their zenith, the British had captured half of Carrion and were threatening to crush the French right flank.  Only the critical arrival of Lorge's Dragoon Division and some inopportune morale failures saved Soult from a terrible defeat.  I look forward to running future "what-if" battles based upon real campaigns.

BATTLE OF CARRION, TURN 23

More fighting the other night in our fictitious battle for a small Spanish town in early 1809.  On the Allied right, the French continue to pressure Romana's Division but the latter is shifting cavalry to deal with that problem.

On the French right, the British attack has been slowed as Manningham's Bde has two units out of action and everyone awaits the outcome of the cavalry melee between the French 22nd Dragoons and the British 7th Hussars.

In the centre, the valiant attempt by Baird's Division to take Carrion has collapsed as first one, then two brigades faltered, triggering a division morale check which they also failed and were then forced to fallback from.  The next few turns should tell whether the Allies can recover from these setbacks to get back into the battle.