Previous Chapter - The Spanish Destruction
Louis Alexander Berthier, Napoleon’s Lord Secretary of Army already put himself as the finest military adviser for the Emperor. He had succeed in assisted Napoleon throughout a various successful campaigns –the decisive Napoleon’s invasion of Central Europe that crushed the Prussian and Austrian, rapid victory of Ney’s army against the Ottoman, Moreau’s invasion of Sardinia and Sicily, Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, the invasion of Great Britain by Nicolas Oudinot and recently, Napoleon’s invasion of Iberian Peninsula. But now, he has given a hard task by the Emperor. To break the alliance with the remaining standing nations in the continent, and for him – to invade one nation will bring the other to fight Napoleon together. If the Emperor favours the Confederation to be his first target, its mean the Central Europe will face another brutal battle. In addition, the Batavian Republic will be able to strike at the heart of the Empire; Paris while the Baltic nations – Sweden and Denmark will be able to threat the ill defended Moscow and liberates it.
Berthier then proposed his grand cautious plan to the
Emperor - an impossible plan to mount as the French troops were badly scattered
across the Empire. But, he managed to recalled several veterans generals
together with their army and positioned them at their initial point of invasion.
His plan was to strike the Confederation of Rhine first, then separate – one will
go south to open the Italian front and the other will swing north to open a new
front – Baltic. Plus, the reserve army from Novgorod will standby, shall the
Swedish cross and invade Russia.
Nicolas Oudinot, the architect of the Great Britain’s
destruction will command his seasoned Army Group North towards Hessen Kassel,
then advance towards Munich, the capital of Baden-Wurttemberg. His army will
face a great proportion of the elite Bavarian army. Baden-Wurttemberg is the
strongest nation in the Confederation.
As predicted by Berthier, the invasion scheduled to start on
Early April 1812 will concluded with the Fall of Rome, expected before the end
of the year 1812. Any intervention from the other nation will be a part of an
act of aggression, thus highlighted by Berthier as an act of defending the
Empire not invading them.
On the early part of the invasion, all Army Group managed to
reach their objective. Swiss Confederation, Hessen Kassel and Oldenburg were
all annexed as a part of the Empire. Lucky for the French, there was no intervention
from the other nations at this point. The Dutch, Swedish and Danish remained
neutral while Portuguese start to shown their aggression by mobilize their
troops near the border. Napoleon then mobilizes his elite troops towards
Iberian and fortified Madrid.
One month later, Milan captured by Army Group South.
One of the greatest battle on this campaign happened when
Oudinot’s Army Group Centre encounter the Baden-Wurttemberg army under Prince
Philip II of Stuttgart near the city of Stuttgart.
Philip army outnumbered Oudinot two to one, well equipped
and fortified the city. He chose to defend the city rather than meet Oudinot in
an open battlefield. But, some of the regimental commander of the Bavarian army
lack of discipline often disobeys the order. Philip might face difficulties in
controlling them.
Oudinot then move his elite infantry to lure the Bavarian
infantry out of the city. One of Philip regimental commander want to exploit
the glory of winning the battle then move his regiment of infantry towards the
elite Guards.
Then, they were followed by the other infantry regiment that
advanced without fear towards Oudinot’s centre. The Bavarian elite infantry is
the most courage unit on the battlefield; Napoleon once used them on his
campaign against the Prussian.
Philip motivated by his own ambition to push the invader
from Stuttgart and recapture the capital, Munich, also involved in the charge
of the Bavarian cavalry against Oudinot’s left Guards. This is the largest
cavalry charge in the campaign, a total of seven squadrons of Bavarian cavalry
unit attack the isolated line of the French army.
The Guards is being overwhelmed by the sheer number of
Bavarian cavalry. Oudinot later send two battalions of the Old Guard to
reinforce his left flank. They succeed in throwing back the Bavarian and
repulsed several cavalry charge by Philip.
Oudinot unleashed his cavalry unit by sending them charging
downhill against the unprotected Bavarian infantry. Simultaneously, the
Imperial Guards also pressed the attack at the centre. Stuttgart falls quickly after the battle, thus closing the
central front.
Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg falls after a bitter
siege by the French, with the falls of Mecklenburg – the Confederation of Rhine
was dissolved, thus ended the northern front.
Portugal attacked Napoleon’s detachment at the outskirt of
Madrid and being pushed back – Napoleon then declared war against the
Portuguese, combining his troops with Moreau then succeeded in capturing
Lisbon, the last city on the map of Iberian Peninsula.
Rome finally captured by Duroc only after being blocked by
the French Navy under the command of Admiral Pierre Villeneuve. As predicted by
Berthier, with the Fall of Rome – the campaign concluded on Late November 1812,
a month faster than being expected.
Napoleon with the help of his military adviser managed to
conquer the Central Europe, Italian Chersonese and the Iberian Peninsula. Only
three nations left for Napoleon to complete his conquest – the Dutch, Swedish
and Danish. Fearing that they will be the Emperor’s next target – the leader of
these three nations then waged war against Napoleon, Sweden’s Charles XII has
already deployed his army at the gate of Novgorod with the hope to restore the
Tsar in Russia and assisted Denmark in the defence of Kattegat. Frederick of
Denmark has mobilized his best three generals, fully equipped and well
motivated to recapture Schwerin and combine with the Dutch near Reims.
Generally, what the Coalition of Three Nations trying to do is to capture as
many as French territory they could, and defeat Napoleon’s scattered army then
advance further to liberate the nation occupied by Napoleon in his several
grand campaign.
But, are they able to defeat the Napoleon, The Conqueror of
Europe?
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