Battle of Stowford

Battle of Stowford
Part of War of the Vionnan Coalition
Date 4th September 1851 Location Stowford, Kingdom of Ballaeter Result Vionna-Frankenlischian strategic victory Tactical stalemate
Belligerents
Vionna-Frankenlisch	Saxondale
Commanders and leaders
Howard Richmond	George II
Units involved
Army of Vionna	Army of Saxondale
Strength
42,000 Men 72 Guns	48,000 Men 42 Guns
Casualties and losses
2,086	3,918

The Battle of Stowford was a major battle of the War of the Vionnan Coalition fought between the Army of Vionna, an Imperial force of 42,000 commanded by Howard Richmond, and the Army of Saxondale, commanded by Duke George Frederick-Augustus and made up of 48,000 men. The Army of Vionna was marching north through Saxondale and met the Saxoner army lightly entrenched on a hill beside the village of Stowford and blocking the main road to Saxondale. In a battle which lasted only three hours the Imperial Army, in an attack led by Lord Francois de Omond's 2nd Reserve Division, pushed the Saxoner army back from Stowford and forced Duke George to retreat.

Background

Following his decisive victory at the Battle of Glaenarm, General Howard Richmond led his army, battered though it was, into the Kingdom of Ballaeter. Here he planned to defeat the Coalition army in detail and knock both Oxbridge and Ballaeter out of the war. This was soon rendered impossible. A master logistician, King Richard of Oxbridge was able to move his forces quickly and retreated back into his own territories. General MacTavish, having realised Richmond's lack of quality artillery and how unsuited his men were to siege warfare, garrisoned the Dermott Line, a ring of strong fortifications which defended the heartlands of Ballaeter including its capital. With his preferred objectives denied to him, Richmond decided to turn his forces to face the Duchy of Saxondale.

With the numerical advantage on his side and, desperate for a victory, Duke George Frederick-August von Saxe-Wettin-Einhalt of Saxondale was himself marching to face Richmond. Both confident of victory, Richmond and Saxe-Wettin-Einhalt met at the border village of Stowford.

Preparations for Battle

Imperial Forces

The Imperial Army came under the command of General Howard Richmond, who had masterminded the defensive victory at Glaenarm. It was divided into two corps and nine divisions.

• I Reserve Corps (Lt. Gen. Jasper Tannenbray, 5 divisions, 22,332 troops)
  • I (Cunard) Reserve Division (Brig. Gen. Quentin Winthrope with 2 brigades)
  • II (Riverland) Reserve Division (Maj. Gen. Lord Francois de Omond with 2 brigades)
  • III (Grythshead) Reserve Division (Maj. Gen. Sir William Turrell with 2 brigades)
  • IV (Cunard) Reserve Division (Maj. Gen. Cornelius Weston with 2 brigades)
  • Earl of Clare's Cavalry Division (Maj. Gen. Lord Vincent de Clare, Earl of Clare with 4 regiments)
• II Reserve Corps (Lt. Gen. Sir George Cosmo Pennington, 4 divisions 20,616 troops)
  • V Reserve Division (Maj. Gen. Archie Ashton with 2 brigades)
  • VI (Riverland) Reserve Division (Maj. Gen. Bartholomew Kaylock with 2 brigades)
  • VII (Colonial) Reserve Division (Maj. Gen. Sir Alden Watson with 2 brigades)
  • VIII (Briceport) Reserve Division (Maj. Gen. Sir Ian Brice with 2 brigades)

The Imperial deployments totalled around 42,000 with 72 artillery pieces available to them. General Richmond arrayed his forces in front of a fordable section of the River Clausach in clear sight. The terrain, hilly as it was, created certain difficulties in the deployment of his artillery and Richmond thus elected to keep his cannon limbered and planned to move them closer.

Saxoner Forces

Saxondale's forces were commanded by their duke, George Frederick-August von Saxe-Wettin-Einhalt, one of the last Germanic nobles in the country. They numbered 48,000 men and 42 artillery pieces. Though they possessed fewer cannon, the Saxoner pieces were larger and better positioned atop a hill. Von Saxe-Wettin-Einhalt's army occupied a central hill and prepared to fight a defensive battle.

Battle

Richmond opened the battle with a steady bombardment by his mortars and howitzers, which had the angle to hit the Saxoner positions. Von Saxe-Wettin-Einhalt did not respond as his guns were not yet set up and he did not wish to waste his limited ammunition. The Duke of Saxondale's army had hastily entrenched at the top of a ridge which commanded the field, the approach to which was a pair of steady slopes with a plateau between them. With no knowledge of the region and worried by the possibility of King Richard of Oxbridge's army marching to Saxondale's reinforcement, General Richmond ordered a frontal assault.

The assault was led by Lord Francois de Omond's 2nd Division and supported by Augustus Pennington's 1st Brigade of the 3rd Division following behind. Eight Saxoner battalions faced Omond's division, seven formed the Saxoner left flank and five their left. The rest of the Saxoner army was kept behind the hill in reserve with at least eight-thousand men under the Duke's personal command, ready to move into a counterattack. A heavy bombardment suppressed the Saxoner earthworks while Omond's forces forded the River Clausach under dogged gunfire. The attack began at 1100 and was resisted with artillery and musketry which killed and wounded four-hundred Imperial troops, including Brigadier General Carlton of the 2nd Division's 1st Brigade. As the division met the Saxoner lines in close combat, a diversionary attack by the 7th Division approached their right flank, preventing their concentrating against Omond's assault on the center.

In the vicious melee, the hardy peasants of the Army of Vionna found themselves beating the inexperienced soldiers of the Saxoner front rows. A colour of the Saxoner 14th Regiment was captured by Brigadier General Wells of the 2nd Brigade of the Imperial 2nd Division. Neither side took heavy casualties but many Saxoner troops were captured and morale plummetted. Colonel Raadler of the 2nd Guards Regiment refused the Duke of Saxondale's orders to lead a counterattack as his men were low on ammunition and he was worried about causing casualties to his own side in the crossfire. Disheartened, the Duke relieved Raadler of his command but could not find another officer to replace him with. With his center collapsing and pressure steadily increasing on his right, Duke George of Saxe-Wettin-Einhalt gave the order to withdraw to avoid the destruction of a significant portion of his army.

The main body of General Richmond's army was still on the close side of the Clausach and could not be brought up fast enough to contest the withdrawal. Lord Omond's division was exhausted and the 7th Division faced trouble navigating the damaged Saxoner earthworks, preventing both from harassing the Saxoner army during its retreat. The Duke of Saxondale was considerably lucky to extract most of his army intact. Fierce rain soon developed and visibility became poor, Richmond encamped his army in and around Stowford to shelter it from the weather. The Saxoner army withdrew in good order but made a navigational mistake on the retreat, heading towards Widnisnor instead of the city of Saxondale.

Aftermath

Imperial casualty returns list 2,086 dead and wounded, including a brigade commander and fifty other officers. Most of these casualties were taken during Lord Omond's assault or by the 7th Division on the left flank. Saxoner artillery, which was heavier than the Imperial guns, caused the majority of casualties. The Saxoner army lost 3,918 killed, wounded and captured, most of these in the melee in the center. Three standards were captured by the Army of Vionna, four howitzers, two regimental colonels and a brigade commander were also taken.

The navigational mistakes made during the Saxoner retreat allowed General Richmond to march on the city of Saxondale in the days following Stowford. The city fell without a fight and the Saxoner government were evacuated to Hardyng. Unable to force an end to the war with Saxondale by capturing the government, Richmond turned around and marched against Widnisnor, facing George II of Saxondale again there.