Battle of Stifforest

Battle of Stifforest
Part of War of the Vionnan Coalition
Date 14th July 1851 Location Stifforest, Saxondale Result Imperial Victory
Belligerents
Vionna-Frankenlisch	Saxondale
Commanders and leaders
Lord Eldham	Freiherr von der Larrenwald
Units involved
I Corps	Army of East Saxondale
Strength
44,000	32,000

The Battle of Stifforest was an engagement of the War of the Vionnan Coalition during Lord Lynwood's Saxondale Campaign. The First Corps of the Imperial Army, under the command of the Viscount Eldham, met with the Freiherr von der Larrenwald and his Army of East Saxondale near the market town of Stifforest on the outskirts of the Larrenwald forest. Lord Eldham's corps achieved a decisive victory over the Saxoners and sent them tumbling back towards the fortress town of Hardyng, defeating them again two weeks later at the Battle of Warner's Stream.

Background

Following Imperial victory at Drayglossop, Lord Lynwood's army split to advance on seperate roads. The target of his offensive was Tevetdale, an important city in southern Ballaeter, protected from the north and east by the Dermott Line of fortifications but open to the south where Ballaeter bordered Saxondale. Therefore, with his army energised after their victory at the Siege of Drayglossop, Lynwood planned a swift advance through Saxondale, avoiding fighting where he could, to cross the border at the river town of Market Lundy and strike swiftly at Tevetdale. His belief was that the loss of one of their most important cities would knock Ballaeter out of the war, isolating the Saxoners and forcing them to make peace also.

For the commander of the Imperial First Corps, the Viscount Eldham, Lynwood's plan was sound but he did not appreciate his commander's hopes to avoid battle. Sent along a different road to Second and Third Corps, Lord Eldham purposely failed to keep pace with the main body of the army, in the hopes that Saxoner or Ballaetan forces would engage him. A young general and a glory-seeker, Eldham sought to prove himself for higher command by proving himself as a field commander.

The city of Stockdorf was home to not only an important military arsenal but also home to the Freiherr von Larrenwald's Army of East Saxondale. The Army of East Saxondale was the primary Saxoner field army following the defeat of the Duke of Saxondale's own army at the Battle of Stowford. When it became clear that Lord Lynwood did not plan to attack Stockdorf but rather cross the border, the Freiherr sallied out of Stockdorf, hoping to cut Lynwood's route of advance. Though too late to prevent Lynwood reaching Market Lundy, the Army of East Saxondale was able to manouvre into the path of Lord Eldham's corps and force them to fight outside the town of Stifforest.

Battle

Deployment

The route of Lord Eldham's advance followed a road which bisected the town of Stifforest, a market settlement on the fringes of the great Larrenwald forest with a population of about twenty-five thousand. Stifforest was an important hub for both the agriculture of north-east Saxondale and the forestry industry of the Larrenwald. At the time, the town was in the midst of an economic boom and the local government had invested heavily in its defences. Unfortunately for the Saxoners, the construction efforts were only half finished and the formidable planned defences would not provide any hinderance for some time. The Freiherr von der Larrenwald thus made the decision to draw up to the south of Stifforest and offer battle on the open field.

Lord Eldham himself rode at the head of his corps with his staff. Only a single squadron of dragoons were further forward than the general, their job was simply to keep the road clear and keep an eye out for signs of the enemy. A significant reconaissance force had not been set aside by Lord Eldham as he believed it would harm his chances of bringing his corps into action. Nonetheless, the Saxoner army was strung out in line and deployed batteries in open farmland. The Imperial dragoons could not help but notice their presence long before the arrival of the rest of First Corps. Once Lord Eldham had been made aware, he deployed the entirety of his cavalry in front of the rest of the corps to screen his deployment. First Corps' division of cavalry was the Light Division which was made up of two regiments of dragoons, one of hussars and one of lancers.

The Light Cavalry Division came under heavy artillery fire as it deployed to the fore of the Imperial army but did not sustain heavy casualties. Its own horse artillery battery deployed to provide counterbattery and succeeded in unseating several guns of the Saxoner central battery. Saxoner artillerymen, though skilled, had underestimated the range of the Imperial cavalry and their solid shot failed to bounce, possibly due to soft ground. Under the command of the Duke of Grythshead, the Light Division manouvred excellently to the rear of the army once it had been deployed behind them. Lord Eldham's infantry was deployed in solid blocks of five ranks thick. Due to how large Imperial battalions had become, the old doctrine of fighting in thin lines was no longer practicable and Imperial armies now fought in a similar fashion to many of the other continental powers. To the front was the Imperial First Division and two brigades of the Second Division while the spare brigade (consisting of the 7th and 8th of Foot) and the Third Division were kept back in reserve.

Opposing Armies

Without time to entrench, Von der Larrenwald deployed his batteries in open field with twelve sixteen pounders in three batteries (left, right, and centre). The Army of East Saxondale posessed howitzers bought from Vionna-Frankenlisch before the war but they were not deployed, the Saxoners had limited stocks of ammunition and did not want to waste what few shells they had. Saxoner cavalry was generally of inferior quality to the Imperial cavalry but was far superior in numbers: Von der Larrenwald commanded forty squadrons of horse, fielding a total of six-thousand cavalry. The Light Cavalry Division, in contrast, posessed only twelve squadrons for a total of twenty-five-hundred sabres. Imperial and Saxoner Infantry were generally of similar quality but Vionna-Frankenlisch, thanks to its population, was able to field far more troops in larger units. Requiring more officers, the Imperial troops were often led by brave but aloof and unskilled noblemen. The Saxondale Institute of War produced some of the finest officers of the war and, at least during the early campaigns of the conflict, the Saxoner armies were some of the best led. That said, Imperial generalship was often superior, at least with the benefit of hindsight.

In total, the Saxoner Army numbered 32,000 men and 36 guns. These were organised in three batteries of artillery, forty squadrons of cavalry and sixty-four battalions of infantry. Saxoner battalions were much smaller and more wieldy than their Imperial counterparts, numbering between 300 and 400 men each. As a result, Von der Larrenwald commanded around 23,000 infantry at Stifforrest.

Imperial battalions numbered 1000 men at this point in history and Lord Eldham commanded eighteen plus additional regimental troops, though this amounted to more infantry than the Saxoner army posessed. The Imperial Army deployed twenty guns at Stifforest, eight 8pdr cannons of the Light Division's horse artillery and twelve 6pdr guns of the First Infantry Division. The twelve guns of the other two infantry divisions were not deployed as they were stuck at the rear of First Corps' supply train. Also under Lord Eldham's command was the twelve squadrons of the Light Cavalry Division. In total, First Corps fielded its full strength of 44,000 men.

Opening Moves

The Freiherr von der Larrenwald planned a mostly defensive battle, hoping that he could exhaust the Imperial strength against his lines. Von der Larrenwald correctly estimated the Imperial force as larger than his but could not identify what portion of the Imperial Army he was facing, even with the many standards flown by Lord Eldham's corps.