Battle of Nieuwesel
| Battle of Nieuwesel | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of War of Restoration | |||||||
 A painting of Prince Frederick of Wolfswood with his staff during the battle. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Imperial Wolfswood |
 Marienberg | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Duke of Katzer |
Emilio Badaro (POW) | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
|
Army of East Wolfswood |
First Infantry Brigade | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
150,000 |
7,500 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 38,000 | 320,000 | ||||||
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The Battle of Nieuwesel was a large engagement, often described as the decisive battle of the Vionna-Frankenlischian War of Restoration. It was fought between the 16th and 22nd of March 1980 by Royalist and Wolfswood forces under the overall command of Edward, Earl of Westonland and forces of the Socialist Vionna-Frankenlischian government commanded by General James Trevelyan. In a six-day running battle, Wolfswooder troops repelled constant attacks by Trevelyan's First Army Group and allowed the Earl of Westonland's royalists to accomplish an impressive encircling action which led to the destruction of a huge portion of the Vionna-Frankenlischian Red Army.
Uprisings in the south of Vionna-Frankenlisch had met little success in the face of determined government opposition, most notably at the disastrous Battle of Ershein. The Earl of Westonland, who led the uprisings, narrowly escaped capture and fled north to where the Royalist cause was seeing more success. In Berchtesland, Lopenfort, and Middlebrooke, strong cadres of rebel Royalists had risen and seized government garrisons and the Earl of Westonland arrived to take command. The First Army Group of the Red Army, representing the largest field formation of that army, was stacked up against the eastern border with Wolfswood and recieved the instruction on 14th March to invade before the Prince of Wolfswood could come to the Royalists' aid.
The main field army of Imperial Wolfswood was the Army of East Wolfswood and, headquartered at the village of Nieuwesel, it was well-entrenched and prepared for a Vionna-Frankenlischian offensive. When General James Trevelyan's First Army Group began its offensive on the 16th of March, it found itself resisted stiffly and suddenly taken in flank by the Royalist Army of the North, an irregular formation of 120,000 rebels under the Earl of Westonland. Over the course of six days, the First Army Group was steadily encircled and cut to pieces. In a decisive defeat-in-detail, the Red Army lost 320,000 men killed and captured along with substansial amounts of war equipment. The defeat was softened only slightly by the sucessful break-out of the 40,000 men of 4th Red Army Corps by General Sergey Howell, son of the Vionna-Frankenlischian chairman.
Background
Main article: Vionna-Frankenlischian War of Restoration
Since the overthrow of the Vionna-Frankenlischian monarchy at the end of the Imperial Civil War, the country had been ruled by a Socialist-led totalitarian government under the official leadership of Marshal Howell and under the de-facto leadership of several powerful government figures - notably Anna Tredinik and John Andreson. Much of the old aristocracy and royal family had escaped into exile in other parts of the region: mostly the loyal parts of the Frankenlischian Empire such as Gallandia and Espicuta - though the official Imperial Government-in-Exile was hosted in Balion. Since the formation of the Democratic People's Republic of Vionna-Frankenlisch in 1967, a War of Resistance had been waged throughout the nation. Border conflicts between the DPRVF and Imperial Wolfswood, which remained loyal to the old monarchy, were also common.
A large-scale uprising did not begin until the 1st of March 1980 when anti-government forces under Prince Edward, the Earl of Westonland, rose up across Frankenlisch and eastern Vionna. Following the opening Battle of Orrinshire, a surprise victory for the rebels, anti-government forces in the south were merged into the Royal and Imperial Army of Larkinge and Harrington. Government opposition strengthened immediately, however, and the RIALH was defeated heavily at the Battle of Ershein and lost thirty-thousand men. The Earl of Westonland fled north with a personal bodyguard of 300 cavalry, all knights or nobles. While the remains of the royalist forces in the south harassed and distracted the Red Army's forces in the region, the Earl of Westonland took command of the Royalist Army of the North and combined the 120,000 men of that unit at Middlebrooke-upon-Sea.
Authorisation to invade Imperial Wolfswood reached the headquarters of the Red Army's First Army Group at midday on 14th March. Marshal Howell's government, correctly assuming that the Prince of Wolfswood planned to come to the aid of the rebels, attempted a pre-emptive strike across the border to destroy the Army of East Wolfswood and force Wolfswooder neutrality in the conflict. To the commander of the Army of East Wolfswood, the Duke of Katzer, Prince Edward sent a message asking to combine forces. The Duke of Katzer replied sarcastically that the 400,000 men between them represented something of an obstacle.
Opposing Forces
Royalist
The Earl of Westonland's 120,000 troops were organised into the Royalist Army of the North, an irregular formation of 10 divisions. Following the initial uprisings in Berchtesland, Lopenfort, Middlebrooke, Glynmoran, and Caerayereth, the Royalist Army of the North had been thrown together over the course of two weeks. Officially, it was under the command of the Earl of Darlington who was a veteran commander of the 1966-67 Civil War, the Gallandic Civil War and had served as a Uli-Schwyz mercenary from 1977 to February 1980. However, the Earl of Westonland was in overall command of the Royalist forces and, though a less experienced commander, was an intelligent and well-liked leader.
The vast majority of the Royalist forces were untrained rebels, mostly peasants, they were well-armed after plundering government garrisons but had to carry all of their equipment and supplies with them due to a lack of transport. A small portion of the Earl of Westonland's command were former royalist soldiers having returned from exile and these formed the base for his best troops: the Imperial Division. Also making up this division were foreign mercenaries, loyalists from the Empire and a small cadre of partisans from the Frankenlischian Highlands who had been training in secret and raiding government forces for several years prior to the uprising. All-told, the Royalists had available to them a highly-motivated light force with excellent knowledge of the local geography and vast stocks of government equipment. They were, however, badly-organised and mostly untrained.
Royalist commanders were mostly noble exiles. Besides the Earl of Westonland in overall command and the Earl of Darlington in official command of the Royalist Army of the North, the Royalists had several other seasoned commanders including: General Charles Woodhouse, later an Earl and a decorated hero of the Prodavan War, and the Duke of Gestoria.
Wolfswooder
On the border between Wolfswood and the Vionna-Frankenlischian counties of Middlebrooke and Hackett, the main Wolfswooder field army was drawn up in entrenched positions. This field army was the Duke of Katzer's Army of East Wolfswood. Under the Duke of Katzer's command was the AEW's 150,000 soldiers organised into 6 corps. Though outnumbered over 2:1 by the Red Army forces ranged against them, on paper, the Army of East Wolfswood was still an incredibly strong force. The AEW contained 324 guns, mostly 5-inch howitzers and 15-pounder field guns. Wolfswooder troops wore a mixture of grey and blue uniforms depending on regiments.
Wolfswooder troops were well-trained and led by professional officers and NCOs, they were also experienced from years of border conflicts with the DPRVF.
The Army of East Wolfswood was organised as follows:
- 1st Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 28,000 Men - General Martin Tillich
- 2nd Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 28,000 Men - General Rolf Schellscheidt
- 3rd Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 28,000 Men - General Sir Linus von Vogelstein
- Cavalry Corps - Four Divisions of Cavalry - 20,000 Men - General Janus, Margrave of Eisenbirn
- Guards Corps - Two Divisions of Infantry and One of Cavalry - 24,000 Men - General Felix, Margrave of Schärbruck
- Special Corps - Artillery, Engineers and Supply Units - 22,000 Men - General Andrea Schwan
Red Army
The main field army of the Vionnan Red Army was the First Army Group. This force was 400,000 strong and maintained positions along the border with Imperial Wolfswood under the command of General James Trevelyan. This large unit was split into three armies and fourteen corps. Though vastly numerically superior, the VRA was inferior to the Wolfswooder army in terms of equipment, especially heavy guns. Though once posessing a large arsenal of heavy artillery, the VRA had lost much of its material strength in the Gallandic Civil War and production of new pieces had been slow. Nonetheless, Red Army forces at Nieuwesel brought 600 infantry and mountain guns (of 37mm and 76mm respectively) and an artillery brigade equipped with 48 field guns and 24 5-inch howitzers.
Red Army troops were mostly well-trained and led by career officers. Supplies were lacking as a result of the peace between Vionna-Frankenlisch and Wolfswood and there was much confusion around plans and orders, the invasion of Wolfswood having been ordered only two days before it was to be launched. General Trevelyan, though perfectly competent, did not have the time, supplies, or staff to plan a significant offensive and so the battle was to be dictated by improvisation.
The First Army Group was organised as follows:
- First Army - Four Corps - 119,000 Men - General Sergey Howell
- 1st Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Barney Brooks
- 2nd Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Tristan Lawrence
- 3rd Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Lewis West
- 4th Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Lincoln Grey
- 1st Army Cavalry Corps - Five Brigades of Cavalry - 15,000 Men - Corps General Jasper Fisher
- Second Army - Four Corps - 119,000 Men - General Richard Howleth
- 5th Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Winfred Kirby
- 6th Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Geoffrey Cooke
- 7th Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Carl York
- 8th Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Archer Yates
- 2nd Army Cavalry Corps - Five Brigades of Cavalry - 15,000 Men - Corps General Herbert Snyder
- Third Army - Four Corps - 119,000 Men - General Peter Galbraith
- 9th Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Anthony Hill
- 10th Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Garfield Pound
- 11th Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Wilton Pocock
- 12th Army Corps - Three Divisions of Infantry - 26,000 Men - Corps General Brandon Waters
- 3rd Army Cavalry Corps - Five Brigades of Cavalry - 15,000 Men - Corps General Peter Hogarth
- Artillery Division Evans - Twelve Batteries of Artillery - 72 guns - Brigade General Martin Evans
- 1st Army Engineer Corps - Engineers and Tanks - 12,000 Men - Division General Stafford Linden
- First Infantry Brigade (Marienberg Red Army) - 3 Regiments of Infantry - 7,500 Men - Colonel Emilio Badaro