On This Ground is Victory: An Alternate Austerlitz TL

On This Ground is Victory: An Alternate Austerlitz TL

640px-Willewalde_-_Czar%27s_Guard_capture_4th_line_regiment%27s_standard_at_Austerlitz.jpg


Russian cavalry seizing a French standard

8:15 am

"Mikhail get off this damn hill before I have you court martialed!" the Tzar roared.

"I shall leave this ground if you wish, but on this ground is victory!" Kutuzov boldly responded.

"Damn your insolence Mikhail!" Alexander yelled.

"I shall give up this ground to the French if you so command. Allow me to call upon my aide so that the order can be made," Kutuzov bite back.

"Mikhail, you may stay your ground. However if you shall fail then you will court martialed. I swear to God that that tribune you sentence you to death," Alexander responded.

"Of course Tzar," Mikhail told him.

And with that Mikhail Kutuzov had just deterred his Tzar from ordering his men to abandon such an advantageous position as the Pratzen Heights [1]. Less then hour later, 9:07 according to Mikhail's records, the mists of Austerlitz would be broken by the Moravian sun revealing an approaching French contingent [2]. This force was St. Hilare's division and unfortunately for them the mists had lifted less then half of the way through their silent attack. This misfortune was soon taken advantage of by Kutuzov who redirected artillery to batter the Frenchmen. St. Hilare dared to continue his attempt to move the Russians from the Heights. However this daring would mean nothing as his men came under a hail of fire as they clambered up the slopes of Pratzen. It would even less when St. Hilare was shot through by some random Russian soldier. And as delayed detachments of the attack upon the French right joined the fray the situation became even more dire for the French. With much of the division dead or dying one of St. Hilare's commanders ordered the retreat. As Napoleon watched on he grew more and more distraught and his earlier uncertainty returned.

To make matters worse the Russians had managed to organize themselves cohesively and to finally break the French right. The two actions meant that Napoleon's entire army was at stake. Napoleon understanding this ordered a general retreat to the defensive lines at Brunn (Brno). His left and center were able to do so quite efficiently, but his right was still entangled with the Russians. The Tzar was eager to make a large and vicious chase of Emperor Bonaparte. The state of the army, exhausted and ragged, and of his officer's minds, uneager, prevented such an action. Which could considered lucky, because Napoleon's rearguard was well organized and undoubtedly able to throw back such a chase. In meantime the remnants of the right were finally able to disengage from the main Russian assault, but just a mile later they would set upon by the Russian Imperial Guard. This attack by Grand Duke Constantine scattered the troops and broke what remaining military formations there had been. In the meantime the Russian and Austrian armies celebrated their victory over lunch.

[1] In OTL Kutuzov left the Pratzen Heights when Alexander ordered him to. Here he managed to get Alexander to rescind the order.
[2] In OTL the mist lifted up later in the march.
 
Casualties in the end

Allied Army: 11,000 Dead or Wounded; 500 Captured
French Army: 16,000 Dead or Wounded; 5,000 Captured; 38 Standard's lost

Allied Strength is currently around 71,000
French Strength is currently around 45,000
 
Last edited:
How much till the Coalition armies will march in Paris?

While there is still a large French army in Tyrol. And of course there is a large army in France. Not including Napoleon's force there are over 250,000 French soldiers left.

But Prussia is poised to join the war and Charles retains a large Austrian army in Italy and the Russians have many more armies at home.
 
Maybe this battle will teach some humility to Napoleon, and, after (barely) repulsing the enemy armies he will manage to keep the throne there will be a Bonapartist France for a very long time? We will have to wait and see.

good start Robert, but what of the Ladislaus TL?
 
Maybe this battle will teach some humility to Napoleon, and, after (barely) repulsing the enemy armies he will manage to keep the throne there will be a Bonapartist France for a very long time? We will have to wait and see.

good start Robert, but what of the Ladislaus TL?

Updated it yesterday.

Ladislaus is updated every Saturday from now on
Alt Austerlitz is updated every Sunday from now on
 
Battle_of_Austerlitz.jpg


Battle of Brunn

4:47 am

"Emperor! Emperor you must awake!" Savary exclaimed.

"God damn you Rene, how dare you wake me in such a manner! For reasons do you wake me at such a time?!" Napoleon shouted back.

"My Emperor, the northern troops are under attack," Savary replied.

"What? How? What was Murat doing?" Bonaparte angrily responded.

"They got past the sentries I believe," Savary explained.

"What? No! God damn you all! Have the troops been raised?" the Emperor of the French said.

"Yes your majesty. The Grande Armee is at your command." Savary answered.

"Of course it is you idiot. Now out!" Napoleon told him off.

After spending the much of the remaining day resting and reorganizing themselves the Allied army had night marched itself to Brunn (Brno). This of course was against the advice of Kutuzov, who believed the French still too strong. There the French laid in their defensive positions. Yet there a weakness to be found. The line and especially the northern position had been weakened by some Austrian soldiers after the French had left Brunn (Brno). This weakness would be exploited by the Austrians and some Moravian militia rabble. This diversionary attack in the early morn lead to much confusion and misplacement of soldiers. By 5:15 am the French had busied themselves with the small force of Austrians and some French formations were firing eachother. Napoleon himself was only able to bring part of the northern position to order whilst the rest remain in chaos. In the meantime Kutuzov reluctantly but determinedly lead an attack on the southern anchor of the French line. A combination of Russian firepower and Austrian dragoons would cause enough chaos for the Russian infantry to storm the fortification and expose the flank. This did however come at a cost.

Tzar Alexander and Emperor Francis looked into the darkness that laid over the Svratka River. Both of the emperors only saw fiery bursts of action at the opposite ends of the French line. Alexander himself was quite confident of Russia's victory. Francis was not and instead shared the apprehension of Kutuzov. Napoleon the great general found himself at lost. At 6 am he finally brought his northern anchor to order only to discover that his southern anchor was soon to fall. Furiously he organized a counterattack under Soult to retake it leaving the north for Murat to maintain. At around 6:30 when Soult got to the southern end and attempted to throw out Kutuzov. In the bloody engagement that followed both sides would lose ludicrous amounts of soldiers, and in the end the green Russian uniforms would be one of those left standing. One daring Russian commander would then counterattack with one hundred men into the reeling French foe. Though his soldiers and him would quickly be annihilated the same anomaly that occurred in the northern portion of line occurred in the southern one. To make the matters worst Russian green was far closer to French blue even in the morning's twilight.

It was 8:30 am when General Dokhturov finally reached his position to the west of Napoleon's line. At the time of Alexander's sighting of the force in the west he praised the general, but Kutuzov and many others thought it folly for the Dokhturov to be so late. In fact Soult was preparing a second assault on Kutuzov and Lannes was preparing a general counterattack when Dokhturov's division crashed into the French rear. It would be at 9:40 that Napoleon's marshals would declare the need a retreat. Napoleon consented, but not without exclaiming, "My generals are cowards and my soldiers are idiots!". The truth behind his defeat would actually involve the pure exhaustion experienced by his army, the extremely low morale caused by the defeat at Austerlitz and loss of the right flank, the fact that the Brunn (Brno) lines hadn't actually been that while prepared due to Napoleon's eagerness to fight the Allies in pitched battle, the darkness that caused both confusion and fear, and most importantly the failure of one of Murat's lower officers to sufficiently place sentries. Lannes would be the one to redirect his counterattack to the west to make a breakout of the attempted Allied encirclement. Dokhturov would give hell, but his men would also give way and allow for the French to make their retreat westward. This time though General Bagration and Prince Liechtenstein would be able to successfully chase and harry the French retreat whilst Kutuzov regrouped.

Dokhturov's tardiness would cause for a complete victory realized just as it had at Austerlitz. Alexander understood the fact that it long march through the night around the French position, but no excuse to be over 3 hours late to the fight. General Dokhturov would bear the blame for the lack of Napoleon's capture and the escape of the French army. Meanwhile Kutuzov still disliked by the Tzar would only receive a few complaints that day. Bagration would be the one to receive all the praise that day. Yet there still laurels to be claimed. And this victory only added to Alexander's eagerness and managed assuage Emperor Francis' fears. So far December 2 and December 3 were proving to be the two most infamous dates in Napoleon's calender. But there still more days to come filled with all sorts possibilities.
 
Casualties in the end

Allied Army: 12,000 Dead or Wounded; 1,000 Captured; 3 Standard's lost
French Army: 13,000 Dead or Wounded; 2,000 Captured; 4 Standard's lost

Allied Strength is currently around 58,000
French Strength is currently around 30,000
 
Prussia is poised to join the war and Charles is poised to move against Napoleon's Italy. Britain will probably end up sending troops into the lowlands.
 
If Napoleon arrives to disregard his own soldiers and officers, Imperial France will have its days numbered... Need more of this to see how it will end.
 
06-%C3%9Atok-St.Pet%C4%9Brsburgsk%C3%A9ho-%C5%98%C3%A1dov%C3%A9ho-kyrysnick%C3%A9ho-pluku-u-J%C3%ADlov%C3%A9ho-427x500.jpg


The St. Petersburg Dragoons

7:40 am

"Tzar this day I shall give you the ultimate victory," Kutuzov said to his liege.

"If you give me victory I will St. George, but if give Napoleon I will give St. Andrew," Alexander replied.

"Well then, at your command," Kutuzov answered.

"Fire," the Tzar ordered.

Following the miserable Battle of Brunn (Brno) Napoleon and his marshals ran with their exhausted and ragged army. For a week they evaded the Allies. However Napoleon knew his men could not maintain this pace, so he decided to divert Kutuzov's attention. To do this he sent Ney and some cavalry squadrons to raid the recently liberated Vienna. However Kutuzov cared little for Vienna, which he had abandoned earlier in the campaign to Napoleon. This Napoleon would realize this as the ground of Zellerndorf began shake with the stomping of Russian and Austrian feet. The famous Battle of Zellerndorf however would not occur until the next day December 11. Beginning with a short artillery duel the two armies pounded eachother as their infantry grouped up. Once it had been done Napoleon and marshals came to the conclusion that an attack was the best decision. In their eyes at Austerlitz their daring and risky move had failed due to the weather and Brunn (Brno) had been a mishap of all sorts. Believing that their infantry could smash the Russian one like how the right had held against five times its number at Austerlitz the order was made. And so the French began.

Kutuzov, saw no advantage in his position, for the battlefield was a relatively flat plain. And his artillery could support his infantry from afar. He also lacked any sort of strong defensive features. Even with all that in mind Kutuzov was reluctant to order any advance, but Alexander was not. And so the two armies marched straight towards triumph or disaster. At 8:25 the multitude of formations would meet eachother near the middle of the battlefield and begin to fire upon another. Whilst the Allied cavalry collided into the French left. The French response was weak, for the majority of their cavalry and them their best cavalry general were away in Vienna. With an unprecedented cavalry superiority the Russians' right began to crack the French left. Napoleon chose to throw his reserves, which in turn caused Kutuzov to throw in Bagration and those reserves. The battle for that flank became a massive bloodbath as the opposing sides tried to turn another. Then with a resounding boom a French standard fell the French left began to crumble. It appeared that Bagration had taken a cannon up with him and shoved right up into the line before firing a deadily burst of grapeshot. The bloody result of tens of dead and wounded Frenchmen and some Russians and Austrians caused the French left to break under the pressure of so many Russians and Austrians. In own words, "The battle is lost."

Conversely the French commanders in the line thought they were winning. But they didn't a coherent view of the battle, so when they began to push too much one can understand why. With the left broken the Russian right crashed into the French center and began to rip it apart. Whilst the Allied cavalry and reserves decided that there was a much bigger prize at the French camp. Napoleon understood that fact which is why he mounted his horse and began to ride away with some of his horsemen. Had it not been for a lieutenant named Nikolai Razumovsky seeing the imperial banner fleeing out of the corner of his eye Napoleon's escape might have been successful. But As soon as Razumovsky told his commander the Dragoons of St. Petersburg departed from the charge upon the French artillery and went after the usurper. As the Allied cavalry and reserves ravaged the French batteries and the camp in search of the Little Corporal, the St. Peterburgs closed the distance on the Emperor. And no matter how hard the French kicked the Russians got closer and closer. Using their guns the dragoons were able to pick off the French guards until all that was left was the Corsican. Soon after the Emperor of the French found himself surrounded and then captured.

Back at the infantry fight the French center crumbled and the French right noticing that the other flanks were gone and the camp aswell decided to surrender. After hours of battling the Allies had done it, they had crushed the French army once and for all. But where was Napoleon asked Alexander. And that all Kutuzov could answer was that he must of escaped. However while the Russians collected their stolen standards and their dead and wounded the Dragoons of St. Petersburg rode into the Allied camp with their heads held high. The resting soldiers soon saw why as they sighted the little man who was an emperor. Some soldiers were so bold to throw items at him and many more yelled insults at him and praises at the Dragoons in their native tongues. When the St. Petersburgs' colonel waltzed into Alexander's tent the tzar couldn't their lack of formality. But he cared not when Napoleon was pushed in after the colonel. With the greatest prize he could ever hope for he called upon Kutuzov and said to him St. Andrew to yours. The colonel found himself a member of St. George and so did Nikolai. While the rest of the Dragoons found themselves recipients of the Medal of Napoleon along with the Medal of Zellerndork and the Medal of Alexander. Victory was theirs, victory was Europe's.
 
I started reading

I started reading this TL ,thinking to see, from an adverse battle, a development of alternative and credible war, unfortunately not develop that way ...

Although the use of a meteorological element as a secondary and necessary initial pod, should have alerted me, about the nature of this TL: an Allied Wank philo Russian...
 
Top