A Bridgehead Too Far

As planned, the Rebel mercenary general, Ritter Esthvany de Kispilis-Chopak had made a crossing on the Große Grühne near Mathiasbad, and set up a pontoon bridge to carry the rest of his troops across.

As a reminder, he had two battalions of regular foot, a battalion of militia, two companies of Feldjäger and two squadrons of hussars.

To employ this force in the planned activities of "small war", he had counted on Marshall von Leuchtenberg's main force to the north to make a demonstration in force against the Böhnstadter-held Grübsheim stone bridge. However, von Leuchtenberg, as usual, was tardy with the deployment of his troops.

The time gained allowed the Böhnstadt general, Dietrich von Spülge, to gather his reserve and move on the Flossian bridgehead near Mathiasbad, and launch a suprise attack with a well-organized force.

He had with him a battalion of Grenzer, one of fusiliers, one musketeers, two field guns and two squadrons of hussars. The forces were thus evenly matched, but von Spülge had the better deployment, catching the Flossians effectively cut in half by the Grühne, with only the hussars and jäger across the (Böhnstadt-held) right bank.

The Böhnstadt hussars were eager to try their sabers against their Flossian counterpart, but their first charge en masse was repulsed.

The freshly raised fusilier battalion got a taste of combat when they sent the enemy jäger fleeing with a single volley.

The militia column suffered from the Böhnstadt guns firing from the nearby Mühlberg height.

As a response, Kispilis-Chopak quickly sent the two regular btn's over the pontoon bridge. These deployed in line, but took their time, so the advantage lay with the Böhnstadter now.

A series of inconclusive volleys followed, each side waiting for the right opportunity to charge.

The militia battalion finally rallied and clambered up to cross the bridge.

On the right bank, the Böhnstadt musketeers had finally driven their opponents into the river and gained a moment of respite. The fusiliers were less lucky as they routed after a Flossian charge!

The path now was clear for the Flossians to take the enemy guns, and perhaps von Spülge hostage. But the brave Böhnstadt gun crews loaded grape, and delivered lethal short-range fire. The already winded Flossian battalion broke.

The closing accords of the action was another unsuccessful cavalry charge, this time by the Flossian hussars. With most of his infantry in tatters, Ritter de Kispilis-Chopak decided to end hostilities and drew back across the pontoon bridge. This the Böhnstadt guns then destroyed.

Dietrich von Spülge could account for a clear victory, thanks to his superior deployment and the coolness of his gun crews in a perilous situation. However, he was less than contended with the battlefield performance of his fusiliers, which he had to shepherd around a bit before they were able to form up again. Most of the two broken Flossian battalions were taken hostage, because they could not get across the river. 

Thus one of the Flossian diversionary groups virtually ceased to exist, and in von Spülge's calculations, the best the Rebel general could do was to join von Leuchtenberg and bolster his larger force.