The Battle of Strehla. (An incident in the invasion of Saxony 1756)

More action as the two armies come into contact.
The battle is now at they key stage.

The Battle of Strehla.... Next moves

The Prussians deploy into line and advance towards the Austrian line.
On the left flank, the Prussian Cavalry attack the Saxons defending Strehla
Meanwhile on the right, the Prussian grenadiers begin their assault of the Durrenberg. Progress is slow, delayed by the ascent and the undergrowth. The Croats await them.

The Battle at Strehla

After taking Torgau, Prince Henry continued his advance south and approached the town of Strehla, on the river Elbe, in pursuit of the Saxons. Fusilier regiment IR42, who had suffered heavy casualties in the recent action were left to occupy Torgau, under their Colonel, Rudolf von Schenckendorff.

Unknown, to Prince Henry, Austrian General von Browne had moved north with a relief force of 5 infantry regiments, 3 grenadier battalions, Croats and 3 cavalry regiments. Von Browne formed a line from Strehla  (which was occupied by two Saxon regiments), along the Clauschwitz road, as far as the Durrenberg hill, which was covered in woods and occupied by Croats. Von Browne took up a defensive position, with orders to defend the town, but to fall back in good order if the Prussians could not be held.

Prince Henry decided on a frontal attack by infantry regiments IR18, IR14, IR11 and GR33/42.
Meanwhile a secondary force of 2 grenadier battalions and IR26 would work their way over the Durrenberg hill and attempt to "roll up"the Austrian line by hitting its flank at Clauschwitz.

The Prussian advance begins .....

                                    Campaign map showing Prussian and Austrian positions

Prince Henry receives a bloody nose from Browne. The Prussian army withdraws as darkness falls, having suffered heavy losses. For Prince Henry this was a difficult learning exercise. A full frontal attack on well defended positions must be backed up by more artillery and reserves who can be fed in to support the attack. Frederick is on his way, but how does Henry break the news of his defeat !

I have been up to something !

At the end of last week I received a batch of figures, 40mm and 28mm that had been kindly sent by Graham Cumming of Crann Tara Miniatures. These had been produced in resin using a 3D printer and consisted of a Prussian musketeer, grenadier, fusilier, officer, NCO, drummer and colour bearer.
Enough to create a command stand and full infantry units. The green resin finish makes it hard to appreciate the fine detail, so over the weekend I made a couple of moulds and did some white metal casts.

These will be based in sixes to produce infantry stands and a command stand.

Next, I had to paint up some figures to decide my next move. The castings are more to scale and thinner than many on the market. Proportions are correct and I find them fairly quick to paint.
I was after a look with the same type style as the Gilder/Willy/Stadden sculpts, but scaled to 40mm to make them compatible with the rest of my collection.
The heads are made to scale, making the facial detail smaller than most ranges on the market. I have taken the advice of my hobby friend John R, who suggested shading the eye sockets and leaving out the eyes. This works for me, I wanted a figure that looks right for the period and looks great en-masse. Graham's 40mm ers tick all the boxes for me.

The result is below.... My first infantry base, representing IR1 von Winterfeldt.

Next I put them on my table and matched then against my current regiments. The result was excellent. They do not look out of scale and have the look and feel that I have been seeking.
So the plan is to produce some more Prussian regiments, using 6 figures to a base, based on the new range. Graham has already said that he has Austrians in the pipeline, and cavalry to follow.
A big challenge lies ahead, but it means I can maintain my current collection and slowly "upgrade" it to a style that I am really happy with.
.... Back to the painting desk