Appended below are extracts of general interest from l'Armée du Nord's Muster and General Reports for June and July '01.
It is my singular pleasure to announce that Col. Stuart Wilson has completed the construction of a new Headquarters for l'Armée du Nord, located at www.wargame.org.uk/index.htm. Aside from the enhanced splendor of the new quarters, it features a number of new links to aid in the administration of the army. Chief amongst these is an optional, web-based form that officers can use to submit their monthly muster reports. Upon submission of the form, the results are forwarded directly to the officer's divisional commander. I should emphasize, however, that the use of this muster report form will be strictly optional. As always, I believe in granting the greatest possible leeway to each corps in the managing of its affairs. Hence, the use of this form for the gathering of the monthly musters will be at the discretion of each corps' commander/chef d'état-major.
I would also respectfully request authorization for the creation of two new medals to be used in recognizing the accomplishments of the officers of the AdN during training maneuvers:
La Médaille Fréjus
The Manoeuvre Star
The basis for each award shall be as follows:
La Médaille Fréjus shall be awarded to junior officers of l'Armée du Nord (below the rank of
Major) who have distinguished themselves under the Eagle in their preparations to take the field
against the enemies of La Patrie and l'Empereur through their extensive participation in
manoeuvres. The medal shall be awarded upon recommendation of their Corps commander, at
the discretion of the COA. The medal gives 5 points.
Officers recommended to receive the Médaille Fréjus:
The Manoeuvre Star shall be awarded to junior officers of l'Armée du Nord (below the rank of
Major) who exhibit singular, tactical virtuosity leading to victorious outcomes in inter-corps, or
inter-armée, training manoeuvres. The medal shall be awarded upon recommendation of their
Corps commander, at the discretion of the COA. The medal gives 5 points.
Officers recommended for the Manoeuvre Star:
In connection with these awards, special thanks are due to Gen. Chuck Jensen who drafted the original proposal and located the historical medals on which they are based.
Special mention should be made of the following officers for their distinguished contributions during the preceding month:
French Infantry Officer. Original artwork by Keith Rocco, www.keithrocco.com
The position of Quartermaster is eliminated. Colonel Crotts has been moved from HQ to command of 7/2ème Artillerie à Pied of the II Corps Artillery Reserve.
Lt. Stone has been named Aide de camp. He will retain his regimental command in the 6th Division. As Aide de Camp he will be responsible for the II Corps website.
(Vae Victis!):The Divisions of the Ier Corps de Réserve de Cavalerie have been renamed as the 1ère Division de Cuirassiers, 3ème Division de Cuirassiers, and 2ème Division de Dragons to more accurately reflect their composition and to avoid the slightly derogatory connotations of the term Lourde (nobody fat and slow in this Corps!).
Gen. de Div. M. Francisco Palomo
Comte de Marseille
Duc d'Abrantes
CoA - Armee du Nord
Greetings and salutations from Horse Guards. As some of you may have noticed, I have recently taken command of his Majesty's glorious Anglo-Dutch army. First of all, I think we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to General Sir Paul Harris for all his hard work in constructing and supporting us all as our great commander. He is, as I know you'll be happy to know, continuing his fantastic work running our point and medal pages in the role of Quartermaster General. Huzzah for General Harris! As a small mark of gratitude, his Majesty has awarded Sir Paul the rank of Field Marshal. A huge thank you to my General Staff for their continued support, and especially again to Paul Harris for his efforts with our stats and medal pages/notifications.
How can we possibly top Field Marshal Harris' work to date? I believe we should continue as we are with our fine esprit de corps, as shown to great effect in Brigadier General Neil Henderson's VI Division. It would be good to see more inter-Divisional contests starting, and I would love to see more Regimental or Divisional sites to help deepen the historical knowledge of the club members. General Harris discussed an idea with me a number of weeks ago that I would like to see instigated into our army's pages: basically Paul suggested a header on all our main pages that could be linked to a "directory" of our sites. I firmly believe that would speed navigation around our pages and keep us all better informed about our army. The format of the Monthly reports is to be slackened to bi-monthly; I have various reasons for this but mainly to reflect the time taken to turn around the game results.... Often the same basic report was seen month after month.
The following officers have accepted commands of the following organisations:
Congratulations to all officers listed below who have been given well-deserved promotions, or who have shown great courage in the face of the enemy and therefore been awarded medals as a small token of his Majesty's and his Grace the Duke of Wellington's gratitude.
The following Ensigns have successfully completed their training and passed out from the RMA to the following regiments:
The following officers have received promotions:
The following officers have received awards for their service to the club or for their battlefield endeavours:
Major General Tony Dobson K.G.
Anglo-Dutch COA
Belgium August 1801
Three new recruits and one former member joined the Tsar's service since the last newsletter, bringing the active strength of the Second Army of the West to 41 officers. The following recruits have completed training and received their command assignments:
Russian arms continued to enjoy success on the battlefield. Since the last dispatch, Russian officers have posted eight major victories and four minor victories in regular play.
Generalmajor Karl Schneider
Chief of Staff
Second Army of the West
Soldats de l'Empire et de l'Armée du Rhin, Attention!
Officers, I have a few important announcements.
First of all, General Mark Adams, the father of the V Army Corps, is stepping down. The Empereur and I give thanks for his efforts and merits over the years, and trust we will find him again within the ranks of l'Armée du Rhin in the future.
Secondly, Colonel Dan Pfenning is replaced due to loss of communication: The last report states that he has been captured by Russian Cossacks. Dan Pfenning was the caretaker and father of the Cavalry Reserve of AdR, and his drive and commitment to the cavalry will be missed.
11ème Hussards in Germany. Original artwork by Keith Rocco, www.keithrocco.com
Thirdly, due to the above, Gerry O'Shaugnessy is hereby officially appointed as the new commander of the V Army Corps while Mark DeMello takes over the IV Reserve Cavalry Corps. The II Reserve Cavalry Corps is hereby disbanded and the Cavalry Reserve will consist of the IV Reserve Cavalry Corps only.
Fourthly, Glenn Callaway have been appointed as my Aide de Camp,
while Mark
Eason takes over as commandant of Ecole du Mars.
Last, in the near future a new Army Corps will be formed consisting of Italian, Spanish and Croat units. A corps commander and a few division commanders are need to help form and ready this unit for active service. Interested officers should report to me.
The following officers have been promoted during this month, to the following ranks, and shall enjoy all privileges and pay associated therewith.
Original artwork by Keith Rocco, www.keithrocco.com
The following officers have been awarded various medals etc for achievements and merits:
Lt Cox, Lt Maxwell, Lt Moulin ( VIII ), Lt Nieduszyñski, Lt Shevak, Lt. Bartek Sobecki, Lt. Craig Armistead and Lt Paul Johnson.
Lt Cox, Lt Lambert, Lt Mick Shevak and Capt. J. Spinali
Cpt Callaway, Lt Col Eason
Col Leigh Monk
Congratulations to them all, and
Général Louis-Nicholas Davout
Comte de Rouen - Duc d'Auerstadt
Grenadiers à Pied de la Vieille Garde
Commander - Armée du Rhin
Général Eugène
Comte de la Vendée
Duc de Francfort
Les Compagnies d'Artillerie à Pied de la Vieille Garde
Chef d'Etat-Major de l'Armée du Rhin
Principe Eugenio March (MP3)
The Prussian Army has continued in its reorganisation and all reports indicate that this is going smoothly. The Army has "shortened its line" to a single Korps to consolidate empty spaces in the brigades. The Army has also opened its own mess where the Prussian officers can discuss matters. The mess has a piquet and only the password of the day will get you in!!
The Prussian Army medals are undergoing a re-organisation as well. Some will be added, others retired all in an effort to cover all our many activities and participations while maintaining as much historical reflection as possible.
General Naujoks (PlM) has taken a leave of abscence to take care of things on the home front. We miss his prescence here already and hope that when all is well, he will be returning to us.
The new Eckmuhl game is out and the Prussian Army has its first officer to claim a victory with the Austrian Army. Congratulations Kapitan Bram Steijn!! We hope that more officers follow your lead and help to defend our ally, Austria.
"It was with great honour and privilege, in the name of the Honourable Feldmarschall Michael W. Gjerde, himself a servant of our revered King, Friedrich Wilhelm III, sovereign of Prussia and protector of Germany, that the Prussian Army offered promotions to the following officers for gallantry in the face of the enemy and for furthering the glory of Prussia. God save the King and Fatherland."
The Prussian Army has presented the following awards:
Only the second such award to ever be made and the only one going to
an existing officer of the Prussian Army, this is one of our highest
awards. It is given to those officers who have gained special
notoriety within their Korps or Army. An officer who has shown
selfless dedication to the Prussian Army and its officers, who has
achieved remarkable success on the battlefield and who has
contributed to the NWC. Only one such award can be made per month
and the number of current officers who hold a place within the Order
is limited. It was normally only given to those of royal blood.
The recipient this time around is
Herr General Andreas Naujoks who I
am sure everyone can agree is most deserving of his place within the
Order. Henceforth, Herr General can and shall be addressed as "von"
Naujoks in recognition of his royal connections. Congratulations and
well deserved, Herr General von Naujoks!
A very special award, a rare occasion indeed, for
Podpolkovnik
Ruben Lopez of the Russian Army who, by accumulating a minimum of 10
victories and by playing a club sanctioned game in each of the
scenarios of Napoleon in Russia, has been awarded the coveted Pour
le Merite. Other than Prussian officers, this award is only
permitted to Russian Army players in keeping with the historical
awarding of the medal. Herr Lopez is only the third recipient after
General Naujoks and General Reuter.Congratulations Herr Lopez!
Generalmajor Simone Tombesi has been awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd Class, for leading Prussian (as opposed to Allied) troops to victory over France, the mortal enemy of Prussia. Congratulations Herr Generalmajor!
Wir Friedrich Wilhelm, von Gottes Gnaden, König von
Preußen (tot. tit.)
from this day forth, hereby present to those Gallant units of His
glorious Army that have seen action
against the hated enemy of the Fatherland, the
Eisernes Kreuz zur
Fahnenspitze, that they might show
their determintation to rid the Fatherland of the French scourge and
lift forever the yoke of Bonaparte.
Gegeben Breslau, Juni 1814.
The fahnenspitze will be awarded to those officers who lead their units into battle against the French in a completed sanctioned club game. It will be awarded without respect to victory or defeat, but in recognition of your veteran status. This presentation will replace the Military Merit Medal which will now be used to reward other outstanding military feats. All officers currently holding the Military Merit Medal are asked to turn it in and be presented with the fahnenspitze for their unit.
The following men have met the call of their King to free Germany from French tyranny, in memory of their late, Beloved Queen, Louisa, a declared and obstinate enemy of Napoleon.
Feldmarschall Michael Wolf Gjerde
Kommandeur Preussens Gloria
Das Heer des Niederen Rhein
Generalmajor Rob Hamper
AdC to Feldmarschall Gjerde
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have it thrust upon them."
Bill Peters, who has sadly stepped down from command of the Austrian Army, was clearly in the former category, displaying the kind of leadership that led to the creation of the Austrian Army and to the creation of the first in the new series of Napoleonic Battles with the Eckmuhl Campaign: Thus giving the Austrians their own troops to fight with, and a brilliant game. The things he has done for the club, having been one of the founder members, are legion and legendary. Though do not shed tears too precipitately, as Bill has only sheathed his sword, not thrown it in. And, like a king of legend, he will draw it when his country needs him.
He is in fact hard at work on a new Austrian Staff Officers' College, or Der Kriegs Akademie.
These are all those who are in the Austrian ranks, and this month it is the turn of
In this case I must speak for the new Austrian Army commander-in-chief, who has been catapulted into a role which was not sought, but could not be turned down either. Especially as we have our own Army fully represented, and have embarked on a multi-player campaign game against a French team in which we are even now crossing the Landshut bridges. So, lead from the front one must! Not a patch on Archduke Bill, but not a Mack either. He will assist any officer who needs advice and fight the higher echelons of the enemy when need be.
By the next despatch we will surely have many victories to record at Eckmuhl. After crossing the Inn the orders are "to seek and fight the enemy".
FML Dermot Quigley
Austrian C-in-C.
EPITAPH
Underneath a GIBBET over a DUNGHILL
at ELBA
Underneath this Dunghill
Is all that remains of a mighty Conqueror
NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE
Who, with inflexible Cruelty of Heart,
And unexampled Depravity of Mind,
was permitted to scourge the Earth, for a Time,
With all the Horrors of war.
Too ignorant and incapable to do good to Mankind
The whole force of his mind was employed
In oppressing the weak, and plundering the industrious.
He was equally detested by all:
His enemies he butchered in cold blood:
And, fearing to leave incomplete the Catalogue of his Crimes,
His friends he rewarded with a poisoned Chalice.
He was an Epitome
Of all that was vicious in the worst of Tyrants;
He possess'd their Cruelty, without their Talents;
Their Madness without their Genius;
The Baseness of one, and the Imbecility of another.
Providence at last, Wearied out with his Crimes,
Returned him to the Dunghill from which he sprung.
BRITON!
Ere you pass by,
Kneel and thank thy God,
For all the Blessings of thy glorious Constitution;
Then return into the peaceful Bosom of the Family and continue
In the practice of those virtues
By which thy Ancestors
Have obtained the Favour of the Almighty.