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by John H. Gill.
Hardback (6.5×9.5 inches). 486 pages. 2025.
Subtitle: Napoleon’s German Allies and the Campaign of 1813: The contingents of Saxony and Bavaria
The first of two volumes covers the Confederation of the Rhine, specifically the 1813 armies of Saxony and Bavaria (not Prussia), in exquisite detail. Not much of the Saxon and Bavarian troops remained after the invasion of Russia and hastily-raised conscripts peppered with veterans performed with varying degrees of competence. Some units disintegrated while others proved quite steadfast.
An overview of the 1813 spring and autumn campaigns explains the maneuvers and subsequent battles as well as an overview of the political activities of the Confederation members, pre-Coalition Austria, the Allied Coalition members, and France. The kings of Saxony and Bavaria tried to play both sides as the Spring campaign saw a French recovery while the Autumn Campaign saw the French tumbled back to France. They were rightly concerned for their sovereignty as they threaded the diplomatic needle.
Yet the bulk of the volume covers the maneuvers and battles of the Saxon and Bavarian components of the French force. From skirmishes to major battles, detailed recaps and insightful analysis explain their participation. You can certainly pull more than a few small battles from the pages, although you might want to use other sources for the Coalition forces.
If you ever wanted to use Cossack troops on raids, this volume will provide plenty of scenario grist for the tabletop gaming mill. Cossack units as small as 50 and as large as 1,000 penetrated behind French lines and plagued supply columns, even those escorted by troops. These raids sometimes captured places through bluffs and loss of defenders’ morale and sometimes the Cossacks were annihilated.
One typo: Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig in 1808 “toasted Napoleon’s death” (p261), which is likely “toasted to” as the Emperor was very much alive in 1808.
The book contains one black and white photo, 23 black and white illustrations, 31 black and white maps, one color photo, and 21 color illustrations. Once again, Gill supplies lots of maps, including tactical ones that you can use to drop terrain on a tabletop and position troops. Well done.
Also, he includes Saxon and Bavarian Orders of Battle a plenty, complete as much as possible with actual numbers per regiment. Nothing warms a wargamer’s heart like units matched with numbers.
Exceptional research, smooth prose, detailed orders of battle, and a cornucopia of tactical, operational, and strategic maps make this another brilliant examination of the Napoleonic era. Excellent.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
