The Battle of Borodino

Napoleon might have met his ultimate fate at Waterloo, but it was the Russian Campaign that proved to Europe that the Little Corporal could be undone. Napoleon missed a glorious opportunity to destroy the Russian army at Borodino that proved to be the last offensive action of his invasion of Russia.

The French Grande Armée entered Russia in June 1812 and steadily advanced. On August 29th, General Mikhail Kutuzov took over command of Russian forces. The Russians wisely retreated towards Moscow. Kutusov realized that the time had come to offer battle, if only to bolster the morale of his troops. He chose to make his stand at Borodino. The Russians began to construct a line with earthworks, including three arrow-shaped "Bagration fléches" named after General Pyotr Bagaration.

Despite attrition from the tiring campaign, the French Army was still the finest in Europe. A tense but futile attempt to stop or delay the French at the Shevardino Redoubt left the Russian army in confusion. The battle, fought on September 7, 1812, quickly became a defensive effort on the part of the Russians.

Repeated, heavy attacks eventually drove the Russians from Bagration's fléches, but smoke, dust and exhaustion prevented the French from advancing and destroying Bagration's army. Napoleon, sick with a cold and far from the battlefield refused to release the Imperial Guard, his last reserve.

The fiercest fighting took place at the Raevsky redoubt. The position changed hands a number of times as each offensive and counteroffensive added to the mounting toll of casualties. The Russians abandoned the redoubt for good when a division of French cuirassiers, along with Polish and Saxon cavalry squadrons shared and captured the contested area. Casualty estimates vary widely, but it is likely that more 70,000 men were captured, wounded or killed in the epic struggle.

Despite the slaughter, the Russian army had survived and Napoleon's had suffered losses that could not be replaced so far from home. A French victory, some scholars believe it could easily have been a glorious Russian victory if Kutuzov had better placed his forces. Napoleon would make it to Moscow, but with a greatly weakened army. After his eventual retreat, less than 10% of Napoleon's 286,000 troops would cross the Russian border alive. 

The Battle of the Bulge

Hitler was desperate. The summer of 1944 witnessed the crumbling of German armies on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. With the Western Allies having gained a solid foothold in France, Germany was being squeezed into submission. german resistance began to stiffen during the fall but something had to be done. Hitler stunned his generals with an audacious plan, "Wacht Am Rhein" (Watch on the Rhine), in which Wehrmacht forces would once more assume the offensive.

Though Hitler's thoughts were rarely grounded in reality, he was correct in believing that he would receive better terms from the Western Allies than Stalin—3 1/2 long years of brutal warfare left the Russians only desiring revenge. Hitler's plan called for the massing of what new forces could be scrapped together and focusing an attack against the lightly-defended Ardennes forest in an effort to recapture the Belgian port city of Antwerp. Hitler's prayer was that the Wallies resolve might waver and seek an armistice favorable to Germany, allowing Hitler to focus only on the Russian threat.

The attack was set for mid-December, counting on poor weather that would ground the Wallies superior air support. Launched on December 16th, German forces quickly overran the sparsely-populated American front lines. Problems soon developed. Lacking precious fuel, German plans depended on capturing American fuel dumps. once the alarm was raised, American troops began destroying bridges and setting up roadblocks in which a handful of soldiers held up the German columns on the narrow forest roads. The village of Bastogne proved to be a major stumbling block, with roads extending out like the legs of a spider, Bastogne was a key position. The Germans encircled the city, but never forced the surrender of the defending 101st Airborne Division. Falling behind schedule, lacking fuel, clearing weather allowing Allied air support, and with reinforcements racing to the front, the attack not only failed to reach Antwerp but at its greatest extent still fell short of the Meuse River. The Germans merely created a "bulge" in the Allied lines (see map above).

Though the American forces were under General Omar Bradley, British general Bernard Montgomery was given temporary command of units that had been isolated by the German incursion. General George Patton's Third Army swung up from the south to help relieve the siege of Bastogne and by the end of December German forces were in retreat back towards their starting line. On January 1, 1945 Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to stage a large raid known as "The Great Blow." 800 planes took to the air in the last German air offensive. Despite destroying 200 Allied aircraft, the Germans lost over 300 and the Luftwaffe never flew in significant numbers again. By mid-January the Germans were back at their starting lines but fewer in men and equipment. The end of the Thousand-year Reich was just months away.

An excellent resource on this and other WW2 topics is Famous Men of the Second World War. 

The Hundred Years' War — Agincourt

The Hundred Years' War is somewhat of a misnomer. The "war" was actually a series of conflicts waged over a period of 116 years (1337-1453) between the kingdoms of France and England. The Battle of Agincourt, fought on October 25, 1415 was a major battle of the protracted war.

King Henry V led a small army of less than 10,000 troops against a much larger French army estimated between 12,000 and 36,000! Henry invaded northern France after negations failed, claiming the title of King of France through Edward III, his great-grandfather. The battle of Agincourt took place after Henry had captured the port city of Harfleur.

French king Charles IV was not in command of the French Army as he was ill and not in a proper state of mind. In his place was the Constable of France, Charles d'Albret. In reality powerful French nobles did whatever they desired, leading to a compromised battle plan.
The battle was fought on a narrow strip of land between two woods. The majority of Henry's troops were armed with the latest in battlefield technology — the long bow. Lining up in front of the British men-at-arms, the longbowmen exacted a heavy toll on a disorganized French cavalry charges. 

The Constable led the main French assault of dismounted men-at-arms. Wearing heavy armor, the troops slowly crossed the muddy field (which had been churned up by the cavalry charge) under a hail of arrows. Those who reached the English line managed to push back the archers. However, the unencumbered archers were able to more easily navigate the muddy terrain. Using hatchets and swords, the then-exhausted French were easily repulsed with great loss of life.

By the most conservative estimate the French lost six times as many men as the English, including their leader, Charles d'Albret. Henry was soon compelled to return to England but the victory bought him time to prepare for a new campaign. Henry was eventually recognized as the heir to the French throne, bonding the claim with his marriage to Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI.

Looking for a last-minte Christmas present for a young person in your life? Written by the author of the Battle Maps blog and in the tradition of John Haaren's Famous Men series Alacrity Press is proud to introduce a new entry to biography-driven history, Famous Men of the Second World War. In this book adults, youth and older children can learn about history's most complex event through the eyes of the people who played pivotal roles in the conflict. Oh, just so you know it is relevant, the book contains over a dozen battle maps. Joy!

A support website with a sample chapter and other neat goodies (click on downloads) may be found at www.famousmenww2.com. The book is also available from the Alacrity Press bookstore.