Desired scans : Rank and File supplements Harpoon 3 & 4 supplements Force on Force supplements Hind Commander At Close Quarters War and Conquest Modern Spearhead
Ayden Morris
November the 8th in military history:
960 – Battle of Andrassos: Byzantines score a crushing victory over the Emir of Aleppo. 1520 – A successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces results in the execution of around 100 people. 1605 – Robert Catesby, ringleader of the Gunpowder Plotters, is killed. 1620 – The Battle of White Mountain takes place near Prague, ending in a decisive Catholic victory in only two hours. 1745 – Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of ~5000. 1861 – American Civil War: The "Trent Affair": The USS San Jacinto stops the British mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US. 1923 – Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government. 1936 – Spanish Civil War: Francoist troops fail in their effort to capture Madrid, but begin the 3-year Siege of Madrid afterwards. 1939 – Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans. 1939 – In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch. 1940 – Greco-Italian War: The Italian invasion of Greece fails as outnumbered Greek units repulse the Italians in the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas. 1942 – World War II: French Resistance coup in Algiers, French patriots neutralize Vichyist XIXth Army Corps. 1950 – Korean War: United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown, while piloting an F-80 Shooting Star, shoots down two North Korean MiG-15s in the first jet aircraft-to-jet aircraft dogfight in history. 1965 – Vietnam War: The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump, while the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment fight one of their first engagements of the war at the Battle of Gang Toi. 2004 – War in Iraq: U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
Jace Morgan
It is 397 years since the Battle of White Mountain (Czech: Bitva na Bílé hoře), an important battle from the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. An army of 15,000 Protestant Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt was defeated by 27,000 men of the combined armies of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor led by Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy and the German Catholic League under Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly. The site is now part of the city of Prague. The battle marked the end of the Bohemian period of the Thirty Years' War and decisively influenced the fate of the Czech lands for the next 300 years, ensuring Roman Catholicism retained the majority faith in those areas until the late 20th century.
In 1617, as Emperor Matthias lay dying, his cousin Ferdinand — a fiercely devout Roman Catholic and proponent of the Counter-Reformation — was named his successor as Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia. This led to deep consternation among many Bohemian Protestants. Ferdinand (who would become Emperor Ferdinand II following Matthias' death in 1619) saw Protestantism as inimical to the Empire, and wanted to impose absolutist rule on Bohemia while forcefully encouraging conversion to the Roman Catholic faith.
Particularly galling to Protestants were perceived violations of Emperor Rudolf II's 1609 Letter of Majesty, which had ensured religious freedom throughout Bohemia. In May, 1618, wanting to air their grievances over this and other issues, a group of Bohemian noblemen met representatives of the Emperor at the royal castle in Prague; the meeting ended with two of the representatives and their scribe being thrown out a high window and seriously injured. This incident, known as the Second Defenestration of Prague, triggered the Bohemian Revolt.
In November 1619, Elector Palatine Frederick V, who like many of the rebels was a Calvinist, was chosen as King of Bohemia by the Bohemian Electorate.
Anthony Myers
Ferdinand II set out to conquer Bohemia and make an example of the rebels. King Frederick and his military commander, Prince Christian of Anhalt, had organized a Protestant army of 30,000 men; Ferdinand countered with a force of 25,000, many of them seasoned soldiers, under the capable leadership of Field Marshal Tilly, a Roman Catholic Spanish-Flemish nobleman. Tilly's army enjoyed the advantage of including two of the most successful military leaders in European history - Tilly himself and the future General Wallenstein. Tilly's force was made up of two distinct groups: Imperial troops commanded by Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, and soldiers of the German Catholic League, directly under Tilly. All of the armies of the day employed numerous mercenaries, including, by some definitions, Tilly himself. Serving with the Catholic League as an official observer was the future "father of modern philosophy", René Descartes.
After conquering most of western Bohemia, the Imperial army made for Prague, the Bohemian capital, then in rebel hands. The Bohemians attempted to block them by setting up defensive positions, which the Imperial army simply bypassed. Force-marching his men, Christian of Anhalt managed to get ahead of the Imperial army just before Prague. He thus gained an advantageous position on the "White Mountain", actually a low plateau, but had little time to set up defensive works. Enthusiasm for joining battle was low on both sides. After the reverses of the previous several weeks, Christian of Anhalt's army had been reduced to about 15,000 men, with little prospect of victory; the mercenaries on both sides had not been paid in months; and with winter approaching, cold, wet, weather made for less than ideal combat conditions.
David Foster
On 8 November a small Imperial force was sent to probe the Protestant flank. To their surprise, the Bohemians retreated at their advance. Tilly quickly sent in reinforcements, and the Bohemian flank began to crumble. Anhalt tried to retrieve the situation by sending forward infantry and cavalry led by his son Christian II. The cavalry charged into the Imperial infantry, causing significant casualties, but Tilly countered with his own cavalry, forcing the Bohemian horsemen to retire. The Bohemian infantry, who were only now approaching the Imperial army, saw the cavalry retreating, at which they fired one volley at extreme range before retreating themselves. A small group of Imperial cavalry began circling the Protestant forces, driving them to the middle of the battlefield. With the Bohemian army already demoralized, company after company began retreating, most without having actually entered the battle. Tilly and his Imperial cavalrymen advanced with 2,000 Bavarian hussars, steadily pushing Protestant forces back to the Star Palace (just west of Prague), where the rebels tried without success to establish a line of defense.
The Battle of White Mountain was more a skirmish than a full-fledged battle. The Bohemian army was no match for the Emperor Ferdinand's troops. The actual battle lasted only an hour and left the Bohemian army in tatters. Some 4,000 Protestants were killed or captured, while Imperial losses amounted to only about 700.
With the Bohemian army destroyed, Tilly entered Prague and the revolt collapsed. King Frederick fled the country. Forty-seven leaders of the insurrection were put on trial, and twenty-seven of them were executed in Prague's Old Town Square. The result of the 1620 battle brought two centuries of recatholicization of the Czech lands and the decline of the Czech-speaking aristocracy and elite as well as the Czech language (accompanied with the growing influence of German-speaking elites).
Grayson Campbell
White Mountain is the perfect introduction to TYW wargaming, small enough to be manageable while still reflecting the larger battles that were to come. It certainly has all the colour and the variety you could want from this period. Also you get to step into the boots of the famous Father Tilly, and you know you've arrived as a general when they name a wargame after you.
PDF related is a simple hex-and-counter version of the battle.
Ryder Stewart
The current community project (a Garrison, Milita, or Second-Line-type unit) has fairly run its course now I think Post any results you may have, and suggestions for the next one
