Development

[lanterna]

Napoleon sent a "strong" letter to Eugéne on March 9th 1813:

: "Rien n'est moins militaire que le parti que vous avez pris de porter votre quartier général à Schöneberg, en arrière de Berlin ; il était clair que c'était attirer l'ennemi. (...) Le jour où votre quartier général a été placé derrière Berlin, c'était dire que vous ne vouliez pas garder cette ville ; vous avez ainsi perdu une attitude que l'art de la guerre est de savoir conserver." ... "Il serait honteux de le dire et le monde ne le croirait pas, j'ignore quel est le général qui commande à Stettin, quelle est la garnison que vous y avez laissée ; vous ne prenez pas même la peine de me dire quel est le général, quelle est la garnison que vous laissez à Spandau. Je ne sais pas quels sont les généraux que vous avez ; j'ignore qui commande votre cavalerie. Je n'ai enfin aucune notion sur la situation de votre artillerie, de votre génie, ni même de votre infanterie."

Then Möckern occurred ...

(On Möckern battle (with Eugéne report) see. There's some bibliography on Spring 1813):

http://www.napitalia.org.uk/eng/mock1.shtml

Enough to become depressed. You tell about the Elbe's bridges too.
Poor Viceroy d'Italie!

Hi

[kzucker]

Hi.

That letter and two others are printed on page 22 and 23 of the "Struggle of Nations" Scenario Folder, or you can find it in "The Leipzig Campaign," by F.N. Maude.

But I was thinking of this book: "Memoires et Correspondance Politiques et Militaires du Prince Eugene," edited by Baron A. du Casse

It includes plenty of Eugene's correspondence with Napoleon.

[lanterna]

Originally Posted by kzucker

We need another portrait, a new guy (named above).

He commanded the 21st or 22nd Division, and the XII Corps in Winzingerode's Corps d'Armee, according to different sources (none seem to agree).

[Update: We no longer need this portrait. Further research shows agreement that Laptiev was only a division commander at the time of Dennewitz; possibly the XIV was renumbered XII Corps in 1814.

This was written from Russia:

Laptev, Vasily Danilovich
1758 - April,14 ,1825

Lieutenant General.

He was enlisted in the Life-Guard Preobrazhensky Regiment in January 1776,
and transferred as a captain to the Tambov Infantry Regiment on 12 January
1789.

Laptev participated in the Russian-Turkish war in 1789-1791, and fought at
Killia and Izmail, where he was woundedin the chest and earned a golden
cross. On 12 March 1790 Laptev transferred to the Astrakhan Grenadier
Regiment and thereafter became a major in the 1st Battalion of the Bug
Jager Corps on 12 April 1791.

In 1792-1794 he participated in the campaign in Poland.

In 1797 Laptev was appointed to the 12th Jager Regiment, although the
following year he became the commander of the Ryazhsky Musketeer Regiment
on 23 July 1798.

Promoted to colonel on 22 October 1799, Laptev served as chef of the 8th
Jager Regiment from 22 January 1802 to March 1804. He participated in the
1805 Campaign and fought at Lambach, Amstetten and Austerlitz.

He rose to major general and chef of the 21th Jager Regiment on 30 January
1806.

Laptev also participated in the 1807 Campaign in Poland, where he served
with the 3rd Division at Guttstadt, Heilsberg and Friedland.

The next year he became the Governor of the Island of Esel on 11 September
1808, before taking discharge on 6 February 1809.

In 1812 Laptev supervised the organization of the Moscow opolchenie
(militia) and became the commander of the 8th Dismounted Cossack Regiment
of the Moscow opolchenie on 20 August 1812.

As he joined the main Russian army, Laptev took command of the 2nd Brigade
of the 11th Division on 6 September 1812.

He distinguished himself at Borodino for which he earned the Order of
St.George (3rd class).
In October 1812 he took command of the 23rd Dividion and two month later
was instructed to organize the suppy system in Nizhni Novgorod.

In 1813 Laptev commanded the 21th and 24th Divisions of the Army of North
and participated in the battle of Leipzig for which he received promotion
to lieutenant general on 20 October 1813.
In 1814 he was seriously wounded at Craonne on 7 March and retired with a
full pension in January 1816.

Laptev returned to the army two years later and was appointed the commander
of the 25th Division on 29 January 1818. In 1820 his unit was converted to
the 1st Infantry Division but he retired for the second time on 31 October
1821.

General Laptev was buried in the Nickolo-Pesnoshsky Monastery in the
Dmitrovsky uezd (district).

During his career Laptev earned the Orders of St.George (3rd class),
St.John of Jerusalem, of St.Anna (1class) with diamonds, of St.Vladimir
(2nd class) and the Prussian Order of Red Eagle and a golden sword "for
courage" with diamonds.

------------------
Sources:
1. "The Russian Officer Corps in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars" by
Alexander Mikaberidze
2. "The Dictionary of the Russian Generals that participated in the
military actions against the army of Napoleon in 1812-1815" by N.Mikhalkov
(volume VII)
----------------

Also in the attachment there is a portrait of General Laptev by Dow.
This portrait now is in the Military Gallery of the State Hermitage in
St.Petersburg.

******************************************

We hope this information will be of use for you.

If you have any more questions please feel free to contact us, we'll always
help you all we can.

Best wishes from Russia

Sincerely yours

Helen and Nick Mozak" - programmist@ntsbel.ru


Ciao Enrico

[kzucker]

Hi Enrico,

So there was a portrait? Too bad we didn't need the portrait anymore... We had some bad information about the "XII Russian Corps" in 1813. Possibly the XIV was renumbered the XII in 1814, but that is just a guess. Laptev was a division commander in 1813, so in fact his name doesn't even appear (it is a brigade level game).

Thanks for your efforts in putting this together. It is useful to know for sure.

[lanterna]

The joy of research ...
if you need russian infos (portraits) you can ask to
Helen and Nick Mozak" - programmist@ntsbel.ru
They are very kind

Hi

[kzucker]

Jason and I played a game of Kulm today. The French have some play, if they risk the big attacks, but are clearly at an overall disadvantage unless they are saved by Alternate Reinforcements.

Finally finished the Alternate Reinforcements and Alternate Commanders schedules for Kulm yesterday in a session with Chuck. Further testing with Chuck on Tuesday.

Thanks to both gentlemen for their dedication.

Working on sending out Rules version 2.63 ... version 3.0 is the target ...

Will interrupt playtest schedule for Origins weekend (the 30th).

Meanwhile, the map is still with Joe, cards not printed yet (but soon), counters at the printer (last minute correx/Perpetual beginner).

Overall shaping up nicely. But where is Dave!?

[Forrest Atterberry]

But where is Dave!?

Did you check for pods by any chance?

[kzucker]

Now that you mention it, Dave hasn't been himself lately...

[kzucker]

For our Study Nr. 1: Focus on the Year 1813, we will use illustrations of the leaders throughout the text, and we would like some volunteers to write brief captions for each Leader.

For example, Edgar has written: "Karel Furst zu Schwarzenberg; his diplomacy and tact enabled the Coalition victory at Leipzig."

We need a similar two-line caption for each of the leaders who have a leader counter in Napoleon at the Crossroads (i.e., 19 French and 16 Coalition Leaders).

This tag should be cogent and related to the leader's actions in autumn of 1813; his most decisive contribution to his side's effort (could be positively or negatively).

For someone like Marshal Ney, it could even be a quote from his own words: "Michel Ney, after Dennewitz, wrote to Napoleon, 'I am perfectly ready to shed the last drop of my blood, but let it be for some useful end.'"