ENGLISH SUMMARY

This website is about the Six Days Campaign of 1814. Particularly, the action of Champaubert, the battles of Montmirail, Château-Thierry and Vauchamps. I am not able to translate all in English – it takes already a LOT of time to produce it in French – but if you have a specific question, I will try to answer it.

The French army of 1814 was in very poor shape. Most of the time, it was relying on improvisation or extraordinary methods to operate. Consequently, the French sources are not accurate. This is particularly true for the Orders of Battle. It is also very difficult to gather information from the Russian sources. If you have something interesting information and want to share it, please do not have any hesitation to contact me.

What will you find on this website ?
1) An account of the different engagements;
2) Orders of Battle (Ordres de bataille):
3) Pictures and illustrations of the battlefields;
4) Maps;
5) Bibliography.


La Bataille de Montmirail (based on La Bataille Games Series© Clash of Arms) is now available here!
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Wargame Design, Special Study Nr. 7 Focus on the Year 1814 is now available for sale at Operational Studies Group. Part of the narrative of www.lesbatailles.com was translated into English and edited to fit in that Study. Here is an abstract of Kevin Zucker’s foreword:

THIS TIME OUT, I had the honor of collaborating with an historian who is the undisputed Berthier of the Six Days of 1814. My co-author, Louis Bélanger, has been working on the three battles of the Montmirail campaign for many years. When I discovered his website I thought I would throw away all the data I had collected and start over. (…)

By the time I contacted Louis I was about a third of the way through the writing, and he agreed to take the manuscript as it then was and complete it. Hence everything from Chapter 5-on was written by him. I actually thought that would be quicker than just finishing the book myself. However, Louis had a lot more material to share than I imagined. The history of February 1814 exceeded our space allocations, and we decided to end the main text after the Battle of Montmirail. We had run out of space to include the entire campaign…

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Presentation of Special Study Nr. 7 in Vae Victis No 131:

Écrit spécialement pour accompagner le jeu La Patrie en Danger (OSG), cette étude approfondie de la campagne de 1814 est l’œuvre de Kevin Zucker et Louis Bélanger qui ont tous les deux arpenté en long et en large le théâtre d’opérations. Ce grand cahier de 140 pages propose une analyse en 7 grands chapitres, avec de nombreuses cartes à l’appui, des manœuvres de la Campagne de France. Les différentes opérations sont décrites in extenso, avec à chaque fois la référence des hexagones concernés pour se repérer directement sur les magnifiques cartes du jeu OSG. L’étude comprend également de nombreux tableaux d’effectifs, à plusieurs moments de la campagne, ainsi que des ordres de bataille particulièrement complets et détaillés. Disponible sur le site d’OSG : www.napoleongames.com

Written especially as a companion to the game La Patrie en Danger (OSG), this in-depth study of the campaign of 1814 is the work of Kevin Zucker and Louis Bélanger whom both walked throughout the theatre of operations. This huge booklet of 140 pages proposes an analysis of the operations during the Campaign of France in 7 large chapters with many maps in support. The different maneuvers are described in extenso, with each time the reference to the hexagons concerned on OSG’s magnificent game maps. The study also includes numerous forces strength charts at several times in the campaign, as well as comprehensive and detailed orders of battle. Available at OSG’s website: www.napoleongames.com

- Frédéric Bey