Battle for Lesnica 12 August 1914

The Battle for Lesnica in Serbia on 12 August 1914 was a small part of the larger action known as the Battle of Cer. This Great War Spearhead scenario was the first outing for my newly painted Serbian infantry, and is taken from the scenario book 'Summer Harvest' by Shawn Taylor and Robert Dunlop. So new is the Serbian army that in its incomplete state Russian guns had to 'proxy' for the Serbian artillery. The Austrian and Serbian infantry and guns are all from the HaT 20mm range.

The battlefield with the Austrian attack coming from the left, the Serbian defences based around the right. Lesnica is the two sector village area lower right.

The Austrian attack plan

The Serbian plan for deployment of its reinforcements, which we interpreted as being 'reserves', so the arrow was drawn at the end of turn 3, before they entered turn 4. At that stage the Austrian plan was still not clear to the Serbian commander, so this deployment made a lot of assumptions about where the Austrians would be

Serbian defences around Lesnica, one of the batteries of old 150mm guns seen at the top of the photo emplaced on the heights. The 'trenches' are from the Timecast range.

One of the emplaced Serbian. 150mm batteries

Defenders around Novo Selo on the Serbian right

The first Austrian regiment deployed and beginning its attack, top centre of the photo

The Austrian attack came in 'piecemeal' reflecting the delays experienced by each regiment in crossing the river.

The Austrian attack well underway, with the second Austrian regiment across the river and advancing

Turn 4 and the Serbian reinforcements have arrived

The centre Austrian regiment comes under fire from the Serbian 150mm battery emplaced on the heights in the centre

Serbian reinforcements close up

Action heats up in the centre with the Austrian attackers now within small arms range.

Austrian casualties

The Serbian reinforcements following their command arrow. The Serbian commander had anticipated an Austrian attack directly towards Lesnica, and planned the reinforcements (with two regiments of field guns) to take the Austrian attack in the flank. The entry along the road leading directly into Lesnica was stipulated in the scenario outline.

The Serbian defenders of Novo Selo come under heavy artillery and small arms fire and take casualties

The Austrian attackers quickly gained support from the off board heavier guns, but failed throughout the game to get support from their onboard field artillery.. comms between observer and guns were obviously very poor on the day

The centre Austrian regiment takes fire, but suffers few casualties (some bad die rolling for the Serbian commander)

In a single devastating round of fire all of the remaining Serbian defenders of Novo Selo are eliminated .. the village is wide open

It's hotter in the centre

The first regiment of the Serbian reinforcing artillery deploys

The game had a 10 turn length, and at the end of turn 10 the Serbians still held Lesnica. While the defenders of Novo Selo had been eliminated the Austrians had not had time to occupy the village. Here is a video panorama from the Austrian left around behind the Austrians and then left to right behind the Serbians.

On victory points the Serbians had won (spoiler alert ... historically they did). The Austrian attacker had been too timid, shifting to making combat moves once he had come under fire, despite that fact that there were so few defenders. A full and fast attack would have swamped the defenders. The Austrians' casualties at five stands, the Serbians at three, were unusually light for a Great War game. 

As part of the 25th anniversary for Great War Spearhead Murray and I had decided we'd build armies for and play some of the theatres that are not commonly seen on the table. This Austro-Hungarian/Serbian clash iss one of those. There are more to come.