The Inn at Schirlenhof

I have made a model of the inn in the Alsacian hamlet of Schirlenhof that came to fame in 1870 in the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War as a result of the reconnaissance of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin...yes that Zeppelin...the one who invented and built the famous dirigibles. 

A Württemberger, Zeppelin was born in 1838 and entered the Württemberg Army in 1855. In 1862 he took leave and travelled to the United States and joined the Army of the Potomac as an observer where he witnessed the efforts of Professor Lowe and his observation balloon in the Peninsula Campaign.  The next year he travelled north to Minnesota where he experienced his first ascent in a balloon, an experience that started him on his path to develop dirigibles.

In 1865 he was appointed adjutant to the King of Württemberg. The next year he served in the Austro-Prussian War as a staff officer, a position he continued to hold in the War against France.

In the first days of the war in 1870 General von Beyer, commanding the Baden Division, was responsible for the observation of the Rhine Frontier which was within III Army's intended zone of operations. Since most of the cavalry was still in the process of mobilisation, Beyer was struggling to gather detailed information in the situation west of the Rhine. The only enemy activity observed had been that of the customs guards so on 24 July he ordered Zeppelin to make a reconnaissance with three Baden officers and three dragoon troopers.  Moving swiftly across the Frontier near Lauterbourg Zeppelin’s patrol rode through northern Alsace noting French encampments, monitoring telegraph lines, and counting unit strengths around Wissembourg and along the Vosges foothills. Zeppelin quickly determined that French forces were still largely disorganised, dispersed, and unprepared for an immediate offensive across the border. 

However, both horses and men were exhausted after nearly 48 hours in the saddle and riding nearly 70 kilometers. They were in need of  rest and at around 8:00 AM on 26 July the patrol stopped at an inn in the hamlet of Schirlenhof. Zeppelin ordered a brief pause to feed the horses and gather fresh provisions from the innkeeper.

While the officers were inside eating breakfast and discussing their return route, French forces caught wind of their presence. A squadron of French 12th Chasseurs à Cheval, alerted by local villagers, silently surrounded the inn courtyard.

French troopers charged into the courtyard, blocking the exits. The Baden officers dashed outside to reach their tethered mounts. Lieutenant von Winsloe was shot and killed during the initial volley, while two other officers and several troopers were wounded or overpowered. However, Zeppelin, who had stepped out toward the rear stables to check on the horses just moments before the attack, made his escape. He sprang onto a saddled French horse, slashed his way past two closing Chasseurs, and broke through the surrounding ring at a full gallop.

Pursued for several miles by French cavalry, Zeppelin outpaced his pursuers through the dense Niederbronn forest. Exhausted, riding solo, and navigating solely by map and compass, he successfully re-crossed the German frontier later that afternoon and reported to Beyer that there were no significant enemy forces north of Wœrth. This now largely forgotten episode bought Zeppelin national renown entering him into German military lore, establishing a reputation for personal daring.

Zeppelin continued to serve with the Württemberg Division for the duration of the war. Later he commanded the 19th Uhlans before taking a position as Württemberg's envoy to Berlin. Returning to  army in 1890 he commanded a cavalry brigade in the manoeuvers of that year, but handled them so poorly that he was forced to resign. He dedicated the rest of his life (he died in 1917) to the development of the Zeppelin dirigibles.

Parts of the inn remain today, with its basic form much as it was at the time of the skirmish.

A contemporary illustration of the skirmish

A post war photograph from the front, around 1900, that was possibly the reference for previous image. 

 

An drawing of Zeppelin escaping through the back of the Inn 

The rear of the inn also around 1900, a gabled extension has been added on the left

From these images I have sketched a footprint for my model. The intended base size may change a little once the basic buildings have been dressed. 

Having made that sketch I found two more aspects that confused me a little. 

This postcard of the action confuses the issue by showing what appears to be a barn in the photograph as a dwelling (I like the touch in the lower left of the chasseur leading a little girl away from the action to the safety of her mother). 

Then there is this image of the property in March 2023 (a screen capture from Google Street View). The dwelling/barn shown in the other images is gone and the rue principe runs through where it stood, but it clarifies something that I wasn't sure about in the first and second images which was whether the stables were actually connected to the main building, which they clearly are/were and that the main part of the inn was actually longer than I had designed. So the inn was extended another 30mm and the stables were then physically connected to it. The other building would continue to be just an open barn.

So here is the finished item.

Villages for the Franco-Prussian War - Part 11: Chocolate Box Alsace House No 2.

The inspiration for this Chocolate Box house, the penultimate model in my FPW Alsacian building series,  draws on this charming building in Wissembourg in the very north of Alsace - a few  hundred metres from the German border, and directly opposite from where I sat with a cold beer on a hot summer's day in 2018.

I decided not to use the wedge shape created where two converging streets in the image meet (although the idea was appealing), but the  thought calculating the angles for the roof with my limited mathematical skills made my brain hurt. So I kept the basic features of the front face - narrow and tall, with a very steep roof pitch and that unique dormer window poking through the half-hipped roof. I decided to put multi-tiered dormer windows on one face and a single wide dormer on the other. It needed more, but with limited roofing material available I needed to keep the foot print small so added a 20mm x 60mm cantilevered balcony on the right hand side. A couple of pent roofs on the back of the building makes the footprint appear larger than it is. A base with space on each side allows the building to be placed alongside those without a base or walled spaces and the plain space in front of the doors allows either face to be used as the front. 

This building has taken much longer than I anticipated largely because of those difficult roof angles, in particular those two dormer windows front and rear were a nightmare to get right. Then there is the cantilevered balcony that annoyingly is 1mm off level and it is noticeable... mind you I shouldn't feel too bad when I remember seeing the well known Maison de Sel in Wissembourg that is just around the corner from the image at the head of the post - at least my roof line is straight! I'm really glad now that I avoided that wedge shape though. That said, I am pleased with the final chocolate box result.

Building number six, a much plainer building is well under way and should be completed in a few more days.

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Villages for the Franco-Prussian War - Part 10: Chocolate Box Alsace House

Inspiration for this 'Chocolate Box' house comes from the area near Colmar, a pretty town  about 50 kilometers south of Strasbourg. Famous for its colourful timbered houses and the area La Petite Venise where the banks of the Lauch River are flanked by pastel coloured homes laden with flower boxes.

As tempting as these waterside houses are they are rather limiting for a wargames table so I have drawn on this house (actually a wine merchant's premises) in Kayserberg, a couple of kilometres north west of Colmar.

For my purposes this needed to be made a little less 21st Century pretty and more 19th Century practical with a field stone outbuilding appended to one side and a small courtyard. It is taller than others I have done in this series and with a steeper pitch to the roof. Buildings of three or four stories are common in an area where taxes were calculated on ground surface area and to get around that tax many made use of  cantilevered upper levels to gain floor space out compromising the footprint (I used a cantilevered balcony in the first building of this series, I have a slight cantilever here and am using it again in the next build). This one also features multi-tiered dormer windows (another common feature that provided ventilation and drying space clothes or grain storage). I have, however, retained the window boxes on the upper windows to keep that 'chocolate box' charm.

I still have enough roofing material to make two more buildings and the next one will be another 'Chocolate Box' house before I return to a more grounded example.

Villages for the Franco-Prussian War - Part 9: The Next Alsace House

The inspiration for this house is based on these photographs taken of Froeschwiller shortly after the battle. Many of these houses still stand today, albeit significantly refurbished.

From these images I have made this piece, an all stone barn base with a timbered living quarters upstairs with a small courtyard and stairs at the back leading to the living quarters...I am glad not to live there and have to carry the groceries up those steps!

Building number four in this series, a much prettier structure, is in the final stages of construction now. 

Villages for the Franco-Prussian War - Part 8: Another Alsace House

Well Blogger's ongoing RSS feed issue all but buried my last post, so here's hoping that one displays a bit more speedily. EDIT : Wouldn't you know, this one appeared inside three minutes!

This  building was inspired by these images captured on a Goggle Street View "drive through" of modern day Froeschwiller. I quite liked the mix of house and barn - another byre house - as well as the mix of stone barn and timbered house.

Common in the region (and can be a bit of a pain to model) is the bonnet roof with its varied pitch and half-hipped gable that looks as though it has been clipped off, and the pent roofs that provide protection from weather for the lower timber joints, exposed beams and plasterwork, while providing cover to windows and entry ways. Most of the buildings I will do in this series will feature this type of roofing.

Two more Alsacian houses are on the work table and one or two more will follow that...the final number will be dependant on the amount roof tile sheet I have left towards the end.

 

Napoleonic Game

Today's game, postponed from two weeks ago, was a Napoleonic one. Set in  September 1813 with the French column falling back towards Leipzig where the Emperor is consolidating the army for the next phase of operations. However, as the column was moving west a sizable Coalition force has been detected advancing from the south on a parallel road, threatening to capture the vital bridge over the Mulde near Bennewitz. A French force consisting of three small infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions have been turned south to intercept this force and prevent it from interfering with the rest of the column crossing the Mulde.

The French begin the game on the northern edge of the table, up to 300mm in from the edge, but only need to deploy troops in view from the opposite side of the table. Initiative is weighted in favour of the Coalition (they roll 2 dice to the French 1 - the highest score moves first) once the first turn is completed the French player must place all his units on the table.

The Forces were:

French	Coalition
Infantry Division: 10 battalions, 2 light, 1 field, 1 horse batteries Infantry Division: 8 battalions, 1 field, 1 horse batteries Infantry Division: 8 battalions 2 field batteries Cuirassier Division: 3 Cuirassier regiments, 1 horse battery Heavy Cavalry Division; 4 Dragoon regiments, 1 horse battery Artillery Reserve: 1 field, 1 heavy batteries	Austrians: Infantry Division; 8 battalions, 2 field batteries Light Brigade: 1 Hussar regiment 1 jager and 1 Grenze battalion, 1 horse battery
	Russians: Infantry Division: 12 battalions, 2 light, 1 position battery
	Prussians: Infantry Division: 8 line, 2 reserve 2 landwehr battalions, 1 jager battalion, 2 field batteries
	Coalition cavalry: Division: 4 Austrian Cuirassier regiments, 1 Russian horse battery Division; 2 Russian dragoon, 1 Prussian Landwehr and 1 Prussian Cuirassier regiments, 1 Prussian horse battery
27 battalions, 7 Cavalry regiments, 2 light, 6 field and 4 horse batteries	35 battalions, 9 cavalry regiments, 7 field and 3 horse batteries

In addition each side had a reserve they could call on. Each reserve consisted of a brigade of guard infantry, a brigade of guard cavalry plus artillery. There were, however, restrictions on the reserves. Both sides had to decide before the commencement of turn 4 if they were going to call the reserve and if they did would roll 1 xD6 and if the score was 4,5,6 it would arrive on the table edge in turn 4 otherwise on turn 5. There was also a catch for calling that reserve that neither side was aware of (other than being told that there was a potential penalty). That catch was that the French guard was the rearguard of the column and the Russian guard was closing on them. If the French Guard was called and the Russians were not, the Russians are assumed to have driven the main French column and secured the Mulde bridge, winning the game. Conversely if the Russian guard were called and the French were not, the main French column was not pressured and crossed the Mulde, winning the game. If neither of the guards were called success was determined by who controled the three exit roads on the French northeastern side of the table.

The Terrain

 

The Game

My  plans for an eight player game were thwarted when two had to cancel and I had to play, where I had intended to umpire. Sadly one of those who cancelled was our regular war correspondent so I am drastically short of photographs.

The French deployed  their strongest division plus the cuirassier division on their right, with the other two divisions to the left and on the extreme left the dragoons. 

The Coalition forces deployed with the Russians in the left, the Prussians to their right and the Austrians on the extreme right. All their cavalry was to the right.

The Russians were quickly held by a sweeping movement by the French right, but were able to hold their position, despite appallingly bad luck with their artillery. The main coalition effort was by the Prussians supported by the Austrian artillery and cavalry. 

The French left, however,  was a hard nut to crack because it was difficult for the Allies to find away around the farm. The French commander in this sector, however, was convinced he was defeated from the start, yet he held onto his position until almost the very end of the game.

The Russians were always going to be in trouble, but a bit of bad luck on the French part let them hold on for longer than they should have, but in the end they crumbled, the Russian Guard was called and ordered to march right across the rear of the Coalition  position toward the left. The unengaged Austrian infantry also shifted left. 

In the end the left of both lines collapsed. The Prussians mauled but not beaten controlled the centre right while the Russian Guard and Austrian infantry formed up to face the largely intact French right.

But as the action came to a close, since the Russian Guard  had been called, there was no pressure on the French main column and they managed to clear the bridge. The rearguard, badly mauled as it was, has saved the day. The Emperor was pleased.

And so to the few pictures I managed to take...in no particular sequence...