THE WAR GAME OF PRUSSIA
The United Services Magazine 1831 p76-77 anon.
This is the first review I have found of the Prussian Kriegsspiel in English.
I note that many of the readers in 1831 were assumed to know of this innovation, even though
it was not been systematically introduced.
THE familiar mode of illustrating the evolutions of troops by small rectangular figures, is probably known to many of our readers, but it has never been systematically adopted to promote this branch of knowledge in the British army.
On the Continent, various apparatus for this purpose have appeared at different times, and an account of one of them is given in the Military and Naval Magazine of December 1827, under the title" War Game of the Continent." It was invented in the year 1780, by Mr. Hellwig, Professor of Mathematics at the College of Brunswick, and met with much approbation from several distinguished Commanders. Hellwig's game appears to have been a kind of chess, not military enough to deserve exclusive adoption by the army, nor of such general interest as to supersede the long established game of chess. On the Continent it has entirely yielded to the War Game introduced about six years ago, under the patronage of the Royal Family of Prussia, by De Reisswitz, an officer of the Artillery of the Guard; and as, owing to the habits of the people in that country, the greatest encouragement is given to any project tending to keep alive the spirit and improve the knowledge of the military profession, the merits of the invention were very soon appreciated. The Emperor of Russia hearing of it, sent for De Reisswitz to Petersburgh, to teach it in his army: it is also known in the Bavarian army, an officer of which has pubbshed a work for the improvement of the rules; and about a year ago it passed into France, where nothing that is Prussian would be too readily adopted.
The superiority of the Prussian game over Hellwig's, consists in its illustrating the operations of every description of force, as they actually take place in the field: it is not so artificial, for instead of Hellwig's board forming a field of battle, divided into square inches, which represents various kinds of ground; for instance, the whole square denoting inaccessible ground; the blue, water; the red, a house (or a town !); we have, in the Reisswitz game, actual plans of ground, showing every feature which can affect tactical movements; and instead of mere symbols of troops, here we have marks made, according to" the• scale of the plan, and filling the actual space which the bodies of troops they represent, whether in line or column, would occupy on the ground. Perhaps the superiority of the Game of Reisswitz over that of Hellwig, cannot be better described in general terms, than by comparing it to the advantage of the practice of tactics in the field over any theory or game whatever,
The apparatus for the Prussian game consists of small rectangular figures, which may be made of wood or tin, painted, and of various sizes, according to the strength of the force they represent, from detachments of ten men, or even single individuals; and single piece of cannon, to masses of six battalions and brigades of artillery; of scales, showing the ranges of musketry; and of artillery, with grape or shot; also of plans on a large scale, for instance, of four or six inches to one mile.
With the exception of the. plans, the apparatus might be made• for one or two guineas; temporary apparatus might even be made of pasteboard for a few shillings. Three plans, on a scale of about eight inches to one mile, have been lithographed in Berlin, expressly for this game, according to the system introduced by Baron Muffling, and uniformly adopted in the Prussian army, which exhibits in a simple man~ ner, all gradations of slope, at intervals of 5°, from 5° to 45°. - One of these plans contains Ligny and Quatre Bras; another Austerlitz; and the third the neighbourhood of Leipsick, including the fields of battle of Gustavus Adolphus, of Lutzen, and Breitenfeld, in 1631-32, also of the impottant contIicts in 1813. The smallest number of persons who play is three; two who act the part of the contending generals; the third is called the umpire, and ought to be the best player.
It is impossible, in a sketch like this, to give a correct notion of the game, reference must therefore be made to the work [1] describing it, which will probably soon be translated into French. There can be no doubt that much advantage to the officers of the army would follow the introduction of this game, as it would tend to preserve a knowledge which now exists only among those who had attained rank during the last war, whose numbers are fast diminishing, and whose dearly-bought experience must soon be lost to the service. But if officers commanding regiments were to• take an interest in it, and exemplify the scenes in which they have acted, according to the rules of it, they would confer a benefit on the army, which can be best appreciated by those who have sought information on the subject, and who have often felt how little is known of battles by the subordinate persons engaged in them, beyond the sphere of action of their own regiments.
The truth is, that with the exception of officer holding commands or. staff situations, whose duty is solely to watch and direct, an accurate acquaintance with the details of an action cannot Justly be expected. Hence, all published accounts of modern battles. With the exception of a few, by well known military authors, convey to the reader an Impression of the most vague nature: for instance, certain regiments are described to have attacked, in a most spirited manner, the position of the enemy; others met with considerable opposition, hut were most gallantly supported by, &c. &c.
Nothing can be collected from the obscurity of the relation, till at length, as if a cloud were withdrawn from the scene, the reader is relieved from the embarrassment of forming any conclusion, by being abruptly told that one side has gained a glorious victory, or retreated in good order. It is, however, quite a mistake to suppose that public dispatches should be the medium of giving detailed and scientific accounts of actions: no General officer, whose campaigns are worth knowing, would choose, in the course of a war, thus to lay open his mode of fighting his enemy. . .
Colonel Napier's work, excellent as it is in descriptions, is incomplete in the plans, which are on too small a scale, a scale only suited to stratagetical operations. The expense of engraving is undoubtedly the cause of this deficiency, but a lithographed set of plans of the principal battles, published separately, would be gladly purchased by many of the readers of that master-piece of English military history. C.
Footnote [1] It is entitled" Anleitung zur Darstellung Militairischer Maniiver mit demo Apparat des Kriegs-Spieles von B. von Reisswitz. Berlin. 1824." Also" Supplement zu den bisherigen Kriegs-Splel.Regeln."