Time Astra

Schematic plan · The Napoleonic Wars

Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
FuentesUrban groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseHorseHorseGunsGunsMassena01 km2 kmN

France (Fr Army, 48,260 men under Massena) attacked Great Britain (Br & Port Armies, 37,360 men under Wellington) in Spain. The CAA Database of Battles records 7 hours of fighting on a front of 6.4 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, right flank against prepared defense, and that Great Britain held. Losses: France 2,700 (6%), Great Britain 1,800 (5%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

France

Massena

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry10,327
France centreInfantry13,770
France right wingInfantry10,327
France reserveInfantry8,606
France cavalry of the leftCavalry2,330
France cavalry of the rightCavalry2,330
France artillery (38 guns)Artillery570
MassenaCommander—
In this plan48,260

Great Britain

Wellington

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry8,345
Great Britain centreInfantry11,126
Great Britain right wingInfantry8,345
Great Britain reserveInfantry6,954
Great Britain cavalry of the leftCavalry935
Great Britain cavalry of the rightCavalry935
Great Britain artillery (48 guns)Artillery720
WellingtonCommander—
In this plan37,360

What the sources report

FranceGreat Britain
Strength, this plan48,26037,360
Losses, this plan2,7001,800

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 130, “Fuentes De Onoro”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
7 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Urban
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
6.4 km (attacker), 6.4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Franceattacker48,2602,7004,66038Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Right flank; Repulse; Stalemate
Great Britaindefender37,3601,8001,87048Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages none recorded

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.