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Schematic plan · The Napoleonic Wars

Battle of Lützen (1813)

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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.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingHorseHorseReserveGunsHorseHorseGuns02 km4 kmN

Russia and Prussia (Russ & Pr Armies, 93,000 men under Wittgenstein & Bluecher) attacked France (Fr Army, 120,000 men under Napoleon I) in Saxony. The CAA Database of Battles records 9.3 hours of fighting on a front of 8 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that France held. Losses: Russia and Prussia 18,000 (19%), France 22,000 (18%).

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

Russia and Prussia

Wittgenstein · Bluecher

UnitArmMen
Russia left wingInfantry14,520
Russia centreInfantry19,360
Russia right wingInfantry14,520
Russia reserveInfantry12,100
Russia cavalry of the leftCavalry12,500
Russia cavalry of the rightCavalry12,500
Russia artillery (500 guns)Artillery7,500
Wittgenstein & BluecherCommander—
In this plan93,000

France

Napoleon I

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry26,100
France centreInfantry34,800
France right wingInfantry26,100
France reserveInfantry21,750
France cavalry of the leftCavalry3,750
France cavalry of the rightCavalry3,750
France artillery (250 guns)Artillery3,750
Napoleon ICommander—
In this plan120,000

What the sources report

RussiaFrance
Strength, this plan93,000120,000
Losses, this plan18,00022,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 135, “Luetzen”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
9.3 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
8 km (attacker), 8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Russia & Prussiaattacker93,00018,00025,000500Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Francedefender120,00022,0007,500250Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Penetration

Attacker’s advantages training +1 · intelligence +1 · surprise +1

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.