Time Astra

Schematic plan · Thirty Year's War

Battle of Freiburg

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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.
Rugged, Mixed groundHorseHorseHorseHorseCentreLeft wingRight wingCentreReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns02 km4 kmN

France (Fr Army, 19,000 men under Conde & Turenne) attacked Holy Roman Empire (Imp Army, 16,000 men under Mercy) in Swabia. The CAA Database of Battles records 11.5 hours of fighting on a front of 6.4 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that France won. Losses: France 8,000 (42%), Holy Roman Empire 4,000 (25%).

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

Conde · Turenne

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry2,507
France centreInfantry3,342
France right wingInfantry2,507
France reserveInfantry2,089
France cavalry of the leftCavalry4,000
France cavalry of the rightCavalry4,000
France artillery (37 guns)Artillery555
Conde & TurenneCommander—
In this plan19,000

Holy Roman Empire

Mercy

UnitArmMen
Holy Roman Empire left wingInfantry1,819
Holy Roman Empire centreInfantry2,426
Holy Roman Empire right wingInfantry1,819
Holy Roman Empire reserveInfantry1,516
Holy Roman Empire cavalry of the leftCavalry4,000
Holy Roman Empire cavalry of the rightCavalry4,000
Holy Roman Empire artillery (28 guns)Artillery420
MercyCommander—
In this plan16,000

What the sources report

FranceHoly Roman Empire
Strength, this plan19,00016,000
Losses, this plan8,0004,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 15, “Freiburg”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
11.5 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
6.4 km (attacker), 6.4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Franceattacker19,0008,0008,00037Frontal attack; Penetration; Pursued
Holy Roman Empiredefender16,0004,0008,00028Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages intelligence +1 · initiative +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.