Time Astra

Schematic plan · US-Mexican War

Battle of Molino del Rey

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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 wingReserveHorseHorseGunsSanta Anna0500 m1 kmN

USA (US Army, 3,100 men under Worth) attacked Mexico (Mex Army, 12,000 men under Santa Anna) in Mexico. The CAA Database of Battles records 2 hours of fighting on a front of 1.6 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 792 (26%), Mexico 2,700 (23%).

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

USA

Worth

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry640
USA centreInfantry853
USA right wingInfantry640
USA reserveInfantry533
USA cavalry of the leftCavalry150
USA cavalry of the rightCavalry150
USA artillery (9 guns)Artillery135
WorthCommander—
In this plan3,101

Mexico

Santa Anna

UnitArmMen
Mexico left wingInfantry2,880
Mexico centreInfantry3,840
Mexico right wingInfantry2,880
Mexico reserveInfantry2,400
Santa AnnaCommander—
In this plan12,000

What the sources report

USAMexico
Strength, this plan3,10012,000
Losses, this plan7922,700

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 163, “Molino Del Rey”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
2 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
1.6 km (attacker), 1 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker3,1007923009Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued
Mexicodefender12,0002,700——Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +1 · momentum +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.