Time Astra

Schematic plan · Crimean War

Battle of Inkerman

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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, Bare groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns0500 m1 kmN

Russia (Russ Army, 42,000 men under Menshikov) attacked Great Britain and France (Br & Fr Army, 16,000 men under Raglan & Canrobert) in The Crimea. The CAA Database of Battles records 7.3 hours of fighting on a front of 2.5 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that Great Britain and France held. Losses: Russia 15,187 (36%), Great Britain and France 4,105 (26%).

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

Menshikov

UnitArmMen
Russia left wingInfantry9,698
Russia centreInfantry12,931
Russia right wingInfantry9,698
Russia reserveInfantry8,082
Russia artillery (106 guns)Artillery1,590
MenshikovCommander—
In this plan41,999

Great Britain and France

Raglan · Canrobert

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry3,638
Great Britain centreInfantry4,851
Great Britain right wingInfantry3,638
Great Britain reserveInfantry3,032
Great Britain artillery (56 guns)Artillery840
Raglan & CanrobertCommander—
In this plan15,999

What the sources report

RussiaGreat Britain
Strength, this plan42,00016,000
Losses, this plan15,1874,105

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 166, “Inkerman”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
7.3 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Bare
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Cold, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
2.5 km (attacker), 2.5 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Russiaattacker42,00015,187—106Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Great Britain & Francedefender16,0004,105—56Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack

Attacker’s advantages 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.