Time Astra

Schematic plan · Franco-Prussian War

Battle of Wissembourg (1870)

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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 groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsHorseHorseCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseGuns02 km4 kmN

Germany (Ger 3rd Army, 51,000 men under Friedrich Wilhelm) attacked France (Fr I Corps (-), 6,000 men under Douay) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 6.5 hours of fighting on a front of 5 km, a frontal attack, double envelopment against hasty defense, and that Germany won. Losses: Germany 1,600 (3%), France 2,100 (35%).

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

Germany

Friedrich Wilhelm

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry10,978
Germany centreInfantry14,637
Germany right wingInfantry10,978
Germany reserveInfantry9,148
Germany cavalry of the leftCavalry1,550
Germany cavalry of the rightCavalry1,550
Germany artillery (144 guns)Artillery2,160
Friedrich WilhelmCommander—
In this plan51,001

France

Douay

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry1,159
France centreInfantry1,546
France right wingInfantry1,159
France reserveInfantry966
France cavalry of the leftCavalry450
France cavalry of the rightCavalry450
France artillery (18 guns)Artillery270
DouayCommander—
In this plan6,000

What the sources report

GermanyFrance
Strength, this plan51,0006,000
Losses, this plan1,6002,100

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 220, “Weissenburg”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
6.5 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Light precipitation, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
5 km (attacker), 2.5 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker51,0001,6003,100144Frontal attack; Double envelopment; Breakthrough; Pursued
Francedefender6,0002,10090018Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages intelligence +1 · initiative +1 · surprise +2

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.