Time Astra

Schematic plan · Franco-Prussian War

Battle of Wörth (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 wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsHorseHorseHorseHorseGuns02 km4 kmN

Germany (Ger 3rd Army, 82,000 men under Friedrich Wilhelm) attacked France (Fr Army of Alsace, 41,000 men under Macmahon) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 9 hours of fighting on a front of 10 km, a frontal attack, double envelopment against hasty defense, and that Germany won. Losses: Germany 10,700 (13%), France 20,300 (50%).

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 wingInfantry17,256
Germany centreInfantry23,008
Germany right wingInfantry17,256
Germany reserveInfantry14,380
Germany cavalry of the leftCavalry2,800
Germany cavalry of the rightCavalry2,800
Germany artillery (300 guns)Artillery4,500
Friedrich WilhelmCommander—
In this plan82,000

France

Macmahon

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry7,928
France centreInfantry10,571
France right wingInfantry7,928
France reserveInfantry6,607
France cavalry of the leftCavalry3,000
France cavalry of the rightCavalry3,000
France artillery (131 guns)Artillery1,965
MacmahonCommander—
In this plan40,999

What the sources report

GermanyFrance
Strength, this plan82,00041,000
Losses, this plan10,70020,300

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 221, “Froeschwiller”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
9 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Light precipitation, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
10 km (attacker), 8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker82,00010,7005,600300Frontal attack; Double envelopment; Penetration; Pursued
Francedefender41,00020,3006,000131Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages momentum +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.