Time Astra

Schematic plan · Franco-Prussian War

Battle of Gravelotte

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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 wingReserveGunsHorseHorseGunsHorseHorse05 km10 kmN

Germany (Ger 1st & 2nd Armies, 187,000 men under Moltke) attacked France (Fr Army of Lorraine, 113,000 men under Bazaine) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 8.5 hours of fighting on a front of 16 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, right flank against hasty defense, and that Germany won. Losses: Germany 20,200 (11%), France 12,800 (11%).

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

Moltke

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry37,205
Germany centreInfantry49,606
Germany right wingInfantry37,205
Germany reserveInfantry31,004
Germany cavalry of the leftCavalry10,500
Germany cavalry of the rightCavalry10,500
Germany artillery (732 guns)Artillery10,980
MoltkeCommander—
In this plan187,000

France

Bazaine

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry22,128
France centreInfantry29,504
France right wingInfantry22,128
France reserveInfantry18,440
France cavalry of the leftCavalry6,500
France cavalry of the rightCavalry6,500
France artillery (520 guns)Artillery7,800
BazaineCommander—
In this plan113,000

What the sources report

GermanyFrance
Strength, this plan187,000113,000
Losses, this plan20,20012,800

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 224, “Gravelotte-St. Privat”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
8.5 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
16 km (attacker), 16 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker187,00020,20021,000732Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Right flank; Penetration; Stalemate
Francedefender113,00012,80013,000520Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Withdrew; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · 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.