Time Astra

Schematic plan · Franco-Prussian War

Battle of Le Mans

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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 groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns05 km10 kmN

Germany (Ger 2nd Army, 72,000 men under Friedrick Karl) attacked France (Fr Army of the Loire, 88,000 men under Chanzy) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 17 hours of fighting on a front of 25 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, left flank against prepared defense, and that Germany won. Losses: Germany 4,000 (6%), France 26,000 (30%).

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

Friedrick Karl

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry16,114
Germany centreInfantry21,485
Germany right wingInfantry16,114
Germany reserveInfantry13,428
Germany artillery (324 guns)Artillery4,860
Friedrick KarlCommander—
In this plan72,001

France

Chanzy

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry21,120
France centreInfantry28,160
France right wingInfantry21,120
France reserveInfantry17,600
ChanzyCommander—
In this plan88,000

What the sources report

GermanyFrance
Strength, this plan72,00088,000
Losses, this plan4,00026,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 228, “Le Mans”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
17 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Cold, Winter, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
25 km (attacker), 25 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker72,0004,000—324Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Left flank; Breakthrough; Pursued
Francedefender88,00026,000——Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages training +2 · combat effectiveness +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.