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Schematic plan · Boer War

Battle of Magersfontein

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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.
Flat, Bare groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns02 km4 kmN

Great Britain (Br Army, 15,000 men under Methuen) attacked South African Republic (Boer Army, 9,000 men under Cronje) in South Africa. The CAA Database of Battles records 9 hours of fighting on a front of 7.2 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that South African Republic held. Losses: Great Britain 948 (6%), South African Republic 236 (3%).

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

Great Britain

Methuen

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry3,496
Great Britain centreInfantry4,661
Great Britain right wingInfantry3,496
Great Britain reserveInfantry2,913
Great Britain artillery (29 guns)Artillery435
MethuenCommander—
In this plan15,001

South African Republic

Cronje

UnitArmMen
South African Republic left wingInfantry2,160
South African Republic centreInfantry2,880
South African Republic right wingInfantry2,160
South African Republic reserveInfantry1,800
CronjeCommander—
In this plan9,000

What the sources report

Great BritainSouth African Republic
Strength, this plan15,0009,000
Losses, this plan948236

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 237, “Magersfontein”, 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 defender
Terrain
Flat, Bare
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
7.2 km (attacker), 12.8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Great Britainattacker15,000948—29Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
South African Republicdefender9,000236——Defensive plan

Attacker’s advantages training +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.