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Schematic plan · Boer War

Battle of Colenso

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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 wingReserveGunsHorseHorseHorseHorse02 km4 kmN

Great Britain (Br Army, 13,411 men under Buller) attacked South African Republic (Boer Army, 5,500 men under Botha) in South Africa. The CAA Database of Battles records 10.5 hours of fighting on a front of 9.5 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that South African Republic held. Losses: Great Britain 1,126 (8%), South African Republic 50 (1%).

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

Buller

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry2,860
Great Britain centreInfantry3,813
Great Britain right wingInfantry2,860
Great Britain reserveInfantry2,383
Great Britain cavalry of the leftCavalry418
Great Britain cavalry of the rightCavalry418
Great Britain artillery (44 guns)Artillery660
BullerCommander—
In this plan13,412

South African Republic

Botha

UnitArmMen
South African Republic left wingInfantry1,200
South African Republic centreInfantry1,600
South African Republic right wingInfantry1,200
South African Republic reserveInfantry1,000
South African Republic cavalry of the leftCavalry250
South African Republic cavalry of the rightCavalry250
BothaCommander—
In this plan5,500

What the sources report

Great BritainSouth African Republic
Strength, this plan13,4115,500
Losses, this plan1,12650

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 238, “Colenso”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
10.5 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Flat, Bare
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
9.5 km (attacker), 10 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Great Britainattacker13,4111,12683644Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
South African Republicdefender5,50050500—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.