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Schematic plan · Boer War

Battle of Paardeberg

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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, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns01 km2 kmN

Great Britain (Br Army, 15,000 men under Roberts) attacked South African Republic (Boer Army, 4,000 men under Cronje) in South Africa. The CAA Database of Battles records 7.3 hours of fighting on a front of 4 km, a frontal attack, double envelopment against prepared defense, and that neither side won. Losses: Great Britain 1,270 (8%), South African Republic 350 (9%).

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

Roberts

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry3,485
Great Britain centreInfantry4,646
Great Britain right wingInfantry3,485
Great Britain reserveInfantry2,904
Great Britain artillery (32 guns)Artillery480
RobertsCommander—
In this plan15,000

South African Republic

Cronje

UnitArmMen
South African Republic left wingInfantry938
South African Republic centreInfantry1,251
South African Republic right wingInfantry938
South African Republic reserveInfantry782
South African Republic artillery (6 guns)Artillery90
CronjeCommander—
In this plan3,999

What the sources report

Great BritainSouth African Republic
Strength, this plan15,0004,000
Losses, this plan1,270350

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 240, “Paardeburg”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
7.3 hours
Winner
the draw
Terrain
Flat, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Hot, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
4 km (attacker), 4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Great Britainattacker15,0001,270—32Frontal attack; Double envelopment; Repulse
South African Republicdefender4,000350—6Defensive plan

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +1 · morale +1 · logistics +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.