Time Astra

Schematic plan · Dutch War

Battle of Fehrbellin

All battlesThe event in the chronicleWikipedia
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 groundHorseHorseHorseHorseCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingLeft wingRight wingGunsReserveReserveGuns01 km2 kmN

Prussia (Pr Army, 6,000 men under Frederick William) attacked Sweden (Sw Army, 6,400 men under Wrangel) in Brandenburg. The CAA Database of Battles records 2 hours of fighting on a front of 3.4 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Prussia won. Losses: Prussia 500 (8%), Sweden 2,500 (39%).

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

Prussia

Frederick William

UnitArmMen
Prussia left wingInfantry673
Prussia centreInfantry898
Prussia right wingInfantry673
Prussia reserveInfantry561
Prussia cavalry of the leftCavalry1,500
Prussia cavalry of the rightCavalry1,500
Prussia artillery (13 guns)Artillery195
Frederick WilliamCommander—
In this plan6,000

Sweden

Wrangel

UnitArmMen
Sweden left wingInfantry631
Sweden centreInfantry842
Sweden right wingInfantry631
Sweden reserveInfantry526
Sweden cavalry of the leftCavalry1,600
Sweden cavalry of the rightCavalry1,600
Sweden artillery (38 guns)Artillery570
WrangelCommander—
In this plan6,400

What the sources report

PrussiaSweden
Strength, this plan6,0006,400
Losses, this plan5002,500

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 38, “Fehrbellin”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
2 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
3.4 km (attacker), 2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Prussiaattacker6,0005006,00013Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued
Swedendefender6,4002,5006,40038Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages leadership +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.