Time Astra

Schematic plan · War of the Austrian Succession

Battle of Dettingen

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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 wingReserveHorseHorseHorseHorseGunsGuns0500 m1 kmN

Great Britain (Br & Han Army, 35,000 men under George II) attacked France (Fr Army, 26,000 men under Noailles) in Bavaria. The CAA Database of Battles records 12 hours of fighting on a front of 2.3 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Great Britain won. Losses: Great Britain 2,500 (7%), France 4,000 (15%).

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

George II

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry6,127
Great Britain centreInfantry8,170
Great Britain right wingInfantry6,127
Great Britain reserveInfantry5,106
Great Britain cavalry of the leftCavalry4,000
Great Britain cavalry of the rightCavalry4,000
Great Britain artillery (98 guns)Artillery1,470
George IICommander—
In this plan35,000

France

Noailles

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry5,078
France centreInfantry6,771
France right wingInfantry5,078
France reserveInfantry4,232
France cavalry of the leftCavalry2,000
France cavalry of the rightCavalry2,000
France artillery (56 guns)Artillery840
NoaillesCommander—
In this plan25,999

What the sources report

Great BritainFrance
Strength, this plan35,00026,000
Losses, this plan2,5004,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 57, “Dettingen”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
12 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
2.3 km (attacker), 2.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Great Britainattacker35,0002,5008,00098Frontal attack; Penetration; Pursued
Francedefender26,0004,0004,00056Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages combat effectiveness +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.