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Schematic plan · The Seven Year's War

Battle of Rossbach

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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 groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseGunsGuns01 km2 kmN

France and Austria (Fr & Ger Army, 42,000 men under Soubise & Saxe-Hildburghausen) attacked Prussia (Pr Army, 22,000 men under Frederick II) in Saxony. The CAA Database of Battles records 1.5 hours of fighting on a front of 2.7 km, a single envelopment, left flank against hasty defense, and that Prussia held. Losses: France and Austria 10,150 (24%), Prussia 548 (2%).

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

France and Austria

Soubise · Saxe-Hildburghausen

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry7,266
France centreInfantry9,688
France right wingInfantry7,266
France reserveInfantry6,055
France cavalry of the leftCavalry5,000
France cavalry of the rightCavalry5,000
France artillery (115 guns)Artillery1,725
Soubise & Saxe-HildburghausenCommander—
In this plan42,000

Prussia

Frederick II

UnitArmMen
Prussia left wingInfantry3,700
Prussia centreInfantry4,933
Prussia right wingInfantry3,700
Prussia reserveInfantry3,083
Prussia cavalry of the leftCavalry2,700
Prussia cavalry of the rightCavalry2,700
Prussia artillery (79 guns)Artillery1,185
Frederick IICommander—
In this plan22,001

What the sources report

FrancePrussia
Strength, this plan42,00022,000
Losses, this plan10,150548

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 69, “Rossbach”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
1.5 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
2.7 km (attacker), 4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
France & Austriaattacker42,00010,15010,000115Single envelopment; Left flank; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses
Prussiadefender22,0005485,40079Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Breakthrough; Pursued

Attacker’s advantages none recorded

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.