Time Astra

Schematic plan · The Seven Year's War

Battle of Liegnitz (1760)

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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 wingLeft wingRight wingHorseHorseReserveReserveHorseHorseGunsGuns01 km2 kmN

Austria (Aus & Russ Army, 30,000 men under Daun & Laudon) attacked Prussia (Pr Army, 30,000 men under Frederick II) in Silesia. The CAA Database of Battles records 2 hours of fighting on a front of 2.4 km, a single envelopment, left flank against hasty defense, and that Prussia held. Losses: Austria 6,000 (20%), Prussia 3,600 (12%).

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

Austria

Daun · Laudon

UnitArmMen
Austria left wingInfantry4,572
Austria centreInfantry6,096
Austria right wingInfantry4,572
Austria reserveInfantry3,810
Austria cavalry of the leftCavalry4,500
Austria cavalry of the rightCavalry4,500
Austria artillery (130 guns)Artillery1,950
Daun & LaudonCommander—
In this plan30,000

Prussia

Frederick II

UnitArmMen
Prussia left wingInfantry4,968
Prussia centreInfantry6,624
Prussia right wingInfantry4,968
Prussia reserveInfantry4,140
Prussia cavalry of the leftCavalry3,750
Prussia cavalry of the rightCavalry3,750
Prussia artillery (120 guns)Artillery1,800
Frederick IICommander—
In this plan30,000

What the sources report

AustriaPrussia
Strength, this plan30,00030,000
Losses, this plan6,0003,600

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 80, “Liegnitz”, 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 defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
2.4 km (attacker), 4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Austriaattacker30,0006,0009,000130Single envelopment; Left flank; Penetration
Prussiadefender30,0003,6007,500120Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Withdrew

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.