Time Astra

Schematic plan · American Revolution

Battle of Germantown

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.
GermantownUrban groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveWashington01 km2 kmN

USA (Am Army, 11,200 men under Washington) attacked Great Britain (Br Army, 9,000 men under Howe) in Pennsylvania. The CAA Database of Battles records 4 hours of fighting on a front of 4 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Great Britain held. Losses: USA 1,090 (10%), Great Britain 551 (6%).

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

USA

Washington

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry2,688
USA centreInfantry3,584
USA right wingInfantry2,688
USA reserveInfantry2,240
WashingtonCommander—
In this plan11,200

Great Britain

Howe

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry2,160
Great Britain centreInfantry2,880
Great Britain right wingInfantry2,160
Great Britain reserveInfantry1,800
HoweCommander—
In this plan9,000

What the sources report

USAGreat Britain
Strength, this plan11,2009,000
Losses, this plan1,090551

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 88, “Germantown”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
4 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Urban
Weather
Wet, Light precipitation, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
4 km (attacker), 2.8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker11,2001,090——Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Great Britaindefender9,000551——Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · initiative +1 · surprise +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.