Time Astra

Schematic plan · War of the First Coalition

Battle of Valmy

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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 wingReserveReserveHorseHorseGunsGuns02 km4 kmN

Prussia (Allied Army, 34,000 men under Brunswick) attacked France (Armies of North & Center, 36,000 men under Dumouriez) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 4.8 hours of fighting on a front of 7 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that France held. Losses: Prussia 350 (1%), France 400 (1%).

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

Brunswick

UnitArmMen
Prussia left wingInfantry7,951
Prussia centreInfantry10,602
Prussia right wingInfantry7,951
Prussia reserveInfantry6,626
Prussia artillery (58 guns)Artillery870
BrunswickCommander—
In this plan34,000

France

Dumouriez

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry7,966
France centreInfantry10,621
France right wingInfantry7,966
France reserveInfantry6,638
France cavalry of the leftCavalry1,000
France cavalry of the rightCavalry1,000
France artillery (54 guns)Artillery810
DumouriezCommander—
In this plan36,001

What the sources report

PrussiaFrance
Strength, this plan34,00036,000
Losses, this plan350400

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 96, “Valmy”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
4.8 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
7 km (attacker), 8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Prussiaattacker34,000350—58Frontal attack; Stalemate; Withdrew
Francedefender36,0004002,00054Defensive plan; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages training +1 · 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.