Time Astra

Schematic plan · Russo-Japanese War

Battle of Yalu River (1904)

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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.
Rugged, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsHorseHorseHorseHorseGuns05 km10 kmN

Japan (Jap 1st Army, 56,000 men under Tamemoto Kuroki) attacked Russia (Russ Army, 18,000 men under Zasulich) in Korea. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 hours of fighting on a front of 8 km, a single envelopment, left flank, river crossing against prepared defense, and that Japan won. Losses: Japan 1,110 (2%), Russia 2,500 (14%).

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

Japan

Tamemoto Kuroki

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry12,533
Japan centreInfantry16,710
Japan right wingInfantry12,533
Japan reserveInfantry10,444
Japan cavalry of the leftCavalry900
Japan cavalry of the rightCavalry900
Japan artillery (132 guns)Artillery1,980
Tamemoto KurokiCommander—
In this plan56,000

Russia

Zasulich

UnitArmMen
Russia left wingInfantry3,667
Russia centreInfantry4,890
Russia right wingInfantry3,667
Russia reserveInfantry3,056
Russia cavalry of the leftCavalry1,000
Russia cavalry of the rightCavalry1,000
Russia artillery (48 guns)Artillery720
ZasulichCommander—
In this plan18,000

What the sources report

JapanRussia
Strength, this plan56,00018,000
Losses, this plan1,1102,500

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 242, “The Yalu”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
24 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
8 km (attacker), 14 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Japanattacker56,0001,1101,800132Single envelopment; Left flank; River crossing; Breakthrough; Pursued
Russiadefender18,0002,5002,00048Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages leadership +2 · initiative +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.