Time Astra

Schematic plan · Russo-Japanese War

Battle of Te-li-Ssu

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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 wingReserveReserveGunsHorseHorseGunsHorseHorse02 km4 kmN

Japan (Jap 2nd Army, 36,000 men under Oku) attacked Russia (Russ Army, 38,000 men under Stakelberg) in Manchuria. The CAA Database of Battles records 16.7 hours of fighting on a front of 8 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that Japan won. Losses: Japan 1,200 (3%), Russia 3,800 (10%).

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

Oku

UnitArmMen
Japan left wingInfantry7,771
Japan centreInfantry10,362
Japan right wingInfantry7,771
Japan reserveInfantry6,476
Japan cavalry of the leftCavalry1,000
Japan cavalry of the rightCavalry1,000
Japan artillery (108 guns)Artillery1,620
OkuCommander—
In this plan36,000

Russia

Stakelberg

UnitArmMen
Russia left wingInfantry8,062
Russia centreInfantry10,749
Russia right wingInfantry8,062
Russia reserveInfantry6,718
Russia cavalry of the leftCavalry1,500
Russia cavalry of the rightCavalry1,500
Russia artillery (94 guns)Artillery1,410
StakelbergCommander—
In this plan38,001

What the sources report

JapanRussia
Strength, this plan36,00038,000
Losses, this plan1,2003,800

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 243, “Telissu”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
16.7 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width
8 km (attacker), 6.5 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Japanattacker36,0001,2002,000108Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued
Russiadefender38,0003,8003,00094Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages leadership +2 · intelligence +1 · 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.