Time Astra

Schematic plan · The Balkan Wars

Battle of Kumanovo

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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 groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingLeft wingRight wingReserveReserveGuns010 km20 kmN

Serbia (Serb 1st Army, 103,000 men under Gen Putnik) attacked Ottoman Empire (Tk Army of Macedonia, 110,000 men under Zehki Pasha) in European Turkey. The CAA Database of Battles records 23 hours of fighting on a front of 30 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Serbia won. Losses: Serbia 5,000 (5%), Ottoman Empire 10,000 (9%).

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

Serbia

Gen Putnik

UnitArmMen
Serbia left wingInfantry24,072
Serbia centreInfantry32,096
Serbia right wingInfantry24,072
Serbia reserveInfantry20,060
Serbia artillery (180 guns)Artillery2,700
Gen PutnikCommander—
In this plan103,000

Ottoman Empire

Zehki Pasha

UnitArmMen
Ottoman Empire left wingInfantry26,400
Ottoman Empire centreInfantry35,200
Ottoman Empire right wingInfantry26,400
Ottoman Empire reserveInfantry22,000
Zehki PashaCommander—
In this plan110,000

What the sources report

SerbiaOttoman Empire
Strength, this plan103,000110,000
Losses, this plan5,00010,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 248, “Kumanovo”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
23 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
30 km (attacker), 30 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Serbiaattacker103,0005,0000180Frontal attack; Penetration
Ottoman Empiredefender110,00010,0000—Defensive/offensive plan; Withdrew

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