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Schematic plan · The Balkan Wars

Battle of Monastir

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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 wingCentreReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns010 km20 kmN

Serbia (Serb Army Group, 120,000 men under Gen Putnik) attacked Ottoman Empire (Tk Army of Macedonia, 90,000 men under Kara Said Pasha) in European Turkey. The CAA Database of Battles records 12 hours of fighting on a front of 37 km, a single envelopment, left flank, frontal attack against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that Serbia won. Losses: Serbia 5,000 (4%), Ottoman Empire 20,000 (22%).

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 wingInfantry28,800
Serbia centreInfantry38,400
Serbia right wingInfantry28,800
Serbia reserveInfantry24,000
Gen PutnikCommander—
In this plan120,000

Ottoman Empire

Kara Said Pasha

UnitArmMen
Ottoman Empire left wingInfantry21,312
Ottoman Empire centreInfantry28,416
Ottoman Empire right wingInfantry21,312
Ottoman Empire reserveInfantry17,760
Ottoman Empire artillery (80 guns)Artillery1,200
Kara Said PashaCommander—
In this plan90,000

What the sources report

SerbiaOttoman Empire
Strength, this plan120,00090,000
Losses, this plan5,00020,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 251, “Monastir”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
12 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width
37 km (attacker), 20 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Serbiaattacker120,0005,0000—Single envelopment; Left flank; Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued
Ottoman Empiredefender90,00020,000080Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · momentum +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.