Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1914)

Battle of Heights of Nancy

All battles
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 wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserve010 km20 kmN

Germany (Ger 6th & 7th Armies, 350,000 men under Gen Moltke) attacked France (Fr 1st & 2nd Armies, 276,000 men under Gen Joffre) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 96 hours of fighting on a front of 144 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that France held. Losses: Germany 75,000 (21%), France 52,000 (19%).

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

Germany

Gen Moltke

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry84,000
Germany centreInfantry112,000
Germany right wingInfantry84,000
Germany reserveInfantry70,000
Gen MoltkeCommander—
In this plan350,000

France

Gen Joffre

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry66,240
France centreInfantry88,320
France right wingInfantry66,240
France reserveInfantry55,200
Gen JoffreCommander—
In this plan276,000

What the sources report

GermanyFrance
Strength, this plan350,000276,000
Losses, this plan75,00052,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 269, “Heights Of Nancy”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
96 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
144 km (attacker), 144 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker350,00075,0000—Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Francedefender276,00052,0000—Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack

Attacker’s advantages none recorded

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.