Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1914)

Two Morins

All battlesFirst Battle of the Marne: engagement 4 of 7The event in the chronicleWikipedia
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 groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns05 km10 kmN

One of the 7 engagements of the First Battle of the Marne recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 4 in date order). Great Britain (Br Exped Force, 90,000 men under Fm French) attacked Germany (Ger 1st Army, 13,000 men under Gen Kluck) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 72 hours of fighting on a front of 30.4 km, a frontal attack against delaying action, and that Great Britain won. Losses: Great Britain 2,500 (3%), Germany 3,500 (27%).

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

Great Britain

Fm French

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry20,232
Great Britain centreInfantry26,976
Great Britain right wingInfantry20,232
Great Britain reserveInfantry16,860
Great Britain artillery (380 guns)Artillery5,700
Fm FrenchCommander—
In this plan90,000

Germany

Gen Kluck

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry3,034
Germany centreInfantry4,045
Germany right wingInfantry3,034
Germany reserveInfantry2,528
Germany artillery (24 guns)Artillery360
Gen KluckCommander—
In this plan13,001

What the sources report

Great BritainGermany
Strength, this plan90,00013,000
Losses, this plan2,5003,500

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 273, “Two Morins”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
72 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Delaying action
Front width
30.4 km (attacker), 30.4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Great Britainattacker90,0002,5000380Frontal attack; Penetration
Germanydefender13,0003,500024Defensive plan; Withdrew

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.