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Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1914)

Gap of Revigny

All battlesFirst Battle of the Marne: engagement 7 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 groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserve010 km20 kmN

One of the 7 engagements of the First Battle of the Marne recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 7 in date order). Germany (Ger 5th Army, 142,000 men under Cr Pr Wilhelm) attacked France (Fr 3rd Army, 180,000 men under Gen Sarrail) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 72 hours of fighting on a front of 64 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, left flank against hasty defense, and that France held. Losses: Germany 29,000 (20%), France 29,000 (16%).

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

Cr Pr Wilhelm

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry34,080
Germany centreInfantry45,440
Germany right wingInfantry34,080
Germany reserveInfantry28,400
Cr Pr WilhelmCommander—
In this plan142,000

France

Gen Sarrail

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry43,200
France centreInfantry57,600
France right wingInfantry43,200
France reserveInfantry36,000
Gen SarrailCommander—
In this plan180,000

What the sources report

GermanyFrance
Strength, this plan142,000180,000
Losses, this plan29,00029,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 276, “Gap Of Revigny”, 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 defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
64 km (attacker), 64 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker142,00029,0000—Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Left flank; Repulse; Withdrew
Francedefender180,00029,0000—Defensive plan

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.