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Schematic plan · World War I (Eastern Front 1914)

Battle of Stalluponen

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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.
Flat, Mixed groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns010 km20 kmN

Russia (Rus 3rd Corps, 50,000 men under Gen Rennenkampf) attacked Germany (Ger 1st Corps, 40,000 men under Gen von Francois) in Germany. The CAA Database of Battles records 9 hours of fighting on a front of 32 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Germany held. Losses: Russia 3,500 (7%), Germany 2,000 (5%).

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

Russia

Gen Rennenkampf

UnitArmMen
Russia left wingInfantry11,568
Russia centreInfantry15,424
Russia right wingInfantry11,568
Russia reserveInfantry9,640
Russia artillery (120 guns)Artillery1,800
Gen RennenkampfCommander—
In this plan50,000

Germany

Gen von Francois

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry9,240
Germany centreInfantry12,320
Germany right wingInfantry9,240
Germany reserveInfantry7,700
Germany artillery (100 guns)Artillery1,500
Gen von FrancoisCommander—
In this plan40,000

What the sources report

RussiaGermany
Strength, this plan50,00040,000
Losses, this plan3,5002,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 278, “Stalluponen”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
9 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Flat, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
32 km (attacker), 32 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Russiaattacker50,0003,5000120Frontal attack; Repulse
Germanydefender40,0002,0000100Defensive/offensive plan; Single envelopment; Left flank; 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.