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Schematic plan · World War I (Eastern Front 1914)

First Battle of the Masurian Lakes

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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, Heavily wooded groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingLeft wingRight wingReserveReserveGuns010 km20 kmN

Germany (Ger 8th Army, 288,600 men under Gen von Hindenburg) attacked Russia (Rus 1st Army, 273,000 men under Gen Rennenkampf) in Germany. The CAA Database of Battles records 96 hours of fighting on a front of 121 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, left flank against prepared defense, and that Germany won. Losses: Germany 40,000 (14%), Russia 125,000 (46%).

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 von Hindenburg

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry69,264
Germany centreInfantry92,352
Germany right wingInfantry69,264
Germany reserveInfantry57,720
Gen von HindenburgCommander—
In this plan288,600

Russia

Gen Rennenkampf

UnitArmMen
Russia left wingInfantry62,640
Russia centreInfantry83,520
Russia right wingInfantry62,640
Russia reserveInfantry52,200
Russia artillery (800 guns)Artillery12,000
Gen RennenkampfCommander—
In this plan273,000

What the sources report

GermanyRussia
Strength, this plan288,600273,000
Losses, this plan40,000125,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 281, “Masurian Lakes”, 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 attacker
Terrain
Flat, Heavily wooded
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
121 km (attacker), 121 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker288,60040,0000—Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Left flank; Breakthrough; Pursued
Russiadefender273,000125,0000800Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +1 · morale +1 · intelligence +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.