Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War I (Serbian Front 1914)

Battle of Cer

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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.
Rugged, Mixed groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingLeft wingRight wingReserveReserve010 km20 kmN

Austria (Aus 2nd(-) & 5th Armies, 200,000 men under Gen Potiarek) attacked Serbia (Serb 1st, 2nd & 3rd Armies, 200,000 men under Fm Putnik) in Serbia. The CAA Database of Battles records 168 hours of fighting on a front of 74 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Serbia held. Losses: Austria 34,000 (17%), Serbia 18,000 (9%).

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

Austria

Gen Potiarek

UnitArmMen
Austria left wingInfantry48,000
Austria centreInfantry64,000
Austria right wingInfantry48,000
Austria reserveInfantry40,000
Gen PotiarekCommander—
In this plan200,000

Serbia

Fm Putnik

UnitArmMen
Serbia left wingInfantry48,000
Serbia centreInfantry64,000
Serbia right wingInfantry48,000
Serbia reserveInfantry40,000
Fm PutnikCommander—
In this plan200,000

What the sources report

AustriaSerbia
Strength, this plan200,000200,000
Losses, this plan34,00018,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 287, “The Jadar”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
168 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
74 km (attacker), 74 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Austriaattacker200,00034,0000—Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
Serbiadefender200,00018,0000—Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Penetration; Pursued

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.