Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War I

Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes

All battlesThe 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 wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns010 km20 kmN

Germany (Ger 8th & 10th Armies, 650,000 men under Gen Hindenburg) attacked Russia (Rus 10th Army, 300,000 men under Gen Sievers) in Germany and Russian Poland. The CAA Database of Battles records 336 hours of fighting on a front of 209 km, a double envelopment against prepared defense, and that Germany won. Losses: Germany 135,000 (21%), Russia 210,000 (70%).

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 Hindenburg

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry156,000
Germany centreInfantry208,000
Germany right wingInfantry156,000
Germany reserveInfantry130,000
Gen HindenburgCommander—
In this plan650,000

Russia

Gen Sievers

UnitArmMen
Russia left wingInfantry71,237
Russia centreInfantry94,982
Russia right wingInfantry71,237
Russia reserveInfantry59,364
Russia artillery (212 guns)Artillery3,180
Gen SieversCommander—
In this plan300,000

What the sources report

GermanyRussia
Strength, this plan650,000300,000
Losses, this plan135,000210,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 294, “Winter Battle (Masuria)”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
336 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Cold, Winter, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
209 km (attacker), 209 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker650,000135,0000—Double envelopment; Breakthrough; Pursued
Russiadefender300,000210,0000212Defensive plan; Annihilated

Attacker’s advantages morale +1 · logistics +1 · intelligence +1 · technology +1 · initiative +1 · surprise +2 · 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.