Schematic plan · World War I (Italian Front 1915)

Fourth Battle of the Isonzo

10 November 1915
Austria
Victory for Austria

All battles The event in the chronicle Wikipedia

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.

Italy (It 2nd & 3rd Armies, 311,000 men under Gen Cadorna) attacked Austria (Aus 5th Army, 136,000 men under Gen Borojevic) in Austria. The CAA Database of Battles records 528 hours of fighting on a front of 29 km, a frontal attack, river crossing against fortified defense, and that Austria held. Losses: Italy 48,967 (16%), Austria 40,217 (30%).

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

Italy

Gen Cadorna

Unit	Arm	Men
Italy left wing	Infantry	70,320
Italy centre	Infantry	93,760
Italy right wing	Infantry	70,320
Italy reserve	Infantry	58,600
Italy artillery (1,200 guns)	Artillery	18,000
Gen Cadorna	Commander	—
In this plan		311,000

Austria

Gen Borojevic

Unit	Arm	Men
Austria left wing	Infantry	32,640
Austria centre	Infantry	43,520
Austria right wing	Infantry	32,640
Austria reserve	Infantry	27,200
Gen Borojevic	Commander	—
In this plan		136,000

What the sources report

	Italy	Austria
Strength, this plan	311,000	136,000
Losses, this plan	48,967	40,217

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 299, “Fourth Isonzo”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting: 528 hours
Winner: the defender
Terrain: Rugged, Mixed
Weather: Dry, Sunny, Cold, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture: Fortified defense
Front width: 29 km (attacker), 29 km (defender)

Force	Strength	Losses	Horse	Guns	Plan and outcome
Italyattacker	311,000	48,967	0	1,200	Frontal attack; River crossing; Repulse; Stalemate
Austriadefender	136,000	40,217	0	—	Defensive plan; Stalemate

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

US Army Concepts Analysis Agency; tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold, CAA Database of Battles (CDB90), no. 299 · ODC-BY-1.0Strengths, losses, front widths, hours of fighting, tactics and outcome.
Wikipedia contributors, Fourth Battle of the Isonzo · CC-BY-SA-4.0

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.