Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War I (Turkish Fronts 1915)

Landing at Cape Helles

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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, Bare groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsCentreLeft wingRight wingReserve02 km4 kmN

Great Britain (Allied Army, 32,000 men under Gen Hamilton) attacked Ottoman Empire (Tk 5th Army, 10,000 men under Gen Liman von Sanders) in Turkey. The CAA Database of Battles records 16.5 hours of fighting on a front of 11.2 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that neither side won. Losses: Great Britain 5,400 (17%), Ottoman Empire 3,900 (39%).

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

Great Britain

Gen Hamilton

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry6,528
Great Britain centreInfantry8,704
Great Britain right wingInfantry6,528
Great Britain reserveInfantry5,440
Great Britain artillery (345 guns)Artillery4,800
Gen HamiltonCommander—
In this plan32,000

Ottoman Empire

Gen Liman von Sanders

UnitArmMen
Ottoman Empire left wingInfantry2,400
Ottoman Empire centreInfantry3,200
Ottoman Empire right wingInfantry2,400
Ottoman Empire reserveInfantry2,000
Gen Liman von SandersCommander—
In this plan10,000

What the sources report

Great BritainOttoman Empire
Strength, this plan32,00010,000
Losses, this plan5,4003,900

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 300, “First Dardanelles Landing”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
16.5 hours
Winner
the draw
Terrain
Rugged, Bare
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
11.2 km (attacker), 11.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Great Britainattacker32,0005,4000345Frontal attack; Penetration; Repulse; Stalemate
Ottoman Empiredefender10,0003,9000—Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; 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

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.