Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War I

Caucasus Winter Offensive

All battles
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 groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns010 km20 kmN

Russia (Russ Army, 103,000 men under Gen Yudenich) attacked Ottoman Empire (Tk 3rd Army, 61,000 men under Abdul Kerim Pasha) in Turkey. The CAA Database of Battles records 144 hours of fighting on a front of 110 km, a frontal attack, double envelopment against fortified defense, and that Russia won. Losses: Russia 8,000 (8%), Ottoman Empire 25,000 (41%).

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

Russia

Gen Yudenich

UnitArmMen
Russia left wingInfantry23,860
Russia centreInfantry31,813
Russia right wingInfantry23,860
Russia reserveInfantry19,883
Russia artillery (239 guns)Artillery3,585
Gen YudenichCommander—
In this plan103,001

Ottoman Empire

Abdul Kerim Pasha

UnitArmMen
Ottoman Empire left wingInfantry14,280
Ottoman Empire centreInfantry19,040
Ottoman Empire right wingInfantry14,280
Ottoman Empire reserveInfantry11,900
Ottoman Empire artillery (100 guns)Artillery1,500
Abdul Kerim PashaCommander—
In this plan61,000

What the sources report

RussiaOttoman Empire
Strength, this plan103,00061,000
Losses, this plan8,00025,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 309, “Caucasus Winter Offensive”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
144 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Cold, Winter, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
110 km (attacker), 110 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Russiaattacker103,0008,0000239Frontal attack; Double envelopment; Breakthrough; Pursued
Ottoman Empiredefender61,00025,0000100Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · logistics +1 · initiative +1 · surprise +3

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.