Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War I

Sixth Battle of the Isonzo

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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 groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns05 km10 kmN

Italy (It 2nd & 3rd Armies, 308,000 men under Gen Cadorna) attacked Austria (Aus 5th Army, 168,000 men under Gen Borojevic) in Austria. The CAA Database of Battles records 264 hours of fighting on a front of 22.5 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that Italy won. Losses: Italy 51,232 (17%), Austria 41,835 (25%).

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

UnitArmMen
Italy left wingInfantry71,450
Italy centreInfantry95,267
Italy right wingInfantry71,450
Italy reserveInfantry59,542
Italy artillery (686 guns)Artillery10,290
Gen CadornaCommander—
In this plan307,999

Austria

Gen Borojevic

UnitArmMen
Austria left wingInfantry39,791
Austria centreInfantry53,054
Austria right wingInfantry39,791
Austria reserveInfantry33,159
Austria artillery (147 guns)Artillery2,205
Gen BorojevicCommander—
In this plan168,000

What the sources report

ItalyAustria
Strength, this plan308,000168,000
Losses, this plan51,23241,835

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 315, “Sixth Isonzo (Gorizia)”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
264 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
22.5 km (attacker), 22.5 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Italyattacker308,00051,2320686Frontal attack; Penetration; Stalemate
Austriadefender168,00041,8350147Defensive plan; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages logistics +1 · initiative +1 · surprise +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.