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Schematic plan · World War I

Cambrai I

All battlesBattle of Cambrai (1917): engagement 1 of 2The 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 groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsReserveGunsArmour05 km10 kmN

One of the 2 engagements of the Battle of Cambrai (1917) recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 1 in date order). Great Britain (Br 3rd Army, 90,000 men under Gen Byng) attacked Germany (Ger 2nd Army, 75,000 men under Gen Marwitz) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 144 hours of fighting on a front of 16 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that Great Britain won. Losses: Great Britain 15,000 (17%), Germany 25,000 (33%).

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 Byng

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry17,971
Great Britain centreInfantry23,962
Great Britain right wingInfantry17,971
Great Britain reserveInfantry14,976
Great Britain artillery (1,000 guns)Artillery13,500
Great Britain armour (324 tanks)Armour1,620
Gen ByngCommander—
In this plan90,000

Germany

Gen Marwitz

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry15,300
Germany centreInfantry20,400
Germany right wingInfantry15,300
Germany reserveInfantry12,750
Germany artillery (900 guns)Artillery11,250
Gen MarwitzCommander—
In this plan75,000

What the sources report

Great BritainGermany
Strength, this plan90,00075,000
Losses, this plan15,00025,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 320, “Cambrai I”, 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
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
16 km (attacker), 16 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Great Britainattacker90,00015,00001,000Frontal attack; Penetration; Stalemate
Germanydefender75,00025,0000900Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages technology +1 · initiative +1 · surprise +2

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.