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Schematic plan · World War I

Cambrai II

All battlesBattle of Cambrai (1917): engagement 2 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 groundCentreLeft wingRight wingCentreReserveLeft wingRight wingGunsReserveGuns05 km10 kmN

One of the 2 engagements of the Battle of Cambrai (1917) recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 2 in date order). Germany (Ger 2nd Army, 130,000 men under Gen Marwitz) attacked Great Britain (Br 3rd Army, 90,000 men under Gen Byng) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 72 hours of fighting on a front of 22 km, a frontal attack, double envelopment against prepared defense, and that Germany won. Losses: Germany 28,000 (22%), Great Britain 29,000 (32%).

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

Germany

Gen Marwitz

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry26,880
Germany centreInfantry35,840
Germany right wingInfantry26,880
Germany reserveInfantry22,400
Germany artillery (1,200 guns)Artillery18,000
Gen MarwitzCommander—
In this plan130,000

Great Britain

Gen Byng

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry18,360
Great Britain centreInfantry24,480
Great Britain right wingInfantry18,360
Great Britain reserveInfantry15,300
Great Britain artillery (1,000 guns)Artillery13,500
Gen ByngCommander—
In this plan90,000

What the sources report

GermanyGreat Britain
Strength, this plan130,00090,000
Losses, this plan28,00029,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 321, “Cambrai Ii”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
72 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
22 km (attacker), 22 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker130,00028,00001,200Frontal attack; Double envelopment; Penetration; Stalemate
Great Britaindefender90,00029,00001,000Defensive plan; Withdrew; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages 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.