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Schematic plan · World War I

Eleventh 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, Bare groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns010 km20 kmN

Italy (It 2nd & 3rd Armies, 518,000 men under Gen Cadorna) attacked Austria (Aus 5th Army, 252,000 men under Gen Borojevic) in Austria. The CAA Database of Battles records 672 hours of fighting on a front of 30 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that Italy won. Losses: Italy 166,000 (32%), Austria 85,000 (34%).

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 wingInfantry118,200
Italy centreInfantry157,600
Italy right wingInfantry118,200
Italy reserveInfantry98,500
Italy artillery (1,700 guns)Artillery25,500
Gen CadornaCommander—
In this plan518,000

Austria

Gen Borojevic

UnitArmMen
Austria left wingInfantry60,480
Austria centreInfantry80,640
Austria right wingInfantry60,480
Austria reserveInfantry50,400
Gen BorojevicCommander—
In this plan252,000

What the sources report

ItalyAustria
Strength, this plan518,000252,000
Losses, this plan166,00085,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 323, “Eleventh Isonzo”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
672 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Bare
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
30 km (attacker), 30 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Italyattacker518,000166,00001,700Frontal attack; Penetration; Stalemate
Austriadefender252,00085,0000—Defensive plan; Withdrew; 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.