Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1918)

Cantigny

All battlesThird Battle of the Aisne: 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 wingReserveGunsCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveArmour0500 m1 kmN

One of the 2 engagements of the Third Battle of the Aisne recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 2 in date order). USA (US 1st Div & 28th Inf Rgt, 8,679 men under Col Ely) attacked Germany (Ger 82nd Res Div, 1st Bn, 272nd Res Inf Rgt, 725 men under Col Frederichs) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 2.6 hours of fighting on a front of 1.5 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 300 (3%), Germany 386 (53%).

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

USA

Col Ely

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry1,756
USA centreInfantry2,341
USA right wingInfantry1,756
USA reserveInfantry1,463
USA artillery (346 guns)Artillery1,302
USA armour (12 tanks)Armour60
Col ElyCommander—
In this plan8,678

Germany

Col Frederichs

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry174
Germany centreInfantry232
Germany right wingInfantry174
Germany reserveInfantry145
Col FrederichsCommander—
In this plan725

What the sources report

USAGermany
Strength, this plan8,679725
Losses, this plan300386

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 335, “Cantigny”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
2.6 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
1.5 km (attacker), 1.5 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker8,6793000346Frontal attack; Penetration
Germanydefender7253860—Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages morale +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.