Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1918)

Hill 142

All battlesBattle of Belleau Wood: engagement 2 of 13The 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 wingReserveGunsReserveGuns0200 m400 mN

One of the 13 engagements of the Battle of Belleau Wood recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 2 in date order). USA (US 5th Mar Rgt(-), 2,913 men under Maj Turrill) attacked Germany (Ger 2/273rd Rgt(+), 2,458 men under unrecorded commanders) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 8.8 hours of fighting on a front of 0.3 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 383 (13%), Germany 471 (19%).

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

Maj Turrill

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry594
USA centreInfantry792
USA right wingInfantry594
USA reserveInfantry495
USA artillery (32 guns)Artillery437
Maj TurrillCommander—
In this plan2,912

Germany

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry504
Germany centreInfantry671
Germany right wingInfantry504
Germany reserveInfantry420
Germany artillery (24 guns)Artillery360
Germany commandCommander—
In this plan2,459

What the sources report

USAGermany
Strength, this plan2,9132,458
Losses, this plan383471

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 337, “Hill 142”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
8.8 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
0.3 km (attacker), 0.3 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker2,913383032Frontal attack; Breakthrough
Germanydefender2,458471024Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages morale +1 · initiative +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.