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Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1918)

West Wood I

All battlesBattle of Belleau Wood: engagement 3 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 groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreGunsLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns0200 m400 mN

One of the 13 engagements of the Battle of Belleau Wood recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 3 in date order). USA (US 3/5th Mar Rgt(-), 1,940 men under Maj Berry) attacked Germany (Ger 1/461st Rgt, 1,121 men under Maj Hartlieb) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 4 hours of fighting on a front of 0.8 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that Germany held. Losses: USA 361 (19%), Germany 54 (5%).

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 Berry

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry401
USA centreInfantry534
USA right wingInfantry401
USA reserveInfantry334
USA artillery (18 guns)Artillery270
Maj BerryCommander—
In this plan1,940

Germany

Maj Hartlieb

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry233
Germany centreInfantry311
Germany right wingInfantry233
Germany reserveInfantry194
Germany artillery (10 guns)Artillery150
Maj HartliebCommander—
In this plan1,121

What the sources report

USAGermany
Strength, this plan1,9401,121
Losses, this plan36154

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 338, “West Wood I”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
4 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
0.8 km (attacker), 0.8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker1,940361018Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses
Germanydefender1,12154010Defensive plan

Attacker’s advantages morale +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.