Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1918)

Hill 192

All battlesBattle of Belleau Wood: engagement 5 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 wingReserveReserveGunsGuns0500 m1 kmN

One of the 13 engagements of the Battle of Belleau Wood recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 5 in date order). USA (US 23rd Inf Rgt, 3,608 men under Col Malone) attacked Germany (Ger 1/47th Inf Rgt(+), 3,955 men under Lcol Rotenbucher) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 10 hours of fighting on a front of 1.6 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, right flank against prepared defense, and that Germany held. Losses: USA 340 (9%), Germany 87 (2%).

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 Malone

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry736
USA centreInfantry982
USA right wingInfantry736
USA reserveInfantry614
USA artillery (36 guns)Artillery540
Col MaloneCommander—
In this plan3,608

Germany

Lcol Rotenbucher

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry877
Germany centreInfantry1,170
Germany right wingInfantry877
Germany reserveInfantry731
Germany artillery (20 guns)Artillery300
Lcol RotenbucherCommander—
In this plan3,955

What the sources report

USAGermany
Strength, this plan3,6083,955
Losses, this plan34087

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 340, “Hill 192”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
10 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
1.6 km (attacker), 1.6 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker3,608340036Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Right flank; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses
Germanydefender3,95587020Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Penetration; Stalemate

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.