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Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1918)

West Wood II

All battlesBattle of Belleau Wood: engagement 7 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.
Rugged, Heavily wooded groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns0200 m400 mN

One of the 13 engagements of the Battle of Belleau Wood recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 7 in date order). USA (US 2/5th Mar Rgt(+), 3,343 men under Maj Wise) attacked Germany (Ger 1/461st Rgt(+), 1,798 men under Maj Hartlieb) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 4.5 hours of fighting on a front of 0.8 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 279 (8%), Germany 541 (30%).

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 Wise

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry682
USA centreInfantry909
USA right wingInfantry682
USA reserveInfantry568
USA artillery (48 guns)Artillery501
Maj WiseCommander—
In this plan3,342

Germany

Maj Hartlieb

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry367
Germany centreInfantry489
Germany right wingInfantry367
Germany reserveInfantry306
Germany artillery (28 guns)Artillery270
Maj HartliebCommander—
In this plan1,799

What the sources report

USAGermany
Strength, this plan3,3431,798
Losses, this plan279541

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 341, “West Wood Ii”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
4.5 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rugged, Heavily wooded
Weather
Wet, Light precipitation, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
0.8 km (attacker), 0.8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker3,343279048Frontal attack; Penetration
Germanydefender1,798541028Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Repulse; 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.