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Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1918)

North Wood II

All battlesBattle of Belleau Wood: engagement 10 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 groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns0500 m1 kmN

One of the 13 engagements of the Battle of Belleau Wood recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 10 in date order). USA (US 1/7th Inf Rgt, 1,697 men under Lcol Adams) attacked Germany (Ger 3/347th Rgt(+), 1,428 men under unrecorded commanders) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 1.3 hours of fighting on a front of 1.2 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that Germany held. Losses: USA 192 (11%), Germany 18 (1%).

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

Lcol Adams

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry364
USA centreInfantry485
USA right wingInfantry364
USA reserveInfantry303
USA artillery (12 guns)Artillery180
Lcol AdamsCommander—
In this plan1,696

Germany

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry291
Germany centreInfantry388
Germany right wingInfantry291
Germany reserveInfantry243
Germany artillery (20 guns)Artillery214
Germany commandCommander—
In this plan1,427

What the sources report

USAGermany
Strength, this plan1,6971,428
Losses, this plan19218

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 344, “North 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
1.3 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rugged, Heavily wooded
Weather
Dry, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
1.2 km (attacker), 1.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker1,697192012Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses; Stalemate
Germanydefender1,42818020Defensive plan; 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.