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Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1918)

North Wood III

All battlesBattle of Belleau Wood: engagement 11 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 wingLeft wingRight wingReserveReserveGuns0500 m1 kmN

One of the 13 engagements of the Battle of Belleau Wood recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 11 in date order). USA (US 3/5th Mar Rgt, 1,256 men under Maj Shearer) attacked Germany (Ger 1/347th Rgt, 1,565 men under Cpt Karlberg) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 4.3 hours of fighting on a front of 1.2 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that Germany held. Losses: USA 133 (11%), Germany 19 (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

Maj Shearer

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry301
USA centreInfantry402
USA right wingInfantry301
USA reserveInfantry251
Maj ShearerCommander—
In this plan1,255

Germany

Cpt Karlberg

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry319
Germany centreInfantry426
Germany right wingInfantry319
Germany reserveInfantry266
Germany artillery (20 guns)Artillery235
Cpt KarlbergCommander—
In this plan1,565

What the sources report

USAGermany
Strength, this plan1,2561,565
Losses, this plan13319

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 345, “North Wood Iii”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
4.3 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
USAattacker1,25613300Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses; Stalemate
Germanydefender1,56519020Defensive plan; Stalemate

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.