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Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1918)

Vaux

All battlesBattle of Belleau Wood: engagement 13 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 wingReserveLeft wingRight wingGunsReserveGuns0500 m1 kmN

One of the 13 engagements of the Battle of Belleau Wood recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 13 in date order). USA (US 3rd Bde, 2nd Inf Div, 12,812 men under Bg Lewis) attacked Germany (Ger 201st Inf Div(-), 10,358 men under unrecorded commanders) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 9.5 hours of fighting on a front of 1.8 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, right flank against fortified defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 336 (3%), Germany 1,074 (10%).

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

Bg Lewis

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry2,614
USA centreInfantry3,485
USA right wingInfantry2,614
USA reserveInfantry2,178
USA artillery (138 guns)Artillery1,922
Bg LewisCommander—
In this plan12,813

Germany

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry2,113
Germany centreInfantry2,817
Germany right wingInfantry2,113
Germany reserveInfantry1,761
Germany artillery (144 guns)Artillery1,554
Germany commandCommander—
In this plan10,358

What the sources report

USAGermany
Strength, this plan12,81210,358
Losses, this plan3361,074

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 347, “Vaux”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
9.5 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
1.8 km (attacker), 1.8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker12,8123360138Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Right flank; Breakthrough
Germanydefender10,3581,0740144Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages morale +1 · initiative +1 · air superiority +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.