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Schematic plan · World War I (Western Front 1918)

Noyon-Montdidier

All battlesBattle of Belleau Wood: engagement 6 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 wingReserveReserveGunsGunsArmour010 km20 kmN

One of the 13 engagements of the Battle of Belleau Wood recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 6 in date order). Germany (Ger 18th & 7th Armies, 275,000 men under Cr Pr Wilhelm) attacked France (Fr 3rd & 10th Armies, 300,000 men under Gen Franchet D'esperey) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 96 hours of fighting on a front of 43 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that France held. Losses: Germany 80,000 (29%), France 35,466 (12%).

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

Germany

Cr Pr Wilhelm

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry56,100
Germany centreInfantry74,800
Germany right wingInfantry56,100
Germany reserveInfantry46,750
Germany artillery (3,000 guns)Artillery41,250
Cr Pr WilhelmCommander—
In this plan275,000

France

Gen Franchet D'esperey

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry61,027
France centreInfantry81,370
France right wingInfantry61,027
France reserveInfantry50,856
France artillery (3,000 guns)Artillery45,000
France armour (144 tanks)Armour720
Gen Franchet D'espereyCommander—
In this plan300,000

What the sources report

GermanyFrance
Strength, this plan275,000300,000
Losses, this plan80,00035,466

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 350, “Noyon-Montdidier”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
96 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
43 km (attacker), 43 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker275,00080,00003,000Frontal attack; Penetration; Repulse; Stalemate
Francedefender300,00035,46603,000Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages momentum +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.