Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II (European Theater)

Battle of Mortain

All battles
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 wingReserveReserveGunsGunsArmourArmour02 km4 kmN

Germany (Ger 47th Pz Corps, 25,497 men under Gen Funck) attacked USA (US 30th Inf Div(+), 27,673 men under Mg Hobbs) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 132 hours of fighting on a front of 9 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that USA held. Losses: Germany 4,800 (19%), USA 2,673 (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

Germany

Gen Funck

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry5,190
Germany centreInfantry6,921
Germany right wingInfantry5,190
Germany reserveInfantry4,325
Germany artillery (218 guns)Artillery3,270
Germany armour (120 tanks)Armour600
Gen FunckCommander—
In this plan25,496

USA

Mg Hobbs

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry5,542
USA centreInfantry7,390
USA right wingInfantry5,542
USA reserveInfantry4,619
USA artillery (192 guns)Artillery2,880
USA armour (340 tanks)Armour1,700
Mg HobbsCommander—
In this plan27,673

What the sources report

GermanyUSA
Strength, this plan25,49727,673
Losses, this plan4,8002,673

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 461, “Mortain”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
132 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
9 km (attacker), 9 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker25,4974,8000218Frontal attack; Penetration; Repulse; Withdrew
USAdefender27,6732,6730192Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Penetration

Attacker’s advantages initiative +1 · surprise +2

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.