Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II (European Theater)

Battle of Durstel-Faerbersviller

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 groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreGunsLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsArmourArmour010 km20 kmN

USA (US 12th Corps, 90,078 men under Mg Eddy) attacked Germany (Ger 13th SS Pz Corps (-)(+), 30,712 men under Lg Simon) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 hours of fighting on a front of 51.2 km, a frontal attack against prepared defense and delaying action, and that neither side won. Losses: USA 482 (1%), Germany 811 (3%).

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

Mg Eddy

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry18,915
USA centreInfantry25,220
USA right wingInfantry18,915
USA reserveInfantry15,763
USA artillery (543 guns)Artillery8,145
USA armour (624 tanks)Armour3,120
Mg EddyCommander—
In this plan90,078

Germany

Lg Simon

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry6,175
Germany centreInfantry8,234
Germany right wingInfantry6,175
Germany reserveInfantry5,146
Germany artillery (456 guns)Artillery4,607
Germany armour (75 tanks)Armour375
Lg SimonCommander—
In this plan30,712

What the sources report

USAGermany
Strength, this plan90,07830,712
Losses, this plan482811

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 479, “Durstel-Faerbersviller”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
24 hours
Winner
the draw
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Light precipitation, Cold, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense, Delaying action
Front width
51.2 km (attacker), 51.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker90,0784820543Frontal attack; Penetration; Repulse; Stalemate
Germanydefender30,7128110456Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Penetration; Repulse; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages 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.