Schematic plan · World War II (European Theater)

Battle of St. Vith

17 December 1944
Belgium
Draw

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.

Germany (Ger 66th Corps(-), 87,000 men under Gen Lucht) attacked USA (US Combat Command 'b', 7th Armd Div(+), 19,996 men under Bg Hasbrouck) in Belgium. The CAA Database of Battles records 120 hours of fighting on a front of 12 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that neither side won. Losses: Germany 4,306 (5%), USA 1,731 (9%).

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 Lucht

Unit	Arm	Men
Germany left wing	Infantry	20,240
Germany centre	Infantry	26,987
Germany right wing	Infantry	20,240
Germany reserve	Infantry	16,867
Germany artillery (94 guns)	Artillery	1,410
Germany armour (251 tanks)	Armour	1,255
Gen Lucht	Commander	—
In this plan		86,999

USA

Bg Hasbrouck

Unit	Arm	Men
USA left wing	Infantry	4,228
USA centre	Infantry	5,637
USA right wing	Infantry	4,228
USA reserve	Infantry	3,523
USA artillery (108 guns)	Artillery	1,620
USA armour (152 tanks)	Armour	760
Bg Hasbrouck	Commander	—
In this plan		19,996

What the sources report

	Germany	USA
Strength, this plan	87,000	19,996
Losses, this plan	4,306	1,731

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 484, “St. Vith”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting: 120 hours
Winner: the draw
Terrain: Rolling, Mixed
Weather: Wet, Light precipitation, Cold, Winter, Temperate
Defender’s posture: Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width: 12 km (attacker), 12 km (defender)

Force	Strength	Losses	Horse	Guns	Plan and outcome
Germanyattacker	87,000	4,306	0	94	Frontal attack; Repulse; Penetration
USAdefender	19,996	1,731	0	108	Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages 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

US Army Concepts Analysis Agency; tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold, CAA Database of Battles (CDB90), no. 484 · ODC-BY-1.0Strengths, losses, front widths, hours of fighting, tactics and outcome.

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.