Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II (European Theater)

Battle of Bastogne

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 wingReserveGunsArmourCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveArmourGuns02 km4 kmN

Germany (Ger 67th Pz Corps (Elms), 36,678 men under Gen von Luettwitz) attacked USA (US 10th Armd Div(-)(+), 4,849 men under Col Roberts) in Belgium. The CAA Database of Battles records 48 hours of fighting on a front of 12 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, left flank against hasty defense and delaying action, and that USA held. Losses: Germany 3,000 (8%), USA 1,151 (24%).

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 von Luettwitz

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry7,245
Germany centreInfantry9,660
Germany right wingInfantry7,245
Germany reserveInfantry6,038
Germany artillery (313 guns)Artillery4,695
Germany armour (359 tanks)Armour1,795
Gen von LuettwitzCommander—
In this plan36,678

USA

Col Roberts

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry924
USA centreInfantry1,233
USA right wingInfantry924
USA reserveInfantry770
USA artillery (18 guns)Artillery270
USA armour (152 tanks)Armour727
Col RobertsCommander—
In this plan4,848

What the sources report

GermanyUSA
Strength, this plan36,6784,849
Losses, this plan3,0001,151

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 485, “Bastogne”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
48 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Light precipitation, Cold, Winter, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense, Delaying action
Front width
12 km (attacker), 12 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker36,6783,0000313Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Left flank; Penetration
USAdefender4,8491,151018Defensive 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

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.