Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II

Battle of Sedan (1940)

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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 wingCentreReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsArmourGunsArmour02 km4 kmN

Germany (Ger 19th Pz Corps, 48,000 men under Gen Guderian) attacked France (Fr 2nd Army(+), 60,000 men under Gen Billotte) in France. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 hours of fighting on a front of 9 km, a river crossing against prepared defense, and that Germany won. Losses: Germany 800 (2%), France 5,000 (8%).

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 Guderian

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry10,073
Germany centreInfantry13,430
Germany right wingInfantry10,073
Germany reserveInfantry8,394
Germany artillery (202 guns)Artillery3,030
Germany armour (600 tanks)Armour3,000
Gen GuderianCommander—
In this plan48,000

France

Gen Billotte

UnitArmMen
France left wingInfantry13,469
France centreInfantry17,958
France right wingInfantry13,469
France reserveInfantry11,224
France artillery (192 guns)Artillery2,880
France armour (200 tanks)Armour1,000
Gen BillotteCommander—
In this plan60,000

What the sources report

GermanyFrance
Strength, this plan48,00060,000
Losses, this plan8005,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 486, “Sedan-Meuse River”, 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 attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
9 km (attacker), 9 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker48,0008000202River crossing; Breakthrough
Francedefender60,0005,0000192Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +1 · morale +1 · momentum +1 · initiative +1 · surprise +2 · air superiority +1 · combat effectiveness +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.