Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II (Eastern Front)

Battle of Rovno

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 wingReserveReserveGunsGunsArmourArmour010 km20 kmN

Germany (Ger 1st Pz Group, 132,000 men under Gen von Kleist) attacked USSR (Sov Southwestern Ag(-), 150,000 men under Gen Kirponos) in USSR. The CAA Database of Battles records 96 hours of fighting on a front of 65 km, a frontal attack, river crossing against prepared defense, and that Germany won. Losses: Germany 3,960 (3%), USSR 88,000 (59%).

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 Kleist

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry29,444
Germany centreInfantry39,259
Germany right wingInfantry29,444
Germany reserveInfantry24,537
Germany artillery (366 guns)Artillery5,490
Germany armour (765 tanks)Armour3,825
Gen von KleistCommander—
In this plan131,999

USSR

Gen Kirponos

UnitArmMen
USSR left wingInfantry33,811
USSR centreInfantry45,082
USSR right wingInfantry33,811
USSR reserveInfantry28,176
USSR artillery (324 guns)Artillery4,860
USSR armour (852 tanks)Armour4,260
Gen KirponosCommander—
In this plan150,000

What the sources report

GermanyUSSR
Strength, this plan132,000150,000
Losses, this plan3,96088,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 488, “Rovno”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
96 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense
Front width
65 km (attacker), 65 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker132,0003,9600366Frontal attack; River crossing; Breakthrough; Pursued
USSRdefender150,00088,0000324Defensive/offensive plan; Double envelopment; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +2 · training +2 · morale +2 · logistics +2 · momentum +1 · intelligence +2 · technology +2 · initiative +2 · surprise +3 · air superiority +1 · combat effectiveness +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.