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Schematic plan · World War II (Eastern Front)

Defense of Moscow

All battlesBattle of Moscow: engagement 1 of 2The event in the chronicleWikipedia
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 wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGunsArmourArmour010 km20 kmN

One of the 2 engagements of the Battle of Moscow recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 1 in date order). Germany (Ger Ag Center, 1,100,000 men under Fm von Bock) attacked USSR (Sov Western Ag(+), 1,372,000 men under Marshal Stalin) in USSR. The CAA Database of Battles records 1,536 hours of fighting on a front of 700 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, double envelopment against prepared defense and fortified defense, and that USSR held. Losses: Germany 253,000 (23%), USSR 885,000 (65%).

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

Fm von Bock

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry241,154
Germany centreInfantry321,539
Germany right wingInfantry241,154
Germany reserveInfantry200,962
Germany artillery (5,746 guns)Artillery86,190
Germany armour (1,800 tanks)Armour9,000
Fm von BockCommander—
In this plan1,099,999

USSR

Marshal Stalin

UnitArmMen
USSR left wingInfantry304,099
USSR centreInfantry405,466
USSR right wingInfantry304,099
USSR reserveInfantry253,416
USSR artillery (6,678 guns)Artillery100,170
USSR armour (950 tanks)Armour4,750
Marshal StalinCommander—
In this plan1,372,000

What the sources report

GermanyUSSR
Strength, this plan1,100,0001,372,000
Losses, this plan253,000885,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 489, “Defense Of Moscow”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
1536 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Cold, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Prepared defense, Fortified defense
Front width
700 km (attacker), 700 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker1,100,000253,00005,746Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Double envelopment; Penetration; Stalemate
USSRdefender1,372,000885,00006,678Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Repulse; Stalemate

Attacker’s advantages leadership +2 · training +2 · logistics +2 · momentum +1 · intelligence +2 · technology +2 · initiative +2 · 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, and which flank the envelopment fell on is a guess. 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.