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Schematic plan · World War II (Eastern Front)

Moscow Counteroffensive

All battlesBattle of Moscow: engagement 2 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 wingLeft wingRight wingReserveReserveGunsGunsArmourArmour010 km20 kmN

One of the 2 engagements of the Battle of Moscow recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 2 in date order). USSR (Sov Kalinin Ag(+), 1,060,300 men under Marshal Stalin) attacked Germany (Ger Ag Center, 880,000 men under Fm von Bock) in USSR. The CAA Database of Battles records 792 hours of fighting on a front of 1,060 km, a frontal attack, double envelopment against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that USSR won. Losses: USSR 139,000 (13%), Germany 85,300 (10%).

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

USSR

Marshal Stalin

UnitArmMen
USSR left wingInfantry241,288
USSR centreInfantry321,717
USSR right wingInfantry241,288
USSR reserveInfantry201,073
USSR artillery (3,440 guns)Artillery51,600
USSR armour (667 tanks)Armour3,335
Marshal StalinCommander—
In this plan1,060,301

Germany

Fm von Bock

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry202,800
Germany centreInfantry270,400
Germany right wingInfantry202,800
Germany reserveInfantry169,000
Germany artillery (2,050 guns)Artillery30,750
Germany armour (850 tanks)Armour4,250
Fm von BockCommander—
In this plan880,000

What the sources report

USSRGermany
Strength, this plan1,060,300880,000
Losses, this plan139,00085,300

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 490, “Moscow Counteroffensive”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
792 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Cold, Winter, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width
1060 km (attacker), 1060 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USSRattacker1,060,300139,00003,440Frontal attack; Double envelopment; Breakthrough
Germanydefender880,00085,30002,050Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages morale +2 · logistics +2 · intelligence +2 · initiative +1 · surprise +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.