Time Astra

Schematic plan · World War II

Battle of Kasserine Pass

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.
Rugged, Bare groundCentreCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGunsArmourArmour01 km2 kmN

Germany (Ger Afrika Korps (-), 7,000 men under Fm Rommel) attacked USA (US 26th Rct (-)(+), 5,303 men under Col Stark) in Tunisia. The CAA Database of Battles records 24 hours of fighting on a front of 4 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that Germany won. Losses: Germany 200 (3%), USA 527 (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

Germany

Fm Rommel

UnitArmMen
Germany left wingInfantry1,450
Germany centreInfantry1,933
Germany right wingInfantry1,450
Germany reserveInfantry1,208
Germany artillery (46 guns)Artillery690
Germany armour (54 tanks)Armour270
Fm RommelCommander—
In this plan7,001

USA

Col Stark

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry1,149
USA centreInfantry1,532
USA right wingInfantry1,149
USA reserveInfantry958
USA artillery (30 guns)Artillery450
USA armour (13 tanks)Armour65
Col StarkCommander—
In this plan5,303

What the sources report

GermanyUSA
Strength, this plan7,0005,303
Losses, this plan200527

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 604, “Kasserine Pass”, 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
Rugged, Bare
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Cold, Winter, Desert
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
4 km (attacker), 4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Germanyattacker7,000200046Frontal attack; Repulse; Penetration; Pursued
USAdefender5,303527030Defensive plan; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +1 · morale +1 · momentum +1 · intelligence +1 · initiative +1 · 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.