Time Astra

Schematic plan · Korean War

Battle of Butte Line

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.
CentreCentreLeft wingRight wingLeft wingRight wingReserveReserveGunsArmourCommand05 km10 kmN

USA (US Div, 29,000 men under unrecorded commanders) attacked North Korea (Nkor Army, 30,200 men under unrecorded commanders) in Korea. The CAA Database of Battles records 96 hours of fighting on a front of 19 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 300 (1%), North Korea 15,810 (52%).

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

USA

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry6,443
USA centreInfantry8,590
USA right wingInfantry6,443
USA reserveInfantry5,369
USA artillery (72 guns)Artillery1,080
USA armour (215 tanks)Armour1,075
USA commandCommander—
In this plan29,000

North Korea

UnitArmMen
North Korea left wingInfantry6,161
North Korea centreInfantry8,214
North Korea right wingInfantry6,161
North Korea reserveInfantry5,134
North Korea artillery (648 guns)Artillery4,530
North Korea commandCommander—
In this plan30,200

What the sources report

USANorth Korea
Strength, this plan29,00030,200
Losses, this plan30015,810

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 630, “Butte Line”, 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
Weather
Dry, Temperate, Winter, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
19 km (attacker), null km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker29,000300072Frontal attack; Penetration
North Koreadefender30,20015,8100648Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages none recorded

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.