Time Astra

Schematic plan · Korean War

Battle of Pierce 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 wingReserveGunsGunsArmourCommand05 km10 kmN

USA (US Div, 27,900 men under unrecorded commanders) attacked North Korea (Nkor Army, 35,100 men under unrecorded commanders) in Korea. The CAA Database of Battles records 72 hours of fighting on a front of 24 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 170 (1%), North Korea 4,780 (14%).

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 wingInfantry6,179
USA centreInfantry8,238
USA right wingInfantry6,179
USA reserveInfantry5,149
USA artillery (72 guns)Artillery1,080
USA armour (215 tanks)Armour1,075
USA commandCommander—
In this plan27,900

North Korea

UnitArmMen
North Korea left wingInfantry8,053
North Korea centreInfantry10,738
North Korea right wingInfantry8,053
North Korea reserveInfantry6,711
North Korea artillery (103 guns)Artillery1,545
North Korea commandCommander—
In this plan35,100

What the sources report

USANorth Korea
Strength, this plan27,90035,100
Losses, this plan1704,780

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 633, “Pierce Line”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
72 hours
Winner
the attacker
Weather
Wet, Light precipitation, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
24 km (attacker), null km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker27,900170072Frontal attack; Penetration
North Koreadefender35,1004,7800103Stalemate

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.