Attrition models of the Ardennes campaign

✍ Scribed by Ronald D. Fricker Jr.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 178 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-069X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6750(199802)45:1<1::aid-nav1>3.0.co;2-d

✦ Synopsis

This paper revisits the modeling by Bracken [3] of the Ardennes campaign of World War II using the Lanchester equations. It revises and extends that analysis in a number of ways: (1) It more accurately fits the model parameters using linear regression;

(2) it considers the data from the entire campaign; and (3) it adds in air sortie data. In contrast to previous results, it concludes by showing that neither the Lanchester linear or Lanchester square laws fit the data. A new form of the Lanchester equations emerges with a physical interpretation.