It became the 89th Infantry Division in August In July and August , it fought around Warsaw and then participated in the siege of Modlin Fortress. After the line stabilized, the division was in positional warfare until September It then went south t The Ersatz Monarch class[a] also informally known as the Improved Tegetthoff class[1] was a class of dreadnought battleships which were intended to be built between and for the Austro-Hungarian Navy German: Design work on a class of battleships to succeed the Tegetthoff class and replace the aging Monarch class began as early as After going through several different design proposals, Anton Haus, Commander-in-Chief of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, secured passage of a naval expansion program through the Austro-Hungarian government to fund the construction of the battleships in April Work on the first battleship was scheduled to begin in Trieste on 1 July that same year, and the final battleship was expected to be launched from Fiume on 31 May However, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June halted construction just days before the keel of the first ship in the class was scheduled to be laid down.
With the outbreak of W Each division included a cavalry brigade of two regiments numbered as their parent division with the following exceptions: The Guards Corps had four cavalry brigades organised as the Guards Cavalry Division, the only peace-time cavalry division in the Army The Leib Hussar Brigade was assigned to 36th Division and there was no 36th Cavalry Brigade Three corps had an extra cavalry brigade: The th Infantry Division German: Created in September , it primarily saw service on the Eastern Front and in Ukraine.
Order of battle May The 28th Reserve Division The division was raised primarily in the Grand Duchy of Baden. It fought in the Battle of the Frontiers and then participated in the Race to the Sea, fighting in the Somme region. It occupied the line in the Artois region from October to August , and then fought in the Battle of the Somme. From October to April , the division occupied the line near Verdun. After a month back in Verdun, it The 33rd Reserve Division The division was formed on the mobilization of the German Army in August Although designated a reserve division, it was initially composed of one active and one reserve infantry brigade.
The active brigade was the 8th Bavarian Infantry Brigade, which had been detached from the 4th Bavarian Infantry Division. The rest of the division's troops came primarily from the Prussian Rhine Province and the Province of Westphalia. Combat chronicle The 33rd Reserve Division began the war on the Western Front, where it fought in the Battle of the Frontiers and advanced to the Verdun region.
From September to August , it occupied the line in the region between the Meuse and Moselle Rivers. In late , it suffered heavy losses in the later phases of the It existed from as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty Wehrhoheit of Bavaria into that of the German State in The Bavarian army was never comparable to the armies of the Great Powers of the 19th century, but it did provide the Wittelsbach dynasty with sufficient scope of action, in the context of effective alliance politics, to transform Bavaria from a territorially-disjointed small state to the second-largest state of the German Empire after Prussia.
From the first standing army to the Napoleonic Wars The Reichskriegsverfassung of obliged Bavaria to provide troops for the Imperial army. Moreover, the establishment of a standing army was increasingly seen as a sign of nation-statehood and an important tool of absolutist power-politics.
At a field camp in Schwabing on 12 October , the newly recruited troops were officially taken i This is a list of military divisions of all nationalities organised by number. Divisions may be infantry, airborne, cavalry, mechanized, armoured or aviation. It was organized as follows: The 39th Royal Bavarian Reserve Division It was raised to division status on October 2, , from an ad hoc unit, "Brigade von Rekowski", and named "Division von Rekowski" "Rekowski's Division".
On December 8, , it was renamed the 39th Reserve Division. As it was heavily made up of Bavarian units, on December 26, , it was again renamed, this time as the 39th Royal Bavarian Reserve Division. It spent the war engaged in positional warfare in the Alsace-Lorraine region. It was dissolved in during the demobilization of the German Army after the Armistice.
Order of Battle on November 20, Division von Rekowski: In peacetime, the Imperial German Army included regiments of cavalry. Some of these regiments had a history stretching back to the 17th century[2] but others were only formed as late as October The 30th Royal Bavarian Reserve Division Reserve-Division from mobilization in August It was almost entirely made up of Bavarian units and thus, on December 26, , it was renamed the 30th Royal Bavarian Reserve Division. It spent the war engaged in positional warfare in the Vosges mountains of France and the Alsace-Lorraine region.
On mobilization, the division comprised three brigades: On August 17, 5. The Corps was dissolved on 17 September In mid-November it consisted of two divisions: Wernitz and Breugel with a strength of 26 battalions, 6 squadrons and 13 batteries. The Ersatz Corps German: Ersatzkorps was a corps level command of the German Army that existed briefly at the beginning of World War I. History The Ersatz Corps was formed on 18 August [1] under the command of 6th Army to control the Ersatz divisions of that army Guards, 4th, 8th, 10th and 19th ,[2] hence the name of the Corps.
General der Infanterie Ludwig von Falkenhausen was brought out of retirement to take command during its brief existence. Ersatz divisions were formed on mobilisation from replacement units of active regiments. Each brigade replacement battalion Brigade-Ersatz-Bataillone was numbered after its parent infantry brigade, and was formed with two companies taken from each of the brigade's replacement battalions of which there was one per infantry regiment. Cavalry Ersatz Abteilungen and Field Artillery Ersatz Abteilungen were likewise formed from active cavalry and field artillery regiments.
Armee-Abteilung Falkenhausen[4] was set up in The Royal Saxon Army German: A regular Saxon army was first established in and it continued to exist until the abolition of the German monarchies in He convinced the Saxon Estates in that the established practice of in case of war hiring mercenaries and dismissing them in peace, was as costly as the formation of a standing army.
In the hitherto existing home troops and Guard and other small units were consolidated in line regiments. The army consisted of six infantry regiments of eight companies and five cavalry regiments. The field artillery consisted out of 24 guns. The company commander riding on the white horse is lieutenant Basse.
The recruitment was however in no way exclusive. It was a continuation and expansion of the "Boy Scout Training" Pfadfinderkursus. Scout course and permanent training group Seydlitz leads Moltke, Hindenburg, Derfflinger and Von der Tann into internment in Scapa Flow The Kaiserliche Marine, the navy of the German Empire, built a series of battlecruisers in the first half of the 20th century. The battlecruiser type was an outgrowth of older armored cruiser designs;[a] they were intended to scout for the main battle fleet and attack the reconnaissance forces of opposing fleets.
Kaiser Wilhelm II insisted that the new battlecruisers be able to fight in the line of battle with battleships to counter Germany's numerical inferiority. Kneis is a part of the Engure municipality Latvian: Engures novads in Latvia on the seashore of the Baltic sea on the Bay of Riga. Klapkalnciems belonged long times to the German 8th army German: In it was occupied by the 1st Reserve Battalion.
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On 14 September , the 27th jaeger battalion replaced it. The 27th jaeger battalion was a part of 29th mixed combined brigade German: Gemischte Ersatz-Brigade of 8th Ersatz Division. It was replaced by the 2nd Jaeger company on 4 October and 1st company on 11 November. As the 27th Battalion was withdrawn to Liepaja to the Baeyr and Hansa garrisons the positions were taken by the rd Jaegerregiment. On the Russian side of the front there were the Siberian 55th rifle regiment Russian: The 6th Army German: The 6th Army initially consisted of the units of the Bavarian Army which had retained military sovereignty after the unification of Germany , with some additional Prussian units.
In August , in the Battle of Lorraine, Rupprecht's 6th Army managed to hold against the French offensive, using a feigned withdrawal to lure the advancing armies onto prepared defensive positions. After the Western Front turned to stalemate and the opposing forces formed lines of trenches, the 6th Army was based The 1st Bavarian Landwehr Division 1. The division was formed from various separate Landwehr units. Although called Bavarian, the division initially included several non-Bavarian units: Hans von Blumenthal, who had come out of retirement comprised a regiment formed in Alsace-Lorraine and another formed in Thuringia which included Prussians Awards German Cross in Gold on 18 May as Generalleutnant and commanding general of the Ausbildungs und Ersatz Truppen training and replacement troops of the 1.
Bibliography Patzwall, Klaus D. The 19th Army German: It was formed in France on 4 February from the former South Army command. It served exclusively on the Western Front and was dissolved on 24 January They were in place to take part in Ludendorff's Spring Offensive. They also had the temporary advantage in numbers afforded by nearly 50 divisions freed by the Russian withdrawal from the war Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
The Military Administration in France German: On the same day, according to his statement, a further batch of four civilians were shot because they had attacked a sentry of Infantry Regiment No. The company advanced with the pontoon waggons on the steep, narrow road into Dinant behind Rifle Fusilier Regiment No. In the room on the right there lay an officer—a lieutenant of Infantry Regiment No. All three civilians wore the uniform of Infantry Regiment No.
In the adjoining room there lay stretched out dead a non-commissioned officer and five privates of the same regiment.
I lifted up the cloth covering the lieutenant and saw that he had received a shot in the head. I did not see any further injuries to the officer. One of the privates who lay beside the lieutenant had his trousers unbuttoned in front so that one could see his body. This soldier had a shot in the lower part of the body. Extending from the larynx to at least 10 cm. The blood had flowed down towards the side.
I am convinced that it could only have been a wound from a cut. In the other room the trousers of one of the soldiers were unbuttoned so that one could see the body. This man had a cut or stab wound in the lower body about 3 cm. The clothing of the remaining soldiers showed no disarrangement, they all bore shot-wounds. The scene conveyed the impression that the officer, the non-commissioned officer and the men had been attacked in their sleep by the inhabitants in that quarter.
I infer this from the fact that the officer had a sofa-cushion and the others either a cloth or a knapsack under their heads. The rifles stood in a corner Horne, Alan Kramer, German Atrocities A History Of Denial, , pp. See also, IR Reichsarchiv, Weltkrieg, Volume 3, pp. On 24 August, the area of Dinant south of the bridge, which had not been attacked on 23 August, was systematically burned down by the Germans. The killings continued on 24 August, houses burned for days and lit up the countryside. A stench of corpses polluted the air as they decomposed in the sun.
Rocroi, Rimogne, La Tremblois] http: Battle of the Meuse and tracking up to the Aisne] http: La Tremblois, Blombay, l'Echelle] http: Battle of the Aisne and tracking to over the Marne] http: Moronvilliers Department Franke of the 23th Infantry Division ] http: Mourmelon Department Arnim of the 23th Infantry Division] http: Unter erheblichen Verlusten wurde das Dorf eingenommen und gehalten.
Der Vormarsch und die Vorbereitungen zur Marneschlacht gingen weiter. Kompanie wurde abgezogen und als Vortrupp der Division nach Mourmelon gesandt In the small town Mourmelon-le-Grand [Battle: September 3, ] , the battalion fell into an ambush , and the advance came to a standstill. Under considerable losses the village was taken and held. After the support of the cavalry , the French troops were pushed back.
The advance and the preparations for the Battle of the Marne went on. On 26 September was the combat strength of the battalion only 17 officers and NCOs and men. The second Company was withdrawn and sent as a vanguard of the division after Mourmelon [Battle: September 3, ] http: Karl Ludwig d'Elsa http: Battle of the Marne] http: The 23d Division, with the 2d [XII? Karl d'Elsa from Third Army. Fighting on the Aisne] http: Battle of Juvincourt] http: Conquest of La Ville aux Bois] http: Fig 2 and 2a: Part of the Ersatz-Bataillon depot battalion of IR in Freiberg, October — mainly returning convalescents together with depot staff seated, in pre 'colourful' uniform and a couple of older reservists.
The elegant gentleman with the duelling scar seated second from left is actually a mere Unteroffizier corporal. I am researching my great-grandfather who was in the Infantry Regiment during the First World War until his injury late in His name was Albert Schreiner and I was wondering whether you had come across him in your research at all?
From his lebenslauf he was in "Mach.
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After recovery from his injury Kieferdurchschuss - shot in the jaw , he apparently returned to the Western Front in the summer of with Inf. He went on to become a prominent member of the KPD until fleeing Germany with his family in I have no records of his time in the military but do have a photo of him from the war attached. I look forward to hearing if you had any further information on the regiment that might be of interest.
Wenige Wochen vor Beendigung der aktiven Dienstzeit, im August wurden wir an die Westfront geschicht. Dort war ich bis im Frontdienst [p. Im August kam er an die Westfront und war bis im Frontdienst, seit als Offiziersstellvertreter. Im September verwundet, benutzte er seinen Urlaub, um sich von der Truppe zu entfernen. September heiratete er Emma Hermann Handwritten memories of his war experiences from until , Fritz Gebelein describes in this diary his experiences as a soldier of the Royal Saxon 16th infantry regiment , 12th company, rd Infantry Division, th Infantry Brigade, stationed in France Vernon [?
August 1, [war declared], February 8, ; April 24, ; May 3, ]. The division held the front from Craonne-Berry au Bac until July, In this sector the losses were very slight Saxon troops belonging at the 32nd division of the Twelfth army His remains were never found, but it is likely that he is buried in the German military cemetery of Vermandovillers.
Friedrich Wilhelm Krause - 1. In March, , some of its [23d Division] were in Champagne for a short time Im August wurde er in der Schlacht an der Somme verletzt und in die Heimat entlassen. Im Mai heiratete er Emma Frieda geb. Hinsche Max Radeberg, Dresden-N. In April, the d Infantry Regiment was taken [from the 23 Division] for the d Division a new formation The division was formed in April, , by taking three regiments th, d, and th Reserve from established divisions of the 12th Corps the 12th Reserve Corps Saxons.
Infanterie-Division an, welche in der Gegend von Rethel gebildet wurde. At its head was a newly-formed divisional staff under Generalmajor Karl Lucius, former commander of the elite 45 Infanterie-Brigade Saxon Grenadiers in 23 Infanterie—Division The rd Infantry Division was formed as a triangular division.
The order of battle of the division on April 1, was as follows: APRIL 27 , In May, , the d Division occupied the region northwest of Rheims At the end of May it was transported to Lille, where it seems to have been transferred as a reserve At the end of May it was transported to Lille, where it seems to have been transferred as a reserve; in the middle of June it was in the vicinity of Arras JUNE 23 , Das Regiment wurde in der Nacht durch das I. Fighting the Kaiser's War: It next occupied different sectors in Artois.
In September it held the Souchez front ID , a unit known to have shelled the 9th East Surreys at St. Eloi in autumn On October 8 it took part in the attack on Loos This series of articles grew from material collected for two chapters, regarding a Saxon division which opposed the British 24th Division both at the Battle of Loos and subsequently at St Eloi in the Ypres Salient. After some thought, it was decided that the most immediately promising subject was the Royal Saxon rd Infantry Division Inf Div.
This article then — the first in a series of three concerning Inf Div on the Western Front in — briefly introduces the Royal Saxon Army and concisely describes the experiences of the division from its formation in April until the eve of the Anglo—French offensive on 25 Septembe r This 'triangularisation' process produced a pool of 'surplus' regiments and brigade staffs, which were used to form the new likewise 'triangular' divisions of the 'fifties' 50, 52, 54, 56 and 58 and 'hundreds' , , , —, , , , and series.
As far as artillery was concerned, the adoption, since December , of the four—gun battery instead of six as standard in the field artillery provided a pool of men and materiel for the formation of one 'hundreds' series or two 'fifties' series new regiments some highly heterogeneous for each division. No further Saxon divisions would be formed until ; the under-trained 53 Reserve-Division and incomplete 19 Ersatz-Division would not be triangularised until At its head was a newly-formed divisional staff under Generalmajor Karl Lucius, former commander of the elite 45 Infanterie-Brigade Saxon Grenadiers in 23 Infanterie—Division.
Both regiments had been copiously replenished after severe losses in which had seen IR reduced to five officers and ORs organised as two provisional companies , and had experienced no significant action since the German capture of Hurtebise and La Creute farms west of Craonne between 25 and 27 January. They too had suffered heavily; on 26 September alone their 4 Kompanie lost all of its officers, whilst on the following day the regimental commander Oberstlt Graf von Mandesloh was shot through the arm and rendered hors de combat until November. Hundreds of replacements had arrived since October, but the arrival of more as late as 6 May suggests that RIR was still rebuilding when it joined the new division.
10. Landwehr-Division (Deutsches Kaiserreich)
Consequently the original differences between the two active regiments mainly young conscripts and full—time soldiers and the reserve regiment overwhelmingly reservists in their late 20s or 30s were already increasingly blurred, and would later disappear completely. Upon arrival in the concentration area, all three regiments were dismayed to be rearmed with old commission rifles in place of the trusty Mausers they had left with their old divisions. The following week was spent in re-familiarisation and practice with the 'new' weapon; although normally serviceable, its Mannlicher—derived action would prove insufficiently robust in the appalling conditions at Souchez that autumn.
Initially the division possessed only one regiment of field artillery, Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr FAR , comprising one Abteilung each from Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr 23 and 24 XII Reservekorps ; each Abteilung consisted of three, four-gun batteries, all with the standard 7. By Autumn this rather meagre force would gradually increase to a brigade of two regiments, including several Like the rest of the 'independent' divisions of the 'fifties' and 'hundreds' series Inf Div was also formed with organic heavy artillery ordinarily a corps asset , specifically a battery of four 15 cm howitzers.
Engineering assets were limited, comprising a single field company Pionier—Kompagnie Nr and a searchlight platoon Scheinwerferzug Nr ; a second field company would be added in the Autumn. The new division first went into the line in mid-April to the left of XII Armeekorps , holding the still largely intact villages of Loivre and Courcy on the west bank of the Aisne-Marne Canal, two to three miles north of Reims. With observation from Fort de Brimont and the adjacent Batterie de Loivre, the German artillery was dominant; according to the regimental history of RIR , 'a couple of 21 cm howitzer rounds', fired at Reims sufficed to halt any French shelling, ensuring that this remained an extremely quiet sector.
Regimental histories, photos and correspondence all depict this as an idyllic period, punctuated by bathing in the canal and inter—company football tournaments. Nevertheless, the regimental history of IR lists fourteen dead for this tour, including illness and accidents; IR lost three men dead, one officer and eight men wounded and one man with 'nervous shock'. On May this comfortable existence came to an abrupt end with designation as a 'fliegende division' and transportation to the Lille area , there to form a reserve for reinforcements and reliefs on the Flanders and Artois front s.
Military units and formations started in 1914
Here too life was still quite pleasant, with opportunities to catch up with family and friends in XIX Armeekorps. It was expected that, as part of the meagre German reserve in the West efforts then being focused in the East , Inf Div would be an object of major interest for Entente espionage. Consequently the regimental history of IR — quartered in the suburb of Hellemes — describes numerous railway embarkation exercises leading to 'day trips' for training in the countryside, also intended to keep any spies guessing.
For similar reasons there were frequent parades through the centre of Lille, with the regimental band playing and battalion flags flying. This was useful practice for the formal celebration of the King of Saxony's birthday on 25 May, and for an even grander exhibition of Saxon military pageantry on 12 June when the amiable monarch visited the city.
In a contrastingly modern addition to the traditional pomp, the leading Saxon aviator Oberlt Max Immelmann gave an aerobatic display. At this time the future ace was still flying two-seaters, and had narrowly survived being shot down behind German lines on 3 June; by the end of he would gain fame flying the Fokker Eindecker as the 'Eagle of Lille'.
Barely a year later he would be shot down and killed at Sallaumines on 18 June , aged This parade also marked the end of the first period at Lille for IR The division would not be reunited until mid-July. IR and RIR were now temporarily subordinated to the Silesian Inf Div as relief for its own infantry, all 'fought out' as reinforcements in the major battle still raging on Vimy Ridge. Consequently the Saxons now held the front where the British would overrun the luckless Silesians on 25 September.
This experience would later prove invaluable to the Saxons during the Battle of Loos. They now faced the British for the first time, although evidently seeing very little of them. In the front line they found 'model' trenches as yet unaffected by any experience of major fighting:. The position was well excavated in chalky soil, the trench walls extensively faced with wood; this later proved to result in the blocking of all traffic through the trenches when under heavy bombardment.
In every platoon sector stood a basin of lime solution, in which the protective pad worn on the left shoulder was to be dipped in the event of an enemy gas attack. This rudimentary pad mask and chlorine—neutralising hyposulphite solution were still in front-line use at the Battle of Loos; despite the numerous shortcomings of their PH 'smoke helmets', the British would actually enjoy superior protection for their first gas attack.
Issue of the advanced Gummimaske began in September, but was not complete on the Western Front until the winter. In June the future battlefield was still quiet. For the first few days the Second Battle of Artois was still audibly and visibly raging on the heights further south. The only direct consequence in the Loos area was a modest increase in artillery fire when the French resumed their offensive on 16 June. After the unsuccessful attack at Aubers Ridge in May, the British gunners could ill afford to be lavish with ammunition, and little damage was inflicted.
The three Saxon regiments were relieved over the successive nights of July by the Silesians and returned to Lille; the Inf Div would now be deployed at the front together for the first time in two months. In the interim, the divisional artillery had been significantly reinforced. However, until 23 July, when the I Abteilung and 8 Batterie returned from Chauny, the division remained badly under-gunned.
Over the successive nights of July , the three infantry regiments replaced fellow Saxons of 53 Reserve-Division at St Eloi, where the latter had spent the past month anxiously awaiting a British attack which never came; they now returned to their usual sectors north of the Menin Road. This brief tour was chiefly memorable for a German mine detonation on 17 July; it is unlikely that the divisional engineers were seriously involved.
The division would return to St Eloi after the Battle of Loos, when the three regiments would occupy exactly the same sub—sectors. For the rest of the summer Inf Div remained in OHL reserve in the Lille-Roubaix area , where the troops were kept busy with tactical exercises and working parties, resulting in a steady trickle of casualties, ten dead and thirty—nine wounded from IR alone. These tasks took individual units further afield than in May, with IR detached from August to work on the defences as far south as Arras.
However, there were also welcome opportunities for open-air bathing and sightseeing in the pretty Flemish towns in the rear areas. Best of all, home leave was finally granted to those who had been longest in the field — for the first time, at least in IR As noted earlier, the division suffered from a shortage of engineers, an endemic problem on the Western Front even before its formation.
Since the onset of trench warfare the services of the Pioniere had been in unprecedented and overwhelming demand, and measures taken to address this in Inf Div were typical. During the summer each infantry regiment sent a contingent from IR Upon their return each contingent formed a quasi—official regimental 'Infanterie Pionier Kompagnie', semi-skilled 'pioneers' in the British sense who worked under Pionier engineer direction.
This stop-gap system would be phased out in the first half of — by which time such formerly specialist skills as construction of field fortifications and use of hand grenades had been promulgated throughout the infantry, whilst provision of actual Pioniere and of unarmed labour units had greatly increased. On 26 August, the entire division was assembled at Lens , where it was subordinated to the Prussian IV Armeekorps from 'Prussian Saxony', mostly former Saxon territory annexed after the Napoleonic Wars.
At this time IV Armeekorps held the front from Souchez in the south to Hulluch in the north, with south to north its own 8 and 7 Inf Div and the aforementioned Inf Div. Heavily engaged against the final French push in late July, 8 Inf Div was in serious need of rest and was relieved by the Saxons during the course of August , it replaced them as OHL reserve at Douai.
8th Ersatz Division (German Empire)
The resulting divisional dispositions remained unchanged until the Battle of Loos. Now their luck had run out, for the new sector would have been one of the worst on the Western Front even without the threat of an impending offensive. Thus there was no question of voluntarily ceding any ground here, even though traffic between front and rear was suicidal by day and fraught with peril by night; the approach routes for all regimental sectors ran along the valley of the Souchez stream from Angres, clearly overlooked from the heights to the southwest. This ran diagonal or roughly parallel to the front, so that IR in the centre and IR on the left had to pass uncomfortably close behind their neighbour's front line — often over open ground — to reach their own.
The trenches had been hastily constructed in battle and maintained with extreme difficulty under constant artillery harassment, so that there was no proper system of successive defensive lines and not even one continuous line along the entire divisional frontage. Only a proportion of the wretched dug-outs were proof against the lightest artillery fire, and many trenches lacked even the basic protection of traverses; effective wire obstacles were largely absent.
The divisional front was narrow, with each regimental sector held by a single battalion; regiments operated a three-day cycle of battalion reliefs between the front line, support and rest in the Lens area. RIR on the right was in the least invidious position; as well as the safest approach route to their rear, they had the widest stretch of no man's land to their front and the 'luxury' of telephone cables that ran as far as the front line.
In the centre IR , holding the Hexenkessel 'witches' cauldron', the name of several dangerous spots on the Western Front and the Torgauer Graben, was mostly metres from the enemy, dwindling to as little as 30 metres at two places marked by incessant hand grenade exchanges. By far the worst off was IR on the western edge of the ruins of Souchez; the opposing lines were uncomfortably close and the ground especially wet, tending towards outright swamp in the south. A front-line tour here was a scarcely imaginable hour ordeal, standing in waist—high water or crouching on sandbag islands, constantly tormented by the merciless attentions of bombing parties, snipers and artillery observers.
The Saxons knew that a major offensive was imminent, and that the armies in the west would have to withstand it with minimal reserves. From mid-September the French bombardment steadily increased, while aircraft roamed largely unmolested over the German hinterland directing artillery and dropping bombs. Consequently the division worked feverishly to improve inadequate defences with vast numbers of sandbags brought up nightly from the Pionierpark at the Angres crossroads. A major construction effort was required every night merely to rectify the damage inflicted during the day; somehow, however, a continuous front line was established, except in the swamp on the far left.
The main Allied bombardment began on 20 September, increasing to overwhelming 'drum fire' on 24 September. By this time the date of the offensive had been discovered from a deserter and, in accordance with contemporary doctrine, the front line packed with troops; probing attacks on 24 September were easily repelled. Little did the Saxons suspect that the following day would bring not only the anticipated frontal assault, but also a breakthrough further north which would threaten their rear in Lens — and pit them simultaneously against the British and French Armies No 97 May , Loos to St.
Eloi — the Experience of the Saxon Infanterie—Division on the Western Front, , Part 2, 24— No 98, September, , Loos to St. Whereas a year before [November ] ID. Early signs of 'live and let live' in the Reserve Infanterie sector where the lines were further apart soon fizzled out, and for Infanterie-Regiment who faced the Canadians no signs appeared. Eloi, only snipers and artillery continued to fight Eloi in November Organization of German Divisions 6, p. In the middle of March, , the d Division was put at rest near Bruges.
It was temporarily in line about April 9 at St. Eloi; then remained as a reserve to the armies in the vicinity of Menin and Courtrai until July Meanwhile the infantry regiments of the ID were in quarters south of Bruges in 4. Armee reserve; due to the attack their rifle companies were placed at the disposal of Reserve-Division on 3 April and returned to their previous rear area. Here they were mainly employed for several weeks in constructing new defences behind the '1B' line, and incurred significant losses from artillery fire. On 20 May, 4.
RK would have continued use of one battalion from the division II. From 25 May a further battalion II. Ersatz-Division, facing the inundations near Woumen south of Diksmuide see map on p. AK, leading to dangerous working parties on the Menin Road. During this period the elements in reserve south of Bruges were fully occupied with tactical exercises an the training of newly arrived placements On 27 June the reassembled division was placed on alert to entrain at six hours' notice.
The fateful order came on 5 July, and the division departed for Cambrai to take part in the Battle of the Somme May 8, , Page , S. JUNE 12 , July 5, - July 22, Armee afin de tenir le front de la Somme. At this date [July 5, it was transferred to the Somme and fought near Hardecourt and Maurepas until July 22, losing more than 6, men The move was spotted by the observers in British aircraft, from which a bombardment was called down on the east side of Guillemont, pinning down two of the II Battalion companies Nr 38 et 51 The German counter-attack by the II Battalion, Infantry Regiment from the fresh rd Division and parts of Reserve Infantry Regiment 38 and Reserve Infantry Regiment 51, was pressed from Maltz Horn Farm to the north end of the wood and succeeded in reaching the wood north of the Guillemont track The left of the battalion entered the wood further north, took thirty prisoners and occupied part of the eastern edge, as German troops in the wood from I Battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment , II Battalion, Infantry Regiment and III Battalion, Reserve Infantry Regiment 51 skirmished with patrols and received reinforcements from Guillemont.
My wifes great grandfather was a young Leutnant in the nd Infantry Regt of the Division. He was seriously wounded on the 18th July when the regt was fighting on the Somme Schrapnell in the right Shoulder The nd Infantry Regiment was not amongst the units listed in the attack. The rd Division was defending the trench line just south of Guillemont.
Presumably your wife's great grandfather was hit in one of the many artillery bombardments that would have been happening all along the line From the few records I have of this unit it seems that at noon on 14 July the rd I. The division took over the line with the th IR less the I Bn. There is a larger section from the Reichsarchivs series that relates to the heavy fighting with the IR and surrounding units who were being attacked by elements of the French army.
I will get it together and post it for you this weekend From my review it appears that while the nd IR was involved in fighting around this period it was primarily under artillery fire on this date and the shrapnel wound would be quite common. Can you provide his name? I want to see if I have the Verlustlisten for this period and regiment, thanks He was wounded in the shoulder and if I understand correctly lost the ball to the joint, leaving his arm a couple of cm's shorter then the other.
He ended the war serving in the I. A year later he was serving as a Leutnant [sic: Lieutenant ] Without patent in Flanders. In July 0f the Regiment as part of the rd I. In less than 3 weeks the division was to loose almost men, wounded or missing. On the operating table the doctors removed the ball from his shoulder joint leaving him with a left arm 2 inches shorter than his right arm. He would continue to serve winning the Iron Cross 1st class in The regimental History lists no major actions for the 18th of July although the regiment was under heavy artillery and gas bombardment.
The only incident of note was a supply column carrying food to the front getting and suffering a number of losses while in a sunken road near Maurepas. It is probable the [sic: Iron Cross, Ist Class, received in JULY 24 , JULY 25 , JULY 27 , There is a larger section from the Reichsarchivs series that relates to the heavy fighting with the IR and surrounding units who were being attacked by elements of the French army The second map is from the History of Infantry Regiment , a Saxon regiment, at that time part of 23rd Infantry Division I am fairly sure.
This action took place while piecemeal reinforcement was almost the norm, as the German army attempted to fight fires on the Somme. So, whilst the 1st and 3rd Bns IR were deployed down near Hem, the 2nd Bn was deployed forward under command of 12th Res Div, to reinforce the severely depleted RIR 51 and assist in the 9 Jul 16 counter-attack against Trones Wood , which had had to be evacuated the previous night due to the immense weight of shelling to which it was being subjected.
The actual attack seems to have been preceded by a very effective German barrage and the wood was taken relatively easily. A number of prisoners were captured. However , for all of he was in and out of hospital. It went into line in the region of Narotoch Lake about September. The nd Infantry Regiment was not transferred from the Division to the Division until October, ]. Bauch, Ernst, Ort Dresden-A. The th Division [Independent Division] was formed in Galicia in July, , by drafts upon regiments of other divisions.
Another account says that the nd went to the th Division in October ]. Two large German Armies, one commanded by General von Falkenhayn, a former Chief of Staff, the other by General Mackensen, a mighty strategist who had compelled the Russian retreat during the previous winter, were dispatched to the scene. Falkenhayn was to operate from the north, driving the Romanians back across the Carpathians, while Mackensen was to assault the Romanians from the south with the aid of Bulgarian, German and Turkish forces operating along the line of the Danube.
They hoped to crush the Romanians between them as in a vice Kommandeure Generalmajor Franz Franke 8. September bis Eastern Front - South Russia: Organization of German Divisions , p. In December , the battalion was disbanded in Lichtenberg Army Group Mackensen Romania. He was in command of a multi-national army of Bulgarians, Ottoman Turks, and Germans.
Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen awarded on - 7 Sept. He was awarded Oakleaves on 11 Dec. Bildung der Heeresgruppe Mackensen und der Donauarmee. Bulgaria declared war on Roumania on 1 September. General von Mackensen commanded the force in Bulgaria, which consisted of three Bulgarian divisions, four brigades of cavalry, and part of a German division. He moved at once against the Roumanian forces in Dobrudja in order to create a diversion away from the Transylvanian theater, where additional forces 5 German and 2 Austrian divisions were meanwhile to be concentrated Brusilov Offensive, June 4, - September 30, From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle On the morning of October 2, , a Romanian division, planning a surprise attack on Mackensen's rear, laid a pontoon bridge across the Danube River, between Silistria and Tutrakan.
After crossing the Danube, the Romanians seized several villages, but they quickly retreated across the river when an Austrian monitor began shelling the bridge In view of the lull on the Somme, interest is now concentrated on the Balkan situation, particularly the positions in Rumania Petrograd reports that a great battle is proceeding in the Dobrudja The Infantry Regiment is not listed in the account]. In October, , the d Regiment was transferred [from the rd] to the th Division Germans begin offensive east of Brzezany General von Falkenhayn arrived in Transylvania on 18 September to take over command of the Ninth Army.
He linked up with Mackensen's composite Army of the Danube in mid-November. His troops entered Bucharest on 6 December, where the defeat of Roumania was loudly proclaimed On 10 November, General von Falkenhayn, having received reinforcements of 5 infantry and 2 cavalry divisions, launched an attack against the Roumanian First Army, with the decisive effort through Szurduk and Vulcan Passes The main body of the Romanian Army meanwhile had withdrawn to positions along the Alt River which crosses the Wallachian Plain.
Mackensen's left wing had by this time moved northward and formed a junction with Falkenhayn. The united armies began a vast encircling movement around the remnant of Averescu's Romanian Army. Averescu strove desperately to rally his disorganized forces behind the Alt River, but the German-Bulgarian circle contracted with ever increasing pressure.
7. Westpreußisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. – Wikipedia
Falkenhayn's other forces were now pouring down from the north through the Carpathian Passes, getting in rear of the Romanians. Mackensen's Bulgarian hordes were swarming up from the south. Cut off from their capital, 90 miles away, and with both their flanks crumpling, the Romanians abandoned the Alt line and fell back to the last line of defense before Bucharest on the Arges River. By letting Roumania become committed and involved in Transylvania before launching their attacks, they furthered the chances of success of the Mackensen attack on vital strategic areas and the Roumanian rear, as well as paving the way for Falkenhayn's proposed envelopment, by drawing forward the main enemy armies toward the northwest.
He installed Krafft von Dellmensingen, already commander of the Alpine Corps, as the leader of this new German corps, a large force containing 33 battalions and 31 batteries During these two weeks of heavy fighting, Group Krafft captured more than 6, prisoners and twelve artillery pieces. Here the Romanians resisted on the southern side of the mountain passes with nearly , soldiers. The Romanians withdrew the bulk of their forces south and established a concentric position northwest of Bucharest The Romanians had abandoned every major mountain pass along the Transylvanian Alps.
Still, all was not perfect with the German dispositions. Von Mackensen started crossing the Danube at Sistova on 23 November A Russian communique says: In the Alt Valley the enemy energetically attacked and pressed back the Roumanians towards the south of Kalimanesht and Moldarosh Germans crossed the Danube near Zimnita A German evening communique says: A force of Mackensen's army crossed the Danube at several points Von Mackensen's force, now across the Danube, was drawing close to the important city of Bucharest; however, he was isolated and too far advanced for support from the Ninth Army Within a few days von Falkenhayn could move two cavalry divisions 6th and 7th and two to four infantry divisions th, 11th, 41st and th into this gap The three enemy Armies, Kraftt [Krafft], Kuhne and Kosch, formed now an unique Front, drawing a vast arch of circle, of which left was Curtea de Arges, the center at Slatina, and the right at Giurgiu At 29th of November, the line of the German Front advanced like an invasion wave.
The circle arch have diminished its ray. The Group was now made of three Divisions of Infantry: For the systematization of the description of the fights given in the days of 30th of November-3rd of December, the battle theatre may be separated in three Sectors The plan for the battle of Bucharest After the informations of the Great Romanian Headquarter, the enemy was advancing in to two Groups: Final Operations - November 26, - January 7, Battle of the Arges. Schlacht am Arges http: On December 3, , was fought the battle of the Arges River, which decided the fate of Romania.
For an entire day, though outnumbered three to one, the Romanians held back the hordes of Bulgarians, Turks. Germans, Austrians and Hungarians that encompassed them in on three sides. Then they gradually gave way and withdrew eastward to the Sereth-Putna line. Before retreating, they destroyed the famous oil wells at Ploechti, and the wheat fields as well. In this ill-fated campaign of days the Romanians lost , men. Meanwhile, on December 6, , the civilian population had evacuated the capital, Bucharest, wishing to save their chief city from bombardment by Mackensen's heavy howitzers.
The garrison also had withdrawn to unite with the main army on the Sereth line.
Military units and formations disambiguation pages
Mackensen's campaign had been wonderfully successful. Within four months after the declaration of war he had destroyed half the Romanian Army and conquered the provinces of Dobrudja and Wallachia. Early in January, , the campaign in Romania was renewed The enemy was advancing with the two Armies of his. On the left of her, in the mountainous region, has constituted a Group Kraftt [Krafft], composed of all the elements Alpine Germans and Austro-Hungarians; then followed Morgen Group, increased as number of Divisions, and at the right was Kuhne Army The attack unfolds favorable in the beginning;at In this moment, though, Morgen, which was holding the enemy Front with three Divisions, 12th,76th and th, pronounced a strong counterattack on the two wings of the Romanian Group of Attack The battle at Rimnicu Sarat has been engaged by the Germans with the totality of their forces, existing between Carpathian Mountains and Danube: At the left , the IXth Army, under the Command of General Falkenhayn , had to execute the principal mission with the mass of the 10 Divisions from Infantry of his.
She will operate in the flat region between Buzau River and Danube River, with the direction towards Braila.
The battle at Rimnicu Sarat has lasted six days, from 22nd to 27th of December and it was the greatest battle in the retreat times. The Germans name her also "Weihnachtsschlacht"-Christmassbattle , because her decissive action was given in the days of Chatolic Cristmass. General Falkenhayn , of which IXth Army, will carry the weight of the battle, has set to its left wing Kraftt Group [Krafft Group], made out of the totality of its mountain troops; this one would operate against the Group of Romanian Divisions in the mountaineous region and of hills; its mission was to operate a turning of the Romanian flank in Dumitresti region.
After the victory at Rimnicu Sarat , Falkenhayn had a moment of hesitation. The hardships of the winter, which was announcing more and more threatening , the exhaustion of his troops and the resistance of the enemy showed him the continuation of the advance as a risky bussiness.
The Front of the two Armies was descending thus , from Oituz mountains and of Vrancei ,along Milcov River , continuing then with Putna Valley and at the Sout of Siret until Braila region, occupied by the enemy at 4th of January. Romanian Campaign of In this manner, the k.
From this point onwards, all k. The newly raised regiments were formed from existing battalions as follows: Of the assault battalions which had been formed from one company each of the four regiments within the division, the following belonged to the k. Finally assault battalions Nr. The number 23 did not exist because the A further section of the k. It was comprised of the following infantry battalions: The following formations remained as independent battalions: Just for a short period three "Reserve-Infanterie-Regimenter" had been formed out of surplus March battalions from regiments with a particularly good replacement situation and were numbered Nr.
Additionally a Landsturm bicycle battalion was formed. By three bicycle battalions were in existence: Lastly the following infantry formations were in existence at periods during the war in some cases only for just a short period: Apart from their regimental numbers the regiments were also known by the name of their respective garrison headquarters, for example K. Unlike the common army, March formations were not generally formed within the Landwehr.
The two newly reformed regiments Nr. Two of the Landwehr Infantry regiments Nr. The numbers 4 and 27 thereafter remained unused. As noted on the main page in the introduction, the Landwehr were not second line or reserve formations in the German sense of the word.