5th Royal Bavarian Reserve Division

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The 5th Reserve Division was a major unit of the Bavarian army in the First World War .

5th Royal Bavarian Reserve Division

active August 2, 1914 to 1919
Country Flag of Bavaria (striped) .svg Kingdom of Bavaria
Armed forces Bavarian Army
Type Infantry Division
structure see: Outline
Insinuation I. Reserve Corps

structure

Division of war on August 2, 1914

  • 9th Reserve Infantry Brigade
    • Reserve Infantry Regiment 6
    • Reserve Infantry Regiment 7
  • 11th Reserve Infantry Brigade
    • Reserve Infantry Regiment 10
    • Reserve Infantry Regiment 13th
  • Reserve Jäger Battalion 1
  • Reserve Cavalry Regiment 5th
  • Reserve Field Artillery Regiment 5th
  • 4th company / 2nd Engineer Battalion
  • 1st reserve company / 2nd Engineer Battalion
  • Reserve division bridge train 5
  • Reserve medical company 5

Division of War of June 1, 1918

The composition of the division changed several times during the war. Only one squadron remained of cavalry , while artillery and technical troops were reinforced.

  • 11th Reserve Infantry Brigade
  • 2nd squadron / 3rd Chevaulegers regiment "Duke Karl Theodor"
  • Artillery Commander No. 17
    • Reserve Field Artillery Regiment 5th
  • II. Division / Saxon Reserve Foot Artillery Regiment No. 19
  • Light ammunition column 102
  • Light ammunition column 104
  • Light ammunition column 119
  • Engineer Battalion 18th
    • Reserve Engineer Company 2nd
    • Reserve Engineer Company 19th
    • Mine Thrower Company 205
  • Division Message Commander 405
    • Divisional Telephone Department 405
    • Division radio operator department 103
  • Medical company 16
  • Field Hospital 46
  • Field hospital 50
  • Horse hospital 25
  • Division Motor Vehicle Column 751
  • Field Post Expedition 752

history

The division was set up on August 2, 1914 as part of the I. Reserve Corps and disbanded in 1919 as part of the demobilization after the end of the war. As a reserve division , it consisted for the most part of mobilized reservists and Landwehr men, mainly from the III. Army Corps ( Upper Palatinate , Lower Bavaria , Upper and Middle Franconia ). The association was only active on the Western Front and was classified as good second class by the Allied reconnaissance .

1914

Its first commander was General of the Infantry Friedrich Freiherr Kreß von Kressenstein. The division marched as part of the 6th Army / 1st Reserve Corps in the west in the second line near Sarreguemines . Following upstream of the Saar , it reached Drulingen by August 17, 1914 and was initially deployed as a reserve of the I. Reserve Corps, but then advanced to the first line north of Lauterfingen , where there was a connection with the right neighbor, the XXI. Army Corps as well as with the left neighbor, the 1st Reserve Division . On the morning of August 20, 1914, the division started from its staging area west of Mittersheim, passed Lauterfingen east and broke through the lines of the French XVI. 2nd Army Corps. Angweiler was taken on the morning of August 21.

The division was transported to the Douai area in northern France until October 2, 1914 . It was advancing over Cuincy and Esquerchin towards Arras when the French 70th Reserve Division marched into the flank of the 1st Reserve Corps. The division unfolded immediately, its own right flank covered by the 5th Reserve Cavalry Regiment, and reached the line west of the Drocourt-Bois Bernard-Izel villages by evening. On October 3, 1914, she crushed the French Reserve Division and settled on the Vimy Heights until October 5, 1914. On October 6, 1914, the 9th Reserve Infantry Brigade took the Loretto-Höhe near Souchez. She buried herself there and spent the winter in that position.

1915

During the spring battle of La Bassée-Arras (May 9 to July 23, 1915) the division was between Carency- Ecurie. The Reserve Jäger Battalion 1 was the cornerstone of Carency and kept in touch with the neighbor on the right. The Prussian Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 39 was now under the division. On May 9, 1915, it was attacked by four French divisions of the 10th Army (From the French XXIII Army Corps: parts of the 70th Infantry Division, 77th Infantry Division and the Marine Division; from the XXth Army Corps: 39th Infantry Division and 11th Infantry Division). On May 14, 1915, the intensity of the battle subsided and the division could be detached from the front. She lost nearly 7,000 men and eight guns in the spring battle. On September 10, 1915, Lieutenant General August Ipfelkofer was appointed division commander. In the autumn battle at La Bassée and Arras from September 23 to October 13, 1915, the division took up position south of the Scarpe . For this purpose, the 2nd Royal Saxon Jäger Battalion No. 13 and the 1st Battalion of the 9th Royal Saxon Infantry Regiment No. 133 , which maintained a connection with the Prussian 111th Infantry Division on the left wing . The division was able to repel the onslaught of French divisions. With 1,300 losses of her own, she took 600 French prisoners.

1916

In the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, the division was initially used as a corps reserve of the I. Reserve Corps. On August 13, 1916, she replaced the fighting 8th Reserve Division on both sides of Maurepas. For days in battle, the division held the town, which finally fell into the hands of the French on August 24th. The division had lost 4,500 men again and was released from the front on August 27th. On September 23, 1916 the division was assigned to the newly formed XV. Subordinate to Reserve Corps .

1917

On April 16, 1917, the division for the Battle of the Aisne as part of the XV. Reserve corps deployed on the left front with left border on the Aisne at Berry au Bac keeping in touch with the Prussian 10th Reserve Division and on the right border eastern edge of the forest at La Ville aux Bois keeping in touch with the 9th Reserve Division. The French attack on April 16, 1917 pierced the front lines of the division at the first attempt, which had to evade positions in the depth prepared about 2 km further back. The frontal counter-attack by the Prussian 50th Infantry Division brought the French break-in to a standstill, the flank attack by the 213rd Infantry Division destroyed the remnants of the French attacking troops. On April 18, 1917, the ailing division was relocated to a quieter section after losing around 3,000 men. In September 1917 the division was relocated to Flanders and should be used as a corps reserve; However, it was hardly arrived and thrown against the broken-in English forces west of Poelkappelle and remained there until October 2, 1917 in position. It was then withdrawn as a reserve. On September 30, 1917 Lieutenant General Hermann Ritter von Burkhardt was appointed division commander. At the end of October 1917 the division was in front between Wallemolen and Poelkappelle, to the left of it in the Passchendaele area was the 11th division . On October 30, 1917, the division again withstood a heavy attack and was then pulled out again.

1918

In the Michael Battle ( spring offensive 1918 ) the division entered the I. Reserve Corps on April 28, 1918 north of the Scarpe at Gavrelle in the direction of Arras, encountered well-prepared positions of the enemy and did not make any progress. After this battle, the division had lost a third of its force. In September 1918 it was in the section of the XXI. Army Corps under Lieutenant General Ernst von Oven on the eastern edge of the Argonne. On September 26, 1918, in the course of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the US troops overran the lines of the 117th Infantry Division and 7th Reserve Division about 5 km south of the Meuse at Brieulles-sur-Meuse . The division threw itself firmly against the enemy and unsettled him so much that the US troops did not use their break-in any further. On October 27, 1918, she was able to hold a position between Brieulles and Nantillois against the American attacks. She had to withdraw the southern wing on October 28, 1918 at Cierges on the Andon. On October 4, 1918, the division's lines in the middle and right wing were indented, a breakthrough could still be prevented. While she was able to repel the American break-in on October 9, 1918 with the Divisional Reserve (7th Reserve Infantry Regiment) as far as Cunel, on October 11, 1918 she had to give up the cornerstone of Brieule's defense. On October 21, 1918, the Americans broke through to their right-wing neighbor. Until October 22, 1918, the division evaded the positions between Cléry on the Andon and Liny east of the Meuse . There she still braced herself with the combat strength of a regiment against the American superiority. On November 2 and 3, they had to withdraw their right wing to the positions east of the Meuse and occupied the line between Lion and Liny. The division resisted until the armistice on November 11, 1918. The remainder of the division marched home via Diedenhofen and Worms and, weeks later, reached the area between Heilbronn and Mergentheim .

Commanders

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Friedrich Freiherr Kreß von Kressenstein August 2, 1914 to September 9, 1915
Lieutenant General August Ipfelkofer September 10, 1915 to September 29, 1917
Major general Hermann Ritter von Burkhardt September 30, 1917 to December 14, 1918

literature

  • Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen , Friedrichfranz Feeser : The Bavaria book of the world wars 1914-1918. Chr. Belser AG. Publishing bookstore. Stuttgart 1930.
  • Bavaria in the Great War. Bavarian War Archives . Munich 1923.
  • Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions of the German Army which Participated in the War (1914-1918). compiled from records of intelligence section of the general staff. American Expeditionary Forces. at General Headquarters. Chaumont. France 1919 (1920). (Reprint: London Stamp Exchange, 1989).