1st Reserve Division (German Empire)

1st Reserve Division
active	August 2, 1914 to January 10, 1919
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Prussian Army
Type	Infantry division
structure	See: Outline
Strength	18,000
Insinuation	I. Reserve Corps
First World War	Eastern Front Battle of Gumbinnen Battle of Tannenberg Battle of the Masurian Lakes Battle for Łódź Battle for Przasnysz Western front
Commanders
Please refer:	List of commanders

The 1st Reserve Division was a major unit of the Prussian army in the First World War .

structure

Together with the 36th Reserve Division , it formed the I. Reserve Corps under Otto von Below .

Organization of war during mobilization in 1914

• 1st Reserve Infantry Brigade
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 1
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 3
• 72nd Reserve Infantry Brigade
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 18
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 59
  • Reserve Hunter Battalion No. 1
• Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 1
• Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 1
• 4th Company / Engineer Battalion No. 2

Division of war on July 3, 1916

• 1st Reserve Infantry Brigade
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 1
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 3
• 72nd Reserve Infantry Brigade
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 18
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 59
  • Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 1
  • Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 1
    • 6 field cannon batteries
    • 1 field howitzer battery
    • 1 heavy field howitzer battery

Division of War 1918

• 1st Reserve Infantry Brigade
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 1
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 3
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 59
  • 4th Squadron / 2nd Guard Uhlan Regiment
• Artillery Commander No. 71
  • Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 1
• Engineer Battalion No. 301
• Division News Commander No. 401

Battle calendar

The division was set up with the outbreak of the First World War in the area of ​​the 1st Army Corps in Königsberg . First, the association was used on the Eastern Front in the battle of Gawaiten-Gumbinnen. At the end of October 1917 it was relocated to the western front . After the end of the war and the evacuation of the occupied area, the division marched back home, where it was initially demobilized and finally disbanded in January 1919.

1914

• August 19-20 - Battle of Gawaiten-Gumbinnen
• 23rd to 31st August - Battle of Tannenberg
  • August 26th - Groß-Bössua-Lauteren
  • August 26th - Battle at Lake Bössau
  • August 28th - Dorothowo, Zasdrocz
  • August 29 - Neidenburg-Hohenstein
• 0September 5th to 15th - Battle of the Masurian Lakes
  • September 8-10 - Battle of Gerdauen
  • September 11th - Jodlanken
  • September 11 to 12 - Krusinn
  • September 12th - Tutschen
  • September 13 - Bruszen
  • September 15 - Sredniki
• September 25-30 - Battles on the Nyemen
  • September 28-30 - Krasna and Simno
• 0October 3 to November 5 - trench warfare for Wirballen
  • November 5 - Pojewon pillupons
• 0November 6th to 8th - Battle of Göritten
• November 10-13 - Battle of Włocławek
• November 14th to 19th - Fights near Gostynin - Gombin
  • November 15 - Rembow and Biolotarsk
  • November 16 - Zelatka-Bialawy
  • November 17-18 - on the Gostynin-Gombin road
  • November 19 - Ingestion of Gombin
• November 19-20 - Russian attack on Sanniki
  • November 20 - Sanniki-Czermno
• November 20-29 - Battle of Łódź
  • November 26-29 - Skirmishes of retreat and cover to the west and north-west of Łowicz
• November 30th to December 16th - Trench warfare west and north of Lowicz
• December 17th - Lowicz is captured
• December 19-22 - Budy- (Gralski) -Ziemieary

1915

• January 31 to February 2 - Battle of Humin
• February 20-27 - Battle of Przasnysz
  • February 21 to 24 - Przasnysz is captured and stormed
  • February 25-27 - Battle of retreat north of Przasnysz
• 0March 1 to 7 - trench warfare near Krzynowloga-Wielka
  • March 3 to 10 - Battles in the Orzyc Arc
• March 11th to May 8th - trench warfare near Kaki-Mroczki
• 0May 9th to 15th - Schaulen
• May 18th to 22nd - Kurschany and an der Windau
• May 26th to June 1st - Kurtowiany
• 0June 4th to 14th - Battles in front of Schaulen
• June 15 to July 13 - trench warfare in front of Schaulen
• July 14th to 25th - Battle of Schaulen
  • July 21st - Schaulen is taken
  • July 22nd - Pursuit battles southeast of Schaulen
  • July 23rd - capture of Szadow
  • July 25th - capture of Poniewiecz
• July 30th to August 7th - Battle of Kupishki
• 0August 5 to September 3 - battles on Njemenek and the Daugava
• 0September 9th to November 1st - Battle of Dünaburg
  • September 13th to November 1st - Fighting for the bridgehead in Dünaburg
• from October 21st - trench warfare in front of Riga

1916

• until April 29th - trench warfare in front of Riga
• April 30th to June 24th - trench warfare in front of Dünaburg
  • May 10th - Battle at Epukn not far from Selburg / Augustinhof
• June 25th to July 5th - Reserve of the OHL

As reinforcement in the Brusilov offensive

• 0July 5 to August 7 - Battle of the Strypa , the Barysz and Koropiec Sections
• August 11-14 - retreat battles between Strypa and Zlota-Lipa
• August 15 to September 8 - trench warfare on the Zlota-Lipa, on the Ceniowka section and near Zborow
  • September 1st to September 5th - Battle of Hnilcze
    • II./RIR 1 is lost & 3 MGK
  • September 6th to September 8th - First battle on Narajowka and Zlota-Lipa
• 09 September to 5 October - trench warfare on the Narajowka and Zlota-Lipa and on the Ceniowka
  • September 16-19 - Second battle of the Narajowka and Zlota-Lipa rivers

The farewell words of the Commander-in-Chief of the Southern Army show how costly the three-month fighting in eastern Galicia was for the division :

“In more than two months of hard fighting, the brave division of the army rendered excellent service and more than once extended its helpful hand to its threatened neighboring troops with the best of results. Almost three quarters of their stock (approx. 15,000 soldiers, author's note) has been sacrificed since the beginning of July this year. "

- Felix von Bothmer in his order of the day of September 26, 1916

• from October 1st --- position battles in front of Riga

1917

• until August 31 - trench warfare in front of Riga
  • 5th to 9th January - Winter battle on the Aa
  • January 23 to February 3 - Winter battle on the Aa
• 0September 1-5 - Battle of Riga
  • September 3rd - capture of the part of Riga west of the Daugava
• 0September 6th to October 30th - trench warfare north of the Daugava
• October 31 to November 5 - transport to the west
• 0November 5 to December 31 - Trench warfare in Champagne

1918

• 0January 1st to April 28th - Trench warfare in Champagne
• 0May 6th to June 8th - fights on the Avre and near Montdidier and Noyon
• 0June 9th to August 7th - fighting on the Avre and Matz
• 0August 8-20 - Defensive battle between Somme and Avre
  • August 9-27 - Battle of Roye and Lassigny
• August 28 to September 3 - Battle of the North Canal near Nesle and Noyon
• 0September 4th to 18th - Fighting in front of the Siegfried Line
• 0September 8th to October 8th - defensive battle between Cambrai and St. Quentin
• September 19 to October 9 - fighting in the Siegfried Line
• October 10th to November 4th - fights in front of and in the Hermann position
  • October 17th to 26th - Fights between Oise and Serre
• 05th to 11th November - fighting in retreat in front of the Antwerp - Meuse position
• from November 12th - evacuation of the occupied territory and march home

Commanders

Rank	Surname	date
Lieutenant General	Sigismund von Förster	0August 2, 1914 to September 22, 1915
Major general	Conrad Zietlow	September 23, 1915 to January 1, 1917
Lieutenant General	Johannes von Malachowski	0January 2 to April 22, 1917
Major general	Gustav von Waldersee	April 23, 1917 to January 10, 1919

literature

• Hall of Fame of our Old Army. Published on the basis of official material from the Reichsarchiv , Militär-Verlag, Berlin 1927, pp. 59, 83–84.
• Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions of the German Army Which Participated in the War (1914-1918). United States War Office as War Department Document No. 905, Office of the Adjutant, 1920, pp. 33-35.
• Hellmuth Neumann: The history of the Royal Prussian 1st Reserve Infantry Division. Giebel & Oehlschlägel, Osterode 1933.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ludwig Eberhard Freiherr von Schlotheim: The Imperial Southern Army in the fighting during the Brusilov Offensive from June 4 to August 14, 1916. A contribution to the history of the Imperial German Southern Army. Beck, Munich 1936, p. 88.
2. ^ Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 3, published by the Association of Officers of the ehm. Prussia. Res.-Inf.-Regts. 3, Berlin 1926 p. 127.
3. ^ Association of officers of the ehm. Preup. Res. Inf-Regts. 3: Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 3, Oldenburg 1926, p. 135.
4. ↑ Dermot Bradley (ed.), Günter Wegner: Occupation of the German Army 1815-1939. Volume 1: The higher command posts 1815–1939. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1780-1 , p. 167.