10th Army (German Empire)

Flag of a staff of an army high command (1871-1918)

The 10th Army / Army High Command 10 (AOK 10) was a large unit and the associated command authority of the German Army during the First World War (1914-1918). It comprised several army or reserve corps as well as numerous special troops.

history

Commander in chief Colonel General Hermann von Eichhorn (January 26, 1915) General of the Infantry Erich von Falkenhayn (March 4, 1918) Chief of Staff Colonel Emil Hell (from January 26, 1915) Colonel Walter Schmidt von Schmidtseck (from July 17, 1916) Major General Traugott von Sauberzweig (from September 9, 1917) Major General Walter Schmidt von Schmidtseck (December 17, 1917) Colonel Georg Frotscher (from February 16, 1918) Lieutenant Colonel Max Stapff (March 4, 1918)

After the decision had been made in the General Staff at the end of 1914 to initially remain defensive in the west and to come to a decision on the eastern front , the troops there were reinforced for upcoming offensive operations. In East Prussia , the units of a new 10th Army gathered behind the 8th Army from the end of December 1914 . The planned Army High Command 10 was formed on January 26, 1915 in Cologne . For commander was Colonel General Hermann von Eichhorn determined. Before the war, he was actually supposed to be in command of the 5th Army , but he was seriously injured in a riding accident. When it was formed, the army comprised the following corps units:

XXI. Army Corps XXXIX. Reserve Corps XXXVIII. Reserve Corps

Initially, the 10th Army was significantly involved in the winter battle in Masuria in February 1915 . In the summer and autumn it successfully took action against the Russian troops (→ Great Withdrawal ) and in the spring of 1916 was involved in heavy defensive battles during a Russian counter-offensive (→ Battle of Lake Narach ). The Army High Command 10 was burdened in two ways, because in addition to leading its own units, it also acted as the High Command of the Eichhorn Army Group from July 30, 1916 .

After the revolution and civil war in Russia in 1917/1918 , the spring of 1918 saw an early end to the active fighting. Most of the troops were therefore relocated to the western front, while the 10th Army, with only six divisions between the Lithuanian border and northern Ukraine , acted as the occupying power in what is now Belarus . Since March 5, 1918, their commander-in-chief has been the former Minister of War and Chief of the General Staff General of the Infantry Erich von Falkenhayn . He led the army until it was dissolved in February 1919.

The headquarters of the Army High Command was first in Margrabova (March 6 to August 8, 1915), then in Vilnius (September 29, 1915 to June 12, 1918) and finally in Minsk . From here, after the end of the war, it began its march back on December 6, 1918.

References

→ Main article: Army (German Empire)

Web links

• The highest command posts of the army on www.deutsche-kriegsgeschichte.de (as of April 19, 2010)

literature

• Holger Afflerbach: Falkenhayn - Political Thought and Action in the Empire. Oldenbourg-Verlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-486-559-72-9 , (= contributions to military history. Volume 42).
• Hermann Cron: History of the German Army in the World War 1914–1918. Siegismund, Berlin 1937 ( History of the Royal Prussian Army and the German Imperial Army 5).

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Hermann Cron: History of the German Army in World Wars 1914–1918 , Berlin 1937, p. 398
2. ^ Hermann Stegemann: History of the war. Volume 2. Stuttgart / Berlin 1917, p. 436f.
3. ^ ^{A b} Hermann Cron: History of the German Army in World Wars 1914–1918 , Berlin 1937, p. 78
4. ↑ Hermann Gackenholz: Eichhorn, Emil Gottfried Hermann von. In: New German Biography. Volume 4. 1959, p. 377.
5. ↑ Fritz Jung: The Goslar Jäger in the World War. Volume II: 'The Reserve Jäger Battalion No. 10 and its cycling companies. Lax printing works, Hildesheim 1933.
6. ^ Holger Afflerbach: Falkenhayn - Political Thought and Action in the Empire. Munich 1994, p. 486f.