3rd Lower Alsatian Infantry Regiment No. 138

3rd Lower Alsatian Infantry Regiment No. 138
active	March 11, 1887 to March 31, 1919
Country	Kingdom of Prussia
Armed forces	Prussian Army
Branch of service	infantry
Type	Infantry regiment
Insinuation	61st Infantry Brigade (until 1897) / 85th Infantry Brigade (until 1906) / 59. Infantry Brigade (until 1915) / 65th Infantry Brigade
Location	Strasbourg (until 1906), Dieuze
management
Commanders	See commanders

The 3rd Lower Alsatian Infantry Regiment No. 138 was an infantry unit of the Prussian Army .

history

The association was established by AKO from March 11, 1887 (Foundation Day) to April 1, 1887 as Infantry Regiment No. 138. To this end, regiments No. 10 , 11 , 25 , 38 , 51 , 60 , 62 , 94 , 115 , 116 , 117 and 118 each gave up one company . On April 7, 1887, the regiment met for the first time in the Strasbourg garrison . Together with the 1st Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 25 and the 8th Württemberg Infantry Regiment No. 126 , it formed the 61st Infantry Brigade , which was subordinate to the 31st Division .

At the beginning of August 1893, the regiment was expanded by a 13th and 14th company, which formed the IV. Half-Battalion. This was disbanded on April 1, 1897 and the two companies were transferred to the newly established Infantry Regiment No. 172 . At the same time the regiment joined the 85th Infantry Brigade ( 30th Division ).

On January 27, 1902, Kaiser Wilhelm II issued the army order that the associations that had previously been run without a rural team name should be given a name extension in order to better differentiate and develop tradition. From this point on, the regiment was called the 3rd Lower Alsatian Infantry Regiment No. 138 .

On April 1, 1906, another change in the subordination took place. The regiment exchanged garrisons with the 4th Lorraine Infantry Regiment No. 136 stationed in Dieuze and formed the 59th Infantry Brigade together with the 1st Upper Rhine Infantry Regiment No. 97 . From October 1, 1913, the brigade with the subordinate regiments belonged to the association of the newly established XXI. Army Corps .

First World War

At the beginning of the First World War , the regiment mobilized on August 2, 1914 and was initially used to secure the border in Lorraine. After battles in the battle near Lagarde , Biedesdorf , Magnières , Saint-Pierremont and Deinvillers , the regiment moved to the Somme in mid-September 1914 . Here it was used in the Roye - Chaulnes section . It participated in the battles at Liancourt , Fouquescourt and Chilly and went in mid-October before Lihons - Soyécourt in trench warfare over.

At the end of January 1915, the regiment came to the Eastern Front . During the winter battle in Masuria , the III. Battalion was disbanded on February 20th due to high losses and could only be re-established as a half battalion on March 14th due to replacement . In the battle at Giby on March 12th, around 3,600 prisoners were taken and three artillery pieces and ten machine guns were captured. After position battles at Kalwaria and Augustów , the regiment began the advance against Olita in mid-August , which ended with the battle at Orany . This was followed by participation in the Battle of Vilna . From October the regiment was again in trench warfare. This time south of Postawy and on November 8, 1915 there was the last change in the subordination. The regiment was subordinated to the 65th Infantry Brigade and participated in the defense of the Russian offensive from mid-March 1916 during the Battle of Lake Narach . During further trench warfare, the regiment received a 2nd and 3rd MG company in mid-June 1916 and twelve light mine throwers in early April 1917 . Pulled from the front in mid-May for training purposes, the regiment was then deployed in Galicia from July 13 to August 26, 1917 . Then it moved back to the Baltic States , took part in the battle for Riga and then took up position at the Melupe north of the Riga - Hinzenberg railway line . On September 19, the association was replaced by the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 249, gathered in Libau until September 22, where exercises of landing maneuvers were carried out.

As part of the Albion company , the regiment was loaded onto various warships and steamers on October 10, 1917 in order to take part in the conquest of the islands of Ösel and Moon . After the successful completion of the operation, the regiment returned to Libau by October 31. On November 3, 1917, the regiment was transferred to Kowel , where it took up position south of it near Bruchowicze. During the ceasefire , the regiment was released from the front and after a short training period, which was characterized in particular by combat exercises, it was transported to northern France. At Roubaix , combat training in the battalion and regimental group was initially continued until the regiment moved to the front at Pérenchies west of Armentières at the end of January . During the Battle of Armentières , the regiment crossed the Leie and took part in the battles at Doulieu and Merris . Up to April 17, 1918 the losses amounted to 194 dead, 626 wounded and 11 missing. From the end of April to the end of June 1918, the regiment was engaged in trench warfare near Lens and then took part in the Battle of Soissons .

After the heavy fighting, the regiment's combat value was no longer sufficient and the troops were no longer suitable for further deployment to the front on August 10, 1918. There was a lack of officers, replacement teams and weapons, as well as suitable clothing and equipment. Therefore, the II. Battalion of the disbanded Infantry Regiment No. 390 as III. Battalion integrated into the regiment. The crews and the MG company of the previous III. Battalions were distributed to the 1st and 2nd Battalion to fill up. At the end of the month the 4th, 8th and 12th companies were also disbanded and distributed. Each battalion was now divided into three companies with eight light mortars each and one machine gun company with twelve MG 08 .

During the following defensive battles in Champagne , the regiment suffered further heavy losses at the end of September 1918. The commander of the 1st battalion, Captain Stanislaus Behrendt (1886-1918) was awarded the order Pour le Mérite on October 4, 1918 for his careful behavior . He died a few days later from his severe wounds. The regimental commander Major Friedrich Bruns (1869–1943) succeeded with his staff in stopping the French who had penetrated the positions with hand grenades and preventing a breakthrough. For this he was awarded the order Pour le Mérite on November 6, 1918. In the absence of replacement, the order to dissolve III was issued on October 30, 1918. Battalions.

Whereabouts

After the end of the war , the remnants of the regiment marched through the Eifel to Schupbach and from there on to Coswig, as the former Dieuze garrison could no longer be reached due to the armistice agreements. Here it was first demobilized and dissolved on March 31, 1919. From the demobilized parts, a volunteer company was formed in January 1919 , which in June 1919 was absorbed into Reichswehr Brigade 25 of the Provisional Reichswehr.

The tradition in the Reichswehr was adopted by the 9th Company of the 16th Infantry Regiment in Oldenburg by decree of the Chief of the Army Command, General of the Infantry Hans von Seeckt .

Commanders

Rank	Surname	date
Colonel	Arno from Arndt	0April 1, 1887 to August 3, 1888
Colonel	Leopold von Winning	0August 4, 1888 to May 15, 1891
Colonel	Albert von Derschau	May 16, 1891 to April 17, 1895
Colonel	Eugen von Wulffen	April 18, 1895 to July 19, 1898
Colonel	Carl August Lange	July 20, 1898 to February 22, 1899
Colonel	Georg von Wartenberg	March 18, 1899 to May 21, 1900
Colonel	Adolf Sprenger	May 22, 1900 to March 9, 1904
Colonel	Arthus by Carnap	March 10, 1904 to September 14, 1905
Colonel	Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski	September 15, 1905 to March 21, 1910
Colonel	Bernhard Boeß	March 22, 1910 to January 26, 1913
Colonel	Friedrich von Friedeburg	January 27, 1913 to August 29, 1914
Colonel	Karl Berger	0September 7, 1914 to January 2, 1915
Colonel	Friedrich von Friedeburg	January 13 to February 12, 1915
Lieutenant colonel	from Goetzen	February 13 to May 4, 1915 (in charge of the tour)
Colonel	Friedrich von Friedeburg	0May 5 to June 1, 1915
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Ernst von Beyer	0June 6, 1915 to August 30, 1917
major	Oskar Falk	September 25 to November 26, 1916
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Ludwig Crämer	November 27, 1917 to August 24, 1918
major	Friedrich Bruns	August 25, 1918 to January 1919
Lieutenant colonel	Hans Karl von Winterfeld	0February 1 to March 31, 1919

literature

• Reichsarchiv (Ed.), Wilhelm Lasch: 3rd Unterelsässisches Infanterie-Regiment No. 138. Volume 7 of the Prussian part of the memorial sheets, Stalling-Verlag , Oldenburg / Berlin 1921.
• Jürgen Kraus : Handbook of the associations and troops of the German army 1914-1918. Part VI: Infantry. Volume 1: Infantry Regiments. Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-902526-14-4 , p. 222.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Claus von Bredow : Historical ranking and master list of the German army. Verlag August Scherl, Berlin 1905, p. 668.
2. ^ Reichsarchiv (Ed.), Wilhelm Lasch: 3rd Unterelsässisches Infanterie-Regiment No. 138. Volume 7 of the Prussian part of the memorial sheets, Stalling-Verlag , Oldenburg / Berlin 1921, p. 87.
3. ↑ Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: A-G. , Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 , pp. 74-75.
4. ↑ Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: AG. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 , p. 213.
5. ^ Günter Wegmann (Ed.), Günter Wegner: Formation history and staffing of the German armed forces 1815-1990. Part 1: Occupation of the German armies 1815–1939. Volume 2: The occupation of the active infantry regiments as well as Jäger and MG battalions, military district commands and training directors from the foundation or list until 1939. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1992, ISBN 3-7648-1782-8 , p. 346.