4th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 72

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The fourth Thuringian Infantry Regiment. 72 was an infantry joined the Prussian army .

history

The association goes back to the 32nd Landwehr Regiment of the Prussian Army. In the course of the reorganization of the army, the 32nd Combined Infantry Regiment emerged from this, which was given the name 4th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 72 by AOK on July 4, 1860. The garrison was in Torgau . The III. Battalion was later stationed in Eilenburg .

First World War

At the beginning of the First World War , the regiment was mobile on August 2, 1914. Together with the 16th Infantry Brigade, it advanced into neutral Belgium and took part in the battle of the Gete .

Battle of Le Cateau

At the battle of Le Cateau on August 26, 1914, the regiment, under the command of Colonel Fritz von Zehmen, took Le Cateau against an English brigade. The peculiarity of this was, “Cut off from any connection with its own troops, the regiment had stormed Le Cateau in the early morning after the exhausting, hot days of combat and marching that had preceded it, according to captured English officers, with more than one mixed brigade and it not only held it against significant superiority and gained ground, but also substantially supported the attack of our own troops, which were brought forward to the west of the place. ”Furthermore, it is the III. Half battalion under Captain Huber and the 2nd Battalion under Captain Rogge managed to reach the heights east of St. Benin. You were now behind the enemy battle line. The 1st battery of Field Artillery Regiment No. 74, under the command of Captain Funke, had made a significant contribution to this success.

The regiment marched on August 25, 1914 at the beginning of the bulk of the 8th Division and reached Valenciennes . Around noon the order was given by the leader of the Gros, Major General Reichenau, to turn off to Verchain, together with the 1st battery of the 74th Field Artillery Regiment.Then we went to Saulzoir, Montrécourt, Haussy, St. Python-Solesmes, on 26 August 1914 to Neuvilly and Montay, later to Le Cateau and St. Benin. During the march route, the detachment's location remained unclear and uncertain. Nothing could be learned about the whereabouts of the 8th Division and the entire IV Army Corps . The surprise capture of Le Cateau almost captured General John French, 1st Earl of Ypres . However, he was able to leave the combat zone with the last train a few minutes before (information from captured soldiers). The 2nd battalion was fired at around 9 o'clock by its own troops around Le Cateau. The regimental adjutant, Leutnant Rauch, succeeded in using a captured enemy car to establish contact with the 7th Division , then with the 8th Division and the General Command of the IV Army Corps. A general staff officer commented on the situation of the regiment on August 26, 1914: “There is no such tactical situation again. The regiment should not have come out of the mousetrap by legal means. ”According to Zehmen, the captains, but also the other officers and men, deserved great credit for surviving this difficult situation, which ended with a brilliant victory.

Third Battle of Flanders

After a long train journey, the regiment arrived in Flanders from Champagne on September 30, 1917 to take part in the Third Battle there . The enemy tried to overrun the positions with barrage of artillery and the use of tanks and to achieve a breakthrough in the Ypres area . The detachment "Gruson", consisting of the infantry regiment No. 72, a shock battery (5th battery / field artillery regiment No. 72 and some hussars, was ordered north of Menin to the villages of Kezelberg, Klephoek and Zuidhoek. In The people built shell holes, trenches and hollows and endured the heavy bombardment.On October 3, 1917, the 2nd battalion under Oberleutnant König, consisting of the 5th Company (Leutnant Lüer) and 8th Company (Leutnant Lüderitz), was relieved 92 of the Braunschweig Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 92 in the section of the Polderhoek Castle, while the other two battalions (I., III.) stayed at Menin. Heavy barrage started around 5:00 am Despite massive losses, the battalion was able to II. the height at Castle Polderhoek hold. against 5:00 in the afternoon, the first support arrived. Important for this success, the machine gun was MG 08/15 , a variant of the machine gun MG 08 and that di e tanks got stuck in the mud. There was also heavy fighting for the 1st Battalion (Major Paulus) and the III. Battalion (Captain of the Reserve Mühlenpfordt) between Reutel, Zwaanhoek and Becelaere. During these days the two battalions lost ten officers and 538 men. The opponent's Flanders offensive was halted at two crucial points. The breakthrough did not succeed and the land gains were, as is usual on the western front , very small and were won with enormous losses of soldiers and war material. That is why the Flanders Offensive stands today for the brutality and senselessness of war.

Whereabouts

Fallen memorial for the members of the regiment in Torgau

After the armistice of Compiègne , the remnants of the association returned home. From December 24, 1918 in Torgau, the III. Battalion in Eilenburg, the demobilization until the regiment was finally disbanded on March 30, 1919. Some of them were transferred to the “Pavel” volunteer detachment in Werne at the beginning of December 1918 before the demobilization and were deployed in the Eastern Border Guard .

The tradition in the Reichswehr was adopted by the 8th Company of the 12th Infantry Regiment by decree of the Chief of Army Command, General of Infantry Hans von Seeckt , on August 24, 1921 .

Regiment chief

The only head of the regiment was the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I from June 7, 1912 until the association was dissolved.

Commanders

Rank Surname date
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel Ludwig von Januschowski 0July 1, 1860 to October 16, 1864
Colonel Bruno Neidhardt from Gneisenau December 25, 1864 to March 21, 1868
Colonel Karl von Helldorff March 22, 1868 to August 16, 1870
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel Adalbert Löwenberger von Schönholz 23 August to 28 March 1871 (entrusted with the tour)
Colonel Adalbert Löwenberger von Schönholz March 29, 1871 to May 10, 1872
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel Karl von Wienskowski May 23, 1872 to March 11, 1878
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel Maximilian von Eberstein March 12, 1878 to October 16, 1883
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel Moritz von Kunowski October 17 to December 5, 1883 (in charge of the tour)
Colonel Moritz von Kunowski December 6, 1883 to June 9, 1888
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel Friedrich Gericke July 18, 1888 to November 18, 1889
Colonel Egbert von Frankenberg and Proschlitz November 19, 1889 to January 26, 1890
Lieutenant colonel Richard Goebel January 27 to March 23, 1890 (in charge of the tour)
Colonel Richard Goebel March 24, 1890 to May 19, 1893
Colonel Max Giesche May 20, 1893 to June 15, 1894
Lieutenant colonel Heinrich von Bünau June 16 to September 11, 1894 (in charge of the tour)
Colonel Heinrich von Bünau September 12, 1894 to March 18, 1896
Colonel Ludwig Moeller March 19, 1896 to September 9, 1897
Colonel Curt von Grawert September 11, 1897 to March 21, 1900
Colonel Ferdinand of Ledebur March 22 to July 8, 1900
Colonel Friedrich Bode July 22, 1900 to April 23, 1904
Colonel Ernst Heinrich von der Becke April 24, 1904 to April 24, 1908
Colonel Bruno Albert Lölhöffel from Löwensprung April 25, 1908 to May 29, 1911
Colonel Gustav von Arnim May 30, 1911 to September 30, 1913
Colonel Fritz von Zehmen 0October 1, 1913 to November 24, 1914
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel Hermann von Doetinchem de Rande November 25, 1914 to March 29, 1917
major Ernst Gruson March 30, 1917 to January 9, 1919

literature

  • Paul von Seebach: History of the 4th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 72. 1860-1910. Uhlandsche Buchdruckerei, Stuttgart 1910.
  • Paul von Seebach: List of officers of the Royal Prussian 4th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 72. 1860–1910. Uhlandsche Buchdruckerei, Stuttgart 1910.
  • Fritz von Zehmen: Le Cateau, a day of honor for the Inf. Regiment 72nd contributions to the history of the regiment, association of officers of the former Königl. 4. Thuringia. Infantry Regiment No. 72 (eV), Torgau 1921.
  • Ernst Gruson: The 4th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 72 in the Battle of Flanders. October 1917. Contributions to the history of the regiment, Association of Officers of the former Royal. 4. Thuringia. Infantry Regiment No. 72 (eV), Torgau 1922.
  • 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 , pp. 131-132.
  • Fabricius: History of the 4th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 72 in the years 1869 to 1878 , 1879.
  • Friedrich von Mülmann: A short history of the 4th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 72 . Schultze, Torgau 1896.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ 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 staffing of the active infantry regiments as well as the hunter and machine gun battalions, military district commands and training managers from the foundation or list until 1939. Biblio Verlag. Osnabrück 1992. ISBN 3-7648-1782-8 . P. 192f.