7th Division (German Empire)

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The 7th Division , designated 7th Infantry Division for the duration of the mobile relationship in World War I , was a large unit of the Prussian Army .

7th division

active before 1830 to 1919
Country German EmpireThe German Imperium German Empire
Armed forces Prussian Army
Type Infantry Division
structure see: Outline
Insinuation IV Army Corps

structure

The command was in Magdeburg and the division was part of the IV Army Corps .

Peace structure 1914

Division of War of August 2, 1914

  • 13th Infantry Brigade
    • Infantry regiment "Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau" (1st Magdeburg) No. 26
    • 3rd Magdeburg Infantry Regiment No. 66
  • 14th Infantry Brigade
    • Infantry Regiment "Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia" (2nd Magdeburg) No. 27
    • 5th Hanover Infantry Regiment No. 165
  • ½ Magdeburg Hussar Regiment No. 10
  • 7th Field Artillery Brigade
    • Field artillery regiment "Prince Regent Luitpold von Bayern" (Magdeburgisches) No. 4
    • Altmark Field Artillery Regiment No. 40
  • 1st Company / Magdeburg Pioneer Battalion No. 4

Division of war from April 1, 1918

  • 14th Infantry Brigade
    • Infantry regiment "Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau" (1st Magdeburg) No. 26
    • 5th Hanover Infantry Regiment No. 165
    • Infantry Regiment No. 393
    • Musketeer Battalion I.
    • 2nd Squadron / Magdeburg Hussar Regiment No. 10
  • Artillery Commander No. 7
  • Staff Magdeburg Pioneer Battalion No. 4
    • 1st and 3rd Company / Magdeburg Pioneer Battalion No. 4
    • Mine thrower company No. 7
  • Division Message Commander No. 7

history

First World War

In August 1914, the division under the command of Lieutenant General Johannes Riedel, together with the 8th division of the IV Army Corps ( Sixt von Armin ), pushed past Liège into neutral Belgium. By August 18, the Belgians were pushed back to the Gete by the IV Corps . On August 23, the 7th Division met on the Pommeroeul-Thulin line ( Battle of Mons ) on the left flank of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The 8th Division had to cross the Mons-Condé Canal, to the east of it a weak detachment of the 7th Division managed to break in about 400 meters behind the canal on the southward road to Thulin. The IV. Corps, which was to lead the further attack at Mons on August 24th, found no more opponents in front of their front at dawn and the 7th Division reached Angre via Thulin in pursuit. On the morning of August 26, the division came about Solesmes at Le Cateau and captured the entrenched British under heavy artillery fire, Le Cateau fell after a fierce street fighting.

Between August 28 and 30, 1914, the retreating enemy was pursued in the Somme region and at the beginning of September the 7th Division intervened in the Battle of the Marne . Between September 5 and 7, the 7th Division was regrouped to Ourcq , on this section the German IV Reserve Corps had been pushed back by the French to Étrépilly. After the general withdrawal order for the 1st Army on September 9th, the 7th Division was withdrawn to the Aisne and took up position west of Soissons between Vic and Fontenoy. Here the IV Corps withstood the Allied attacks from September 12th to 28th and was transferred to the 6th Army in Arras at the beginning of October . Between October 13 and the beginning of November 1914, the 7th Division defended the Blangy and Tilloy front line east of the city. Between December 14 and 24, 1914, the division intervened as a reserve in the Battle of Flanders and then fought again in the Artois until the end of June 1915 .

From May 9 to July 23, 1915, the division participated in the Arras area in the defense of the first Franco-British offensive in the Loretto battle . From September 25 to October 13, 1915, the 7th Division fought in the second battle at La Bassée ( Battle of Loos ).

Position battles followed in Artois and Flanders , and from mid-June 1916 the division transferred the 6th Army to the Somme for reconnaissance purposes. The division participated as a reserve in the Battle of the Somme from mid-July to early October and was shifted several times alternately between Flanders and the Artois. From October 9, 1916, the division was back in Artois, and in November 1916 Lieutenant General Hans von der Esch took over the leadership of the 7th Division.

Between April 2 and May 20, 1917, the 7th Division fought in the section of the 6th Army in the spring battle at Arras . The great battle in Flanders began on June 7, 1917, when the Messines mine was blown up . The 7th Division in the Wytschaete area acted as a reserve for the Supreme Army Command between June 15 and July 27 and was also called in for position battles in Upper Alsace in between. At the beginning of August 1917 the 7th Division was thrown back to Flanders and fought between August 15 and 27 with the 6th Army in the Lens area .

From December 4, 1917 to the beginning of May 1918, the division again led position battles in Flanders, and from April 10, 1918, they participated in the attack on the Kemmel . After deployments on the Avre and the Matz, the division participated in the relief attacks in Champagne from mid-July 1918 in the section of the 7th Army (Boehn) . The 7th Division remained in position in the 1st Army section on the Aisne until the beginning of October . On November 4, 1918, the new division commander Lieutenant General Carl Nehbel took over command of the 7th Division's retreat to the Antwerp-Maas position.

Commanders

Rank Surname date
Major general Adolf Eduard von Thile 1830 to March 29, 1838
Lieutenant General August of Württemberg 0April 6, 1854 to August 4, 1856
Lieutenant General Eberhard Herwarth von Bittenfeld 0August 5, 1856 to June 11, 1860
Major general Albrecht von Sydow June 12, 1860 to March 12, 1861 (in charge of the tour)
Major general Wilhelm von Schmidt March 13, 1861 to July 23, 1861 (in charge of the tour)
Major General / Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Schmidt July 24, 1861 to April 14, 1862
Lieutenant General Bogislaw von Ciesielski April 15 to November 10, 1862
Major General / Lieutenant General Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz January 24, 1863 to October 16, 1864
Major General / Lieutenant General Eduard von Fransecky November 21, 1864 to July 10, 1870
Major General / Lieutenant General Julius von Groß, called von Schwarzhoff July 11, 1870 to September 22, 1873
Lieutenant General Richard of Mirus March 27 to October 14, 1874
Major General / Lieutenant General Louis von Rothmaler October 15, 1874 to January 25, 1875 (in charge of the tour)
Lieutenant General Louis von Rothmaler January 26, 1875 to May 24, 1875
Major general Karl Johann von Schmidt May 25 to August 25, 1875
Major General / Lieutenant General Gustav von Stiehle October 28, 1875 to August 17, 1881
Major general Ludwig von Salmuth October 18, 1881 to March 22, 1882 (in charge of the tour)
Lieutenant General Ludwig von Salmuth March 22, 1882 to July 2, 1887
Major general Eduard of Jena May 16 to September 18, 1891 (in charge of the tour)
Lieutenant General Eduard of Jena September 19, 1891 to December 18, 1893
Lieutenant General Johannes von Dettinger December 22, 1893 to March 21, 1895
Lieutenant General Werner Otto April 19, 1896 to June 14, 1899
Lieutenant General Conrad from Hugo June 15, 1899 to March 25, 1902
Lieutenant General Armand Léon of Ardenne 0April 1, 1902 to April 14, 1904
Lieutenant General Friedrich von Bernhardi April 24, 1904 to December 19, 1907
Major general Adolf von Oven December 19, 1907 to January 26, 1908 (in charge of the tour)
Lieutenant General Adolf von Oven January 27, 1908 to November 4, 1911
Lieutenant General Bogislav from Schwerin 0November 5, 1911 to April 1, 1913
Lieutenant General Johannes Riedel 0April 1, 1913 to November 24, 1916
Major general Hans von der Esch November 24, 1916 to November 3, 1918
Lieutenant General Carl Nehbel 0November 4, 1918 to January 26, 1919
Major general Johannes von Malachowski January 27 to February 21, 1919
Lieutenant General Karl von Stumpff February 22 to June 20, 1919

literature

  • Hall of Fame of our Old Army. Published on the basis of official material from the Reichsarchiv , Militär-Verlag, Berlin 1927, pp. 62, 99–100.
  • The battles and skirmishes of the Great War 1914–1918. Great General Staff, Berlin 1919.
  • Günther Voigt: Germany's armies until 1918. Volume 5, Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1983.
  • Bernhard Werner: The Royal Prussian Infantry Regiment Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (2nd Magdeburg) No. 27 in the World War 1914-1918. Bernard & Graefe, Berlin 1933.
  • Histories of 251 Divisions of the German Army which participated in the War (1914-1918). American Expeditionary Forces, at General Headquarters, Chaumont, France, 1919.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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 , pp. 99-100.