Guard Cavalry Rifle Division

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The Guard Cavalry (Rifle) Division was a large unit of the Prussian Army formed in the spring of 1918 , from which a large number of Freikorps emerged after the November Revolution .

history

The Guard Cavalry Rifle Division was from the spring of 1918 in the Eastern Front returned Guards Cavalry Division set up and parts of other divisions. Division commander was Lieutenant General Heinrich von Hofmann , First General Staff Officer, Captain Waldemar Pabst . From the spring offensive was Major Willy pipe with his assault battalion of Maubeuge ordered to train the Division for the Western theater of war. As part of this training, a “major exercise” was scheduled in the divisional framework. Spectators of the exercise were the Austrian Emperor Karl I , Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia , Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff from the Supreme Army Command , the Generals Friedrich Sixt von Armin , Fritz von Loßberg , Oskar von Hutier and others. At the end of his training, Hindenburg visited the division on May 23. It was used from the end of May 1918 on the Western Front in Champagne , from July 15 in the attack battle on the Marne , and finally between August 17 and September 4 in the defensive battle between Oise and Aisne . From October 1918 the division covered the retreat of the 1st Army .

The first major operation after the end of the war and on German soil took place during the Christmas fighting on December 24, 1918. The Guard Cavalry Rifle Division and regular troops under the general command of General Arnold Lequis did not succeed in driving the mutinous People's Navy Division from the Berlin City Palace and the Marstall , which wanted to prevent the government's planned downsizing and force the payment of the wages that had been withheld . Afterwards, the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division became known for its work in the suppression of the so-called Spartakus uprising (January uprising), the murder of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg in January 1919 and participation in the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch in 1920.

structure

The structure corresponded to a cavalry rifle division of the army in three cavalry rifle commands , each with several volunteer associations of battalion strength.

The 3rd Guards Field Artillery Regiment acted as divisional artillery .

Division troops : 1 bicycle company, 1 engineer battalion , 1 mine thrower company , 1 aviation division, 1 anti-aircraft battery , 1 telephone and radio operator each, several vehicle fleet and ammunition columns, 1 medical company, 1 truck column and two armored cars.

Affiliated to the division was the Schleswig-Holstein Freikorps, the Seyfert regiment, consisting of four companies, and the Taysen volunteer brigade, which was composed of the roughly battalion-strong Freikorps Küntzel, Gentner and Loeschebrand .

The technical emergency aid , which was supposed to ensure the operation of systems on strike on behalf of the owner, arose from the technical department of the division . This emergency aid was in turn the forerunner of today's technical aid organization .

In April 1919, the Guards Cavalry Rifle Division and the Marine Division under Major General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck formed the Guards Cavalry Rifle Corps .

The Guard Rifle Battalion stationed in Berlin-Lichterfelde was not related to the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division, despite the similarity of the name. However, individual members of this battalion, including Robert MW Kempner , joined the division.

Known relatives

[possibly. with details of their later positions and / or ranks]

  • Revolutionary soldiers during the Christmas battles in the pillar hall of the Berlin Palace

  • Spartacists fighting against government troops in Berlin's newspaper district

  • Advertising poster of the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division 1918

  • Call of the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division to the population of Berlin

literature

  • Eduard Stadtler: Memoirs . Volume 3: As Antibolschewist 1918-1919. New Zeitverlag, Düsseldorf 1935.

Web links

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