General Command 56

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The Generalkommando 56 ( Higher Cavalry Command No. 1 until 1916 ) was a major unit of the army of the German Empire during the First World War .

structure

The General Command 56 was a General Command z. b. V. ( General Command for Special Use ). These emerged from 1916 and were purely command posts; the military units were assigned to him as required.

history

The HKK no. 1 was when the war began under the command of General Manfred von Richthofen formed and included the Guards Cavalry Division and the 3rd and 5th Cavalry Division . The 1st Cavalry Corps was initially on the Western Front , advanced as far as the Marne and, after deploying in the First Battle of Flanders, moved to the Eastern Front . In November 1914 used in the 9th Army, the corps got together with the XXV during the Battle of Łódź . Reserve Corps under General von Scheffer-Boyadel in a cauldron. The now subordinate 6th and 9th Cavalry Divisions were able to break through successfully to the old German positions via Brzeziny with the help of the 3rd Guard Division (General Litzmann) on November 24, 1914 .

At the beginning of 1916 the corps was responsible for the front section between the Naroch and Dryswjaty lakes. In the autumn of 1916, the units of the army cavalry were partially dissolved and transferred to other (mixed) large units. After the reorganization on November 23, 1916 to the General Command z. BV No. 56 took over the corps under Götz von König in Army Department D, a section near Dünaburg .

From mid-February 1918 the corps took part in the offensive against Lake Peipus and the upper Daugava and advanced via Drissa to Polotsk , the 23rd Landwehr Division , 87th Division and 8th Cavalry Division were subordinate to the large formation .

Due to the peace of Brest-Litovsk , the general command was dissolved and the mobilization provisions of König on March 5, 1918 were repealed.

Commanding general

Rank Surname date
General of the cavalry Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen August 2, 1914 to September 23, 1916
General of the cavalry Götz von König September 23, 1916 to March 5, 1918

literature

  • Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order "pour le mérite" in the world war. 2 volumes, Berlin 1935.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914-1918, Volume XIII, p. 367 f