I. Army Corps (Prussia)

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Headquarters of the General Command of the 1st Army Corps in Königsberg

The I. Army Corps was a large unit of the Prussian Army , which was led by the General Command in Königsberg .

structure

All flags of the Königsberg garrison

The corps was assigned to the I. Army Inspection until the First World War . After mobilization , it joined the 8th Army and was deployed on the Eastern Front .

1893

1900

  • 1st division in Koenigsberg
  • 2nd division in Insterburg
  • 37th Division in Allenstein
  • Hunter battalion "Graf Yorck von Wartenberg" (East Prussian) No. 1
  • Squadron hunters on horseback of the I. Army Corps (in the cuirassier regiment "Graf Wrangel" (East Prussian) No. 3)
  • Foot artillery regiment "von Linger" (East Prussian) No. 1
  • Pioneer battalion "Fürst Radziwill" (East Prussian) No. 1
  • Engineer Battalion No. 18
  • East Prussian Train Battalion No. 1
  • 11 Landwehr district commands

Source: Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army 1900

1912

Troops of the 1st Army Corps during the Imperial Maneuver in 1910
  • 1st division
  • 2nd division
  • Foot artillery regiment "von Linger" (East Prussian) No. 1
  • Command of the pioneers of the 1st Army Corps
    • Pioneer battalion "Fürst Radziwill" (East Prussian) No. 1
    • Samland Pioneer Battalion No. 18
  • East Prussian Train Battalion No. 1
  • 8 Landwehr district commands

Source: Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army 1912

Peace structure 1914

  • 1st division
  • 2nd division
  • Machine gun department No. 5 in Insterburg
  • Fortress machine gun department No. 1 in Koenigsberg
  • Foot artillery regiment "von Linger" (East Prussian) No. 1
  • Command of the pioneers of the 1st Army Corps
    • Pioneer battalion "Fürst Radziwill" (East Prussian) No. 1
    • Samland Pioneer Battalion No. 18
  • Fortress Telephone Company No. 5 in Koenigsberg
  • Airship battalion No. 5 (provisional) in Liegnitz , Allenstein and Posen
  • East Prussian Train Department No. 1
  • Landwehr inspection in Insterburg with 6 district commands

Source: Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army 1914

Division of War of August 2, 1914

history

Franco-German War

Edwin von Manteuffel

In the war against France in 1870/71, the corps under General Edwin von Manteuffel served as a reserve behind the deploying armies; it was only transported to the western theater of war in Lorraine after the railway line had become free. The 1st Division led Lieutenant General von Bentheim and the 2nd Division was under General von Pritzelwitz . During the Battle of Colombey on August 14th, the Corps and the 1st Division intervened opposite the French Grenier Division between Montoy and Noisseville . When the French fell out of the fortress of Metz on the eastern bank of the Moselle, General von Manteuffel tried to hold the positions on the Vallieres stream with his corps artillery. At 5 p.m. Montoy was captured, and the 43rd Infantry Regiment under Colonel von Bosse stormed the village of Lauvallier after heavy losses. Although they advanced as far as Mey, they had to fall back on Montoy before the French reinforcements, where three attacks were repulsed with great loss. The situation of the Prussian 2nd Division on the right wing around Nouilly had meanwhile become serious. The beleaguered 3rd Brigade of General von Memerty was finally relieved after 90 guns had been driven between Servigny and Noiseville.

Marshal Bazaine had been completely enclosed with the French Rhine Army by the German 2nd Army under Friedrich Karl of Prussia . During the siege of Metz , General Manteuffel held the supreme command on the east bank of the Moselle, the 1st Corps camped to the right and left of the Seille between Servigny and Rupigny on the heights of Pouilly and together with the 2nd Army Corps to the south protected the stores of Remilly and Pont-à-Mousson . To the northeast, the 3rd Reserve Division under General von Kummer secured as far as the Moselle . On August 31, a strong French sortie was directed against the lines of the Prussian 1st Division between Failly and Noiseville. When the battle of Noiseville began, General von Manteuffel received the enemy advancing on St. Barbe at once with such effective fire from sixty artillery pieces which secured the actual line of defense, which quickly halted the French advance. General von Manteuffel, early in the morning of September 1st, by the arrival of IX. Army Corps reinforced, tried to recapture Noisseville, which had been lost the day before. An attack by the Memerty Brigade penetrated Flanville, but failed in another attack on Noiseville . Manteuffel brought the artillery position against Noiseville to 114 guns and now had incoming reserves to attack again - this time against the right flank of the French. The intervention of the 28th Brigade (from VII Corps) wrested the villages of Flanville and Coincy from the French division under General Fauvart-Bastoul.

After taking part in the siege of Metz and the fall of the fortress at the end of October, General von Manteuffel became the new Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Army, but at the same time retained command of the 1st Corps going west. The 1st Brigade under General von Gayl was entrusted with the siege of the fortress Verdun , which handed over on November 8th. The 2nd Brigade under Major General von Falkenstein was sent to the Mezieres Fortress , which was surrounded on November 14th. The 4th Brigade (Major General von Ziglintzki) was assigned to observe the fortress La Fere and began the actual siege on November 25th. Only the 3rd Brigade (von Memerty) immediately left together with the VIII Army Corps in the direction of Amiens on the Somme .

On November 27, 1870, the battle of Amiens followed , and the 1st Corps had to be advanced to the Lure. During the advance, the 3rd Cavalry Division cleared up on the northern flank, the infantry encountered enemy forces in front of the villages of Gentelles and Cachy and the fighting ensued. On the left wing, the attack of the 16th Division at Hebecourt decided the outcome of the battle. On the same day, the 4th Brigade was released after the surrender of La Fere. Between December 3 and 6 the advance of the 1st Division to Rouen took place almost without a fight . After the suppression of new French forces at Amiens and the fall of Mezieres on January 1, 1871, the VIII. Corps was concentrated at Bapaume . At Arras , General Faidherbe had gathered strong forces again and attacked unsuccessfully on January 3 at the Battle of Bapaume . Then Peronne , which had been enclosed by the 16th Division (Barnekow) since December 26, surrendered . The bulk of the Bentheim division had meanwhile thrown the enemy in the battle at Moulineaux on the lower Seine on January 4th and was defeated on January 25th by the XIII marching over Alençon . Corps cleared in Rouen. The French Northern Army under Faidherbe was thrown head-on by the VIII. Corps on January 19 in the battle of St. Quentin in the hard struggle east of the city and was forced to retreat. The reinforcements of the 1st Corps by the 1st Division under General von Gayl played a considerable part in this.

In the first World War

Hermann von François

At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the corps under General von François was part of the 8th Army on the Eastern Front . The Russian army under the first Rennenkampff urged a width of 40 kilometers between Wischtynjez and Schirwindt in East Prussia one. General von François posted the I. Corps against the express instructions of his superior von Prittwitz directly at the border and took up the battle at Stallupönen on August 17th . At Göritten , a flank thrust successfully threw the enemy back, but on the north wing the Germans had to retreat towards Stallupönen. The 1st Division ran the risk of being cut off. It was not until a relevant order from AOK 8 that General François made it late in the evening to leave for Gumbinnen in good time . François also launched the Battle of Gumbinnen on August 19 with an attack by his corps , which was called off after a tactical stalemate. The I. Army Corps was already being transported south from Gumbinnen by rail when the AOK was taken over by General von Hindenburg. On August 24th, the corps took over the right wing of the 8th Army during the Battle of Tannenberg . The I. Corps reached - on August 26th with the assigned Mühlmann detachment, taking the heights of Seeben and only later resumed the attack on the 27th. On August 27, the corps, together with the "Schmettau" detachment (from the XX Army Corps), made the breakthrough at Usdau . After the breakthrough, the corps should advance to Neidenburg in order to protect the XX Relieve Army Corps . The 1st Division advanced to the border at Soldau by the evening of the day . The bulk of the Russian troops flooded back to Mława , so that Soldau could be captured on August 28 without major problems. The 2nd Division reached Neidenburg to capture the Russian Narew Army on August 29 after meeting the XVII. Army Corps in the Willenberg area . The Russian 1st Army Corps marched from Mława to Neidenburg on August 30th to allow the enclosed 2nd Army to retreat. General François threw all available forces at Soldau against the onrushing Russian 1st Corps, while the 2nd Division kept the enclosure at Neidenburg.

As with Tannenberg, the 1st Corps carried out the decisive encirclement operation against the left flank of the Russian 1st Army from September 6th to 11th, 1914 in the following battle of the Masurian Lakes . On October 9, 1914, General Kosch was appointed commanding general of the 1st Army Corps for a short time . During the winter battle in Masuria at the beginning of February 1915, the corps again successfully attacked in the Lötzen area as part of the 8th Army and, together with the XXXX. Reserve Corps push back superior Russian troops across the East Prussian border to Augustow .

On June 11, 1915 General von Eben took over the leadership of the 1st Army Corps in the Gallwitz Army Group (from August 12th Army ) on the Narew sector, subordinate to the 2nd and 37th Divisions . In mid-July, as a result of the Narew offensive, the Ostrolenka fortress was captured and in August 1915 Białystok was occupied . In September 1915 now part of the 10th Army , the city of Wilna was occupied during the Swenziany Offensive and Dünaburg was occupied in October 1915 by the Scholtz Army Group . The Eben group remained in the trench warfare on the Daugava .

After the loss of Brody during the Russian Brusilov offensive , the general command of General von Eben was transferred to Galicia on July 31, 1916 of the Austro- Hungarian 2nd Army . During the defensive battles in the September battle, it was possible to prevent a Russian invasion of Hungary. In July 1917, during the Kerensky offensive , the General Command was in the Zloczow area on the south wing of the Austro-Hungarian Army Group " Böhm-Ermolli ". The new commanding general von Winckler initiated the successful counterattack on Tarnopol , which almost completely retook eastern Galicia. On February 25, 1918 Winckler exchanged his general command with the XXV. Reserve Corps , on February 27th its leader General Gröner was entrusted with the leadership of the 1st Corps. After the Peace of Brest-Litowsk , General Theodor Mengelbier took command on March 28, 1918 . The end of the war saw the General Command of Army Group "Kiev" as an occupying power in eastern Ukraine .

Commanding generals

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Friedrich Wilhelm Bülow von Dennewitz 0June 3, 1814 to March 31, 1815
Lieutenant General Hans Ernst Karl von Zieten 0April 1 to October 30, 1815
General of the Infantry Friedrich Wilhelm Bülow von Dennewitz 0November 1, 1815 to February 25, 1816
General of the cavalry Ludwig von Borstell 0March 5, 1816 to June 17, 1825
Lieutenant General Karl August Adolf von Krafft June 18, 1825 to March 29, 1832
Lieutenant General Oldwig from Natzmer March 30, 1832 to September 17, 1835 (in charge of the tour)
Lieutenant General Oldwig from Natzmer September 18, 1835 to November 28, 1839
General of the cavalry Friedrich von Wrangel November 29, 1839 to April 6, 1842
General of the cavalry Friedrich zu Dohna-Schlobitten 0April 7, 1842 to March 27, 1854
General of the Infantry Franz Karl of Werder March 28, 1854 to January 28, 1863
General of the Infantry Adolf von Bonin January 29, 1863 to October 29, 1866
General of the Infantry Eduard Vogel von Falckenstein October 30, 1866 to August 3, 1868
General of the cavalry Edwin von Manteuffel 0August 4, 1868 to July 14, 1873
General of the Infantry Albert von Barnekow July 15, 1873 to June 4, 1883
General of the Infantry Walter von Gottberg 0June 5, 1883 to May 31, 1885
General of the Infantry Ewald Christian von Kleist 0June 1, 1885 to June 14, 1889
General of the Infantry Paul Bronsart von Schellendorff June 15, 1889 to June 28, 1891
Lieutenant General /
General of the Infantry 		Hans Wilhelm of Werder June 29, 1891 to January 9, 1895
General of the Infantry Karl Finck von Finckenstein January 27, 1895 to January 24, 1902
General of the Infantry Colmar von der Goltz January 27, 1902 to September 10, 1907
General of the Infantry Alexander von Kluck September 11, 1907 to September 30, 1913
General of the Infantry Hermann von François 0October 1, 1913 to February 16, 1914 (responsible for the tour)
General of the Infantry Hermann von François February 17 to October 3, 1914
Lieutenant General Adalbert von Falk 0October 4 to 7, 1914 (in charge of the tour)
General of the Infantry Robert Kosch 0October 8, 1914 to June 10, 1915
General of the Infantry Johannes von Eben June 11, 1915 to June 4, 1917
General of the Infantry Arnold von Winckler 0June 5, 1917 to February 25, 1918
Dignity. Lieutenant General Wilhelm Groener February 27 to March 27, 1918 (entrusted with the tour)
General of the Infantry Theodor Mengelbier March 28 to December 13, 1918
General of the Infantry Johannes von Eben December 14, 1918 to February 14, 1919
Lieutenant General Ludwig von Estorff February 25 to September 20, 1919

Flags / flag decorations

Succession

After the First World War, only the 1st Division of the Reichswehr remained of the I. Army Corps . In 1934 the I. Army Corps was set up.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Royal Secret War Chancellery (editor): Ranking list of the active service status of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps. […] As of October 1, 1900. […]. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1900, p. 4ff.
  2. ↑ War Ministry, Secret War Chancellery (editorial office): Ranking list of the active service status of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps. […] As of October 6, 1912. […]. ES Mittler & Sohn. Berlin 1912. p. 51ff.
  3. ^ War Ministry, Secret War Chancellery (editors): Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg Army Corps for 1914. […] As of May 6, 1914. […]. ES Mittler & Sohn. Berlin 1914. p. 52ff.
  4. ^ Justus Scheibert : The war between France and Germany 1870/71. Pauli's successor, Berlin 1895. p. 60.
  5. ^ Justus Scheibert : The war between France and Germany. W. Paulis successor, Berlin 1895, p. 154.
  6. ^ Justus Scheibert : The war between France and Germany. Pauli's successor, Berlin 1895, p. 158.
  7. ^ Justus Scheibert : The war between Germany and France. Berlin 1895, p. 247f.
  8. ↑ 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 , p. 40f.