I. Royal Bavarian Army Corps

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The I. Army Corps was a large unit and at the same time a territorial command authority of the Bavarian Army .

Insinuation

Like all Bavarian army units , the corps was subordinate to the IV Army Inspectorate at the beginning of the First World War .

Peace structure 1914

General Command

Division of War of August 2, 1914

  • 1st Infantry Division
  • 2nd Infantry Division
  • Corps troops consisting of the 2nd battalion of the 1st foot artillery regiment (5th - 8th battery of heavy field howitzers, light ammunition column) from the 1st foot artillery regiment "vacant Bothmer" , field pilot department 1 , telephone department 1, headlamp train of the 1st engineer battalion and corps Bridge train 1.
  • Munitions columns and trains

Staffing

  • Commanding General: General of the Infantry Oskar von Xylander
  • Chief of the General Staff:
    • Colonel Karl von Nagel zu Aichberg
  • General Staff:
    • Major Hans Hemmer
    • Captain Wilhelm Leeb
    • Captain Otto von Berchem
    • Captain Karl Deuringer
  • Commander of the Pioneers:
    • Major Georg Vogl

history

Already in the days of the Confederation of the Rhine the Bavarian Army was divided into two corps, but due to their size, Napoleon only incorporated them into the 6th Corps of the Grande Armée as divisions . The large association was originally set up on November 7, 1815 as the Munich General Command , but dissolved on June 1, 1822. From November 20, 1848 to September 1, 1855, it existed as the 1st Army Corps, before the Munich General Command was rebuilt on February 1, 1869 as part of the army reform . It comprised the southern part of Bavaria on the right bank of the Rhine . After the formation of the III. Army Corps In 1900, the corps district still comprised most of Upper Bavaria and Lower Bavaria and Swabia .

Franco-German War

Ludwig von der Tann-Rathsamhausen

The corps took part in the Franco-German War under General von der Tann . It was part of the 3rd Army of the Crown Prince of Prussia and on August 6, 1870, joined the Bavarian II Army Corps in the battle of Wörth . On August 30, the corps fought in the Battle of Beaumont . The French 5th Corps under General Failly was caught between the IV Corps as the left wing of the Maas Army of Prince Albert of Saxony and the Bavarian I. Corps as the right wing of the 3rd Army of the Crown Prince of Prussia. The Bavarians counted on the entire French army and had therefore undertaken intensive reconnaissance. While the French were still gathering for a counterattack, the 2nd Division under Lieutenant General Pappenheim formed a successful attack. On the German side, the entire artillery of the IV. Corps intervened, which in the further course of parts of the artillery of the XII. (I. Royal Saxon) Army Corps received support. Under this pressure, the Corps under Failly had to go back to Mouzon across the Meuse .

During the decisive battle of Sedan on the morning of September 1, General von der Tann ordered the attack on the suburb of Bazeilles . During the attack in the poor light of the graying morning, the Bavarian units suffered heavy losses in the house-to-house fighting in a short time. The troops had to be reinforced in the course of the morning, so that by 9 o'clock the entire 1st Division under Lieutenant General Stephan and parts of the 2nd Division were fighting for Bazeilles . At 11 o'clock the French began to withdraw after eventful fighting. These decisions were made when the town of Balan, located north between Bazeilles and Sedan , could no longer be held by the French against the Prussian IV Army Corps under General Alvensleben . It was the task of the Bavarian Corps to ensure the transport of the prisoners from Sedan and to transport away the spoils of war.

The corps was then moved to the Loire area to shield the siege army of Paris . At this time newly established French corps were gathering in the Orléans area . The 22nd division , the 17th division and two cavalry divisions were made available to the "von der Tann" corps for this purpose . After the battle at Artenay on October 10th, Orléans was occupied the following day. The reinforcement troops were withdrawn for other tasks soon after, so that the Bavarian I. Army Corps had to fight the first battles with the Loire Army alone. After the defeat against the French army Chanzy in the battle of Coulmiers , the Bavarians had to go back to Artenay, Orléans was lost again on November 9th.

The corps joined forces with the 22nd Division on November 12th under the leadership of a newly formed army department under the command of Friedrich Franz II. Von Mecklenburg-Schwerin . In the period from October to the end of December 1870, the corps was in action without interruption, and since the beginning of November it has been involved almost non-stop in battles ( Villepion , Loigny , Orléans , Beaugency ) with a mostly clearly numerically superior enemy. The losses amounted to 5,600 men in December alone. A planned withdrawal to the siege army of Paris had to be postponed several times because the Bavarians could not be dispensed with.

First World War

Oskar von Xylander

With the beginning of the First World War in August 1914, the corps of the 6th Army was subordinate to Crown Prince Rupprecht . His deployment and staging area in Lorraine was west of Saarburg . After the 7th Army (left neighbor of the I. Army Corps) was in distress due to strong French attacks, Crown Prince Rupprecht ordered the corps to immediately relieve Heeringen with all available troops in association with the XXI. Army Corps to conduct a southern flank in the direction of Saint-Dié . The corps was not even ready for action with all parts; so only half of the troops had been unloaded and the columns for the supply of ammunition and food were missing. On August 10, 1914, the corps crossed the border, the 2nd Bavarian division of Lieutenant General von Hetzel was already in front of Badonviller . After a day of rest, the corps resumed its attack and was able to take Badonviller. Due to superior French forces, however, the corps was taken back to Saarburg on August 12th. It reached Saarburg on August 16, 1914 and initially formed the reserve of the 6th Army.

Battle of Lorraine

During the Battle of Lorraine on August 20, 1914, the 1st Bavarian Army Corps was subordinate to the 7th Army as the northern wing and reappeared near Saarburg with an attack heading south together with the XIV. Army Corps to attack the VIII. And XIII . French Army Corps (1st French Army). The corps managed to reach the Rhine-Marne Canal between Heming-Herzing by evening . On August 21, the troops of Dubai returned, the heights southwest of Lörchingen fell into the hands of the Bavarians, the further advance took place via Foulcrey and St. Georges. On August 25 the corps penetrated even at Baccarat over the Meurthe Germans stop then offered French counterattacks.

As a result of the race to the sea , the I. Bavarian and the XXI. Army Corps relocated to Picardy on September 22, 1914 and arrived in the area south of Peronne in time to repel French encirclement attacks . In the second half of September 1914 the new 6th Army was set up here, so that the 1st Army Corps could again serve under its Crown Prince Rupprecht. On September 23, 1914, necessary counterattacks had to be carried out at Péronne despite the delayed arrival of the corps. The next day, units crossed the Somme , but had to break off the attack and fend off superior French forces. The 3rd Bavarian Infantry Division, which was quickly brought in, brought relief on September 26, 1914, but the attack by the 1st Army Corps remained on the Vimy Heights in front of Arras. The corps dug in after the relocation of AOK 6 to Lille near Péronne and stayed there for a year with the now leading 2nd Army in trench warfare.

In October 1915 the corps moved to the Arras area and came back under the command of the 6th Army. On October 11, 1915, two French army corps attempted to defeat the subordinate 2nd Bavarian Infantry Division (Lieutenant General Bernhard von Hartz ) in the section Givenchy to Thélus during the autumn battle at La Bassée and Arras (September 23 to October 13, 1915) to smash. But the French attack collapsed before the Bavarian positions and the few French who had penetrated the trenches were fought down in the trenches.

In the Battle of Verdun in 1916, on May 22, 1916, the corps sealed off a break-in by French forces at Douaumont and was able to recapture the old positions through a dashing counter-attack. By June 23, 1916, the corps had already lost 5,000 men and had to be reinforced. Despite the pooling of all available forces, the subsequent attack by the army corps on Fleury and the honeycomb trenches on July 1, 1916 remained in the fire of the French defenders. The corps no longer took part in the renewed attempt to seize the initiative there. On September 2, 1916, the corps was detached from the front. By then it had lost 367 officers and around 15,000 men in 1916.

In mid-July 1918, the corps started the attack battle in Champagne . It was relocated to Courville and Crugny on July 23, 1918. After the 14th Infantry Division had been broken up, the army corps had to seal off the broad intrusion. At the end of August 1918 the corps withdrew behind the Somme, evasively fighting.

Commanding general

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Ludwig von der Tann-Rathsamhausen 0January 8, 1869 to April 26, 1881
General of the Infantry Karl von Horn April 27, 1881 to March 2, 1887
General of the Infantry Leopold of Bavaria 0March 3, 1887 to June 26, 1892
Colonel General of the Infantry Arnulf of Bavaria June 27, 1892 to April 18, 1906
Colonel General of the Infantry Rupprecht of Bavaria April 19, 1906 to March 26, 1913
General of the Infantry Oskar von Xylander March 27, 1913 to June 19, 1918
Lieutenant General Nicholas of Endres June 23, 1918 until the end of the war (in charge of the tour)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Justus Scheibert : War between France and Germany 1870/71. Pauli's successor. Berlin 1895. p. 114.
  2. ^ Justus Scheibert: War between France and Germany 1870/71. Pauli's successor. Berlin 1895. pp. 124f.
  3. ^ Justus Scheibert: War between France and Germany 1870/71. Pauli's successor. Berlin 1895. pp. 189f.
  4. ↑ 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. 653-654.