II. Royal Bavarian Army Corps

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The II. Army Corps was a large unit and at the same time a territorial command authority of the Bavarian Army . It was established on November 27, 1815 as a general command in Würzburg . Rebuilt in the course of the army reform on February 1, 1869, the army district comprised the northern part of Bavaria on the right bank of the Rhine . The corps took part in both the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War. It was disbanded with the dissolution of the Bavarian Army in 1918/19.

Insinuation

Peace structure 1914

General Command

Division of War of August 2, 1914

  • 3rd Infantry Division
  • 4th Infantry Division
  • Corps troops consisting of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Foot Artillery Regiment "vacant Bothmer" (1st – 4th battery of heavy field howitzers, light ammunition column), Field Aviation Division 2, Telephone Division 2, searchlight train of the 2nd Engineer Battalion and Corps Bridge Train 2.
  • Munitions columns and trains

Staffing

  • Commanding General: General of the Infantry Karl von Martini
  • Chief of the General Staff: Lieutenant Colonel Franz Stängl
  • General Staff:
    • Major Ludwig Schraudenbach
  • Commander of the Pioneers:
    • Major Laacke

history

The large association was originally set up on November 27, 1815 as General Command Würzburg , but was disbanded on June 1, 1822. From November 20, 1848 to September 1, 1855, it existed as the II. Army Corps before the General Command Würzburg was rebuilt on February 1, 1869 as part of the army reform . It comprised the northern part of Bavaria on the right bank of the Rhine . After the formation of the III. Army Corps in 1900 the corps district only comprised Lower Franconia and parts of Upper Franconia and the Palatinate .

Franco-German War

General Jakob von Hartmann

The corps took part in the Franco-German War under General von Hartmann . The superior 3rd Army of the Crown Prince of Prussia had a large proportion of southern German contingents, including two Bavarian army corps. The Prussian V. and the XI. Army corps went ahead between Germersheim and Landau, the corps followed at Bergzabern on the northern wing. On August 4, 1870, the Corps stormed Weißenburg , two days later it fought in the battle of Wörth , with the 3rd Infantry Division under General Wilhelm Walther von Walderstötten advancing from the north towards Fröschweiler . On August 14th, the Bavarians forced the Marsal fortress to surrender and were on the way to Nancy . On August 25th, the 3rd Army had to turn to the right to the north in order to push the main French army against the Belgian border. The Corps played a prominent part in the Battle of Sedan on September 1st. Together with the First Army Corps under General Ludwig von der Tann was Bazeilles stormed the 4th Infantry Division under Lieutenant General Friedrich von Bothmer went on both sides of the Meuse to the city, they conquered while the suburbs Balan and Wadelincort. After the French surrender of Sedan , the advance on Paris was resumed. Between September 16 and 19, the corps forced the Seine crossing at Corbeil and won at Bourg-la-Reine and Petit-Bicètre. During the subsequent enclosure of Paris , the Bavarians occupied the Moulin de la Tour (Chatillon) plateau defended by General Ducrot .

First World War

Like all Bavarian army associations, the association was subordinate to the IV Army Inspection before the beginning of the First World War . At the beginning of the war in August 1914, the corps was under the leadership of Karl von Martini in the 6th Army . Under the command of Crown Prince Rupprecht , the corps and III. Army Corps in the area southeast of the fortress Metz the northern wing of the 6th Army. During the Battle of Lorraine , the 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions advanced from August 20 to 25 in a southerly direction via Chateau-Salins (west of Dieuze ) to the Meurthe near Luneville . In August 1914 it was used in the battle of the Trouée de Charmes between Épinal and Toul . As a result of the race to the sea , the corps was moved to Peronne together with the I. Army Corps . The corps tried to outstrip the French 11th Corps under General Joseph-Paul Eydoux north of it at Combles in the advance on Montauban . At the beginning of November, the corps of the " Fabeck Group " south of Ypres , the Bavarians succeeded in taking St. Eloi in the First Battle of Flanders on November 10th .

During the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the corps was transferred to the 1st Army , the 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions were in the Martinpuich area , the left wing was in contact with the 5th Infantry Division which was defending near Longueville. At the end of September 1916, the corps at Le Transloy by troops of the XXVI. Reserve Corps relieved and transported back to the 6th Army in Flanders in the old combat area near Lille .

On January 5, 1917, Otto von Stetten took over the leadership of the corps, which he had held since November 1914. At Lille in 1917 the corps faced the 2nd Australian Corps ( ANZAC Corps ) under General Alexander Godley . On the morning of May 21, 1917, the British 2nd Army opened the attack on the Wytschaete Bow with 2,000 guns at the Battle of Messines . The British offensive began on June 7th with the demolition of 19 mines that were located at a depth of 15 to 30 meters. The German positions were literally blown up by the explosion and the 3rd Infantry Division suffered heavy losses. During the subsequent Third Battle of Flanders , the General Command known as the “Lille Group” was subordinate to the 4th Army . It had subordinated the 9th and 22nd Reserve Divisions and the Bavarian 16th Division , stood on the southern section of the British attack and was able to hold its positions there.

During the "Georgette attack" of the 6th Army in the Battle of the Lys , the 32nd and 38th divisions and the 10th replacement division were assigned to the corps. The Stetten group and the Carlowitz group (Gen. Kdo. XIX. AK ) were able to advance, break through on the first impact and also cross the third enemy line everywhere. On the evening of April 9, Stetten's right wing division was able to take Bois-Grenier in a flank to the right, penetrate Fleurbaix and gain access to the Lys at Bac St. Maur . This area could then be used by other units as a base for crossing the river, while parts of the corps at Pont Mortier were in heavy combat with the enemy. Finally, on the night of April 11, the corps was able to struck another attack arc around the eastern edge of Armentières to Houplines, which then led to the successful capture of the city that afternoon. In just a few weeks, the successful outcome more than compensated for the loss of terrain in Flanders in 1917 and created a potential basis for further action. The Allies suffered heavy losses in the form of around 20,000 prisoners, 400 artillery pieces and thousands of machine guns. In October 1918 the corps with the subordinate 1st and 6th Bavarian Reserve Divisions and the 14th Bavarian Infantry Division was located as the southern wing of the retreating 4th Army east of the Scheldt in the Gavere area .

With the dissolution of the Bavarian Army in 1918/19, the corps was dissolved. Parts of the large association were taken over into the provisional Reichswehr .

Commanding general

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Jakob von Hartmann 0January 8, 1869 to April 23, 1873
Lieutenant General Joseph von Maillinger April 24, 1873 to July 4, 1875
General of the Infantry Karl von Orff 0July 5, 1875 to May 8, 1890
General of the Infantry Otto von Parseval 0May 9, 1890 to April 17, 1895
General of the cavalry Emil von Xylander April 18, 1895 to March 22, 1905
General of the Infantry Theophil von Reichlin-Meldegg March 23, 1905 to November 17, 1908
General of the Infantry Alfred Eckbrecht from Dürckheim-Montmartin November 18, 1908 to April 21, 1912
General of the Infantry Karl von Martini April 22, 1912 to November 4, 1914
Lieutenant General Otto von Stetten 0November 5, 1914 to January 4, 1917 (substitute)
General of the cavalry Otto von Stetten 0January 5, 1917 to April 19, 1918
General of the artillery Konrad Krafft from Dellmensingen April 19 to December 4, 1918
Lieutenant General Otto von Rauchberger December 20, 1918 to June 9, 1919
Lieutenant General Hermann von Burkhardt June 10th to October 1st, 1919 (charged with running the business)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914-1918. Volume VI. P. 17.
  2. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914-1918, Volume XIII, ES Mittler and Son, Appendix 2a
  3. ↑ Dermot Bradley (Ed.), Günter Wegner: Occupation of the German Army 1815-1939. Volume 1: The higher command posts 1815-1939. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1990. ISBN 3-7648-1780-1 . Pp. 655-656.