III. Reserve Corps (German Empire)

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The III. Reserve Corps was a major unit of the army of the German Empire .

structure

At the beginning of the war, the corps was subordinate to the 1st Army and structured as follows:

  • 5th Reserve Division
    • 9th Reserve Infantry Brigade
    • 10th Reserve Infantry Brigade
    • Reserve Dragoon Regiment No. 2
    • Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 5
    • 4th Company / Engineer Battalion No. 3
  • 6th Reserve Division
    • 11th Reserve Infantry Brigade
    • 12th Reserve Infantry Brigade
    • Reserve Uhlan Regiment No. 3
    • Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 6
    • 1st and 2nd Reserve Company / Engineer Battalion No. 3

history

Hans von Beseler

When the First World War broke out , the corps was set up on August 2, 1914 under the commanding General Hans von Beseler. Colonel Paul Meister acted as chief of the general staff , the subordinate 5th Reserve Division was under the leadership of Lieutenant General Richard Voigt and the 6th Reserve Division under Lieutenant General von Schickfuß and Neudorff . Standing on the northern wing of the 1st Army, the large unit marched into neutral Belgium and, from August 20, stopped facing the Belgians who had returned to the fortress of Antwerp . In addition to the actual crew, there were five divisions of the Belgian field army in the fortress, a total of around 80,000 men and 2,000 men of the British naval division. About 120,000 soldiers were drawn together for the siege of Antwerp , with the III. Reserve Corps, the Marine Division , the 4th Replacement Division and three Landwehr Brigades were combined to form the Beseler Army Group . The planned German attack began on September 27th, until September 30th the fortress was bombed. 2,000 British Marines arrived on October 2nd, but these reinforcements proved to be too weak. From October 4th to 8th the German troops broke into the Belgian positions near Lier. On October 6th, the Belgian government was evacuated to Ostend . In the days from October 7th to 9th, the Germans shelled the city. The bulk of the remaining Belgian army withdrew to West Flanders, and on October 9, 1914 Antwerp capitulated.

In mid-October 1914, the III. Reserve corps assigned to the 4th Army deploying in Flanders and fought in the Battle of the Yser . On October 20, 1914 Beseler had completed the deployment on the Yser and on October 21, the attack took place with the 5th and 6th reserve divisions, as well as the 4th replacement division. For October 22nd, the plan was to push in the front loop parallel to the Yser Canal between Tervaete and Schoorbakke, to cross the Yser Canal and then to widen the breakthrough to the left and right. During the day the 6th Reserve Division managed to cross the canal at one point and to form a bridgehead that could also be held. On October 23, the 5th Reserve Division was also supposed to force the crossing over the Yser Canal, penetrated to the canal bank at various points, but then had to abandon the project without success. The 6th Reserve Division succeeded in widening the bridgehead and taking the hamlet of Schoorbakke around noon. The Yser Canal had been crossed for a length of eight kilometers. By the evening of October 25th, a few more areas were gained in the direction of Pervyse and Ramscapelle. The 6th Reserve Division was supposed to penetrate Pervyse on October 26th and thereby grab the enemy of the 44th Reserve Division on the flank on the left . The 5th Reserve Division, reinforced by the 9th Replacement Brigade, swiveled to the right in the direction of Nieuwpoort . Repeated attacks by the III. Reserve Corps were unsuccessful on October 27, 28 and 29. In the meantime, the Belgians had begun to use the Nieuwpoort sea locks to raise the water table in the disputed area. At 1:00 a.m. on October 31st, the order to withdraw was given. The struggle in this section was over. The German units had to retreat behind the Yser after the end of the battle. The III. Reserve Corps was ordered to be a reserve in the rear of the XXIII. Reserve Corps and the XXVI. Set up reserve corps and took part in the fighting at Langemark and Bixschoote .

At the beginning of December 1915, the III. Res. Corps together with the Fabeck group (XIII. AK) to the eastern front and occupied the front on the lower Bzura as far as Sochaczew , about 50 km west of Warsaw. On July 20, 115, the units gathered for the siege of Novogeorgiewsk under the command of the General Command of III. Reserve Corps combined to form the new Beseler Army Group . This was subordinate to the Gallwitz Army Group , renamed the 12th Army , but was independent in matters of the attack on the fortress Nowogeorgiewsk ( Modlin ). After the Russian troops suffered a defeat on the Narew and had to withdraw (→ Great Withdrawal ), the 12th Army also went into pursuit. Beseler's attack group initially included the Dickhuth corps and the 14th Landwehr Division of the XVII. Reserve corps . At the beginning of the siege there were about 90,000 soldiers under General Nikolai Bobyr with 1,600 guns in the fortress. As early as August 8, Beseler had started preparations for the attack on the fort's works. On August 13, after several hours of artillery preparation, the infantry attack against the outer works began. From August 14th to 16th, 1915 the barrage hit the fortress. Over the next three days, parts of the fortress were conquered bit by bit. On the evening of August 20, 1915, however, the fortress was finally in the possession of the German troops. The troops of the Beseler Army Group were now free for other uses, while the Russian army had suffered considerable losses.

The III. Reserve Corps, which had been under the command of General von Carlowitz since August 1915 , defended during the Russian spring offensive on Lake Naroch in March 1916 from Lake Wiszniew via Dubatowka south to Smorgon against the onrushing Russian army group under Pyotr Baluev . The 10th Landwehr Division and the 3rd Reserve Division were subordinate . The 14th Landwehr Division defended against the Russian-occupied Smorgon .

Alfred von Böckmann

On July 22nd, 1917, new Russian attacks against the front south of the Wilia were able to penetrate on both sides of Krewo at the 16th Landwehr Division , to the north of which the 226th Division was able to withstand at Smorgon. On July 25, the Russians tried in vain to expand the break-in point to the north, and on the evening of the following day all positions lost were again in German hands due to counter-attacks.

The III. At the end of the war in October 1918, the Reserve Corps was back in Flanders with the 4th Army and led retreat battles between Yser and Lys, the commanding General Count Anatol von Bredow included the 3rd Reserve Division, the 3rd Division , the 13th and Subordinated to 36th Reserve Division .

Commanding general

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Hans von Beseler August 2, 1914 to August 24, 1915
General of the Infantry Adolph von Carlowitz August 24, 1915 to August 7, 1917
Lieutenant General Alfred von Böckmann August 8 to September 4, 1917
Lieutenant General Anatol Graf von Bredow September 5, 1917 to February 24, 1919

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914–1918, Volume 1, ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1925, war organizations p. 668
  2. ↑ Erich von Tschischwitz: Antwerp 1914, Gerhard Stalling Verlag, Oldenburg 1925
  3. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914-1918, Volume X, Supplements - Sketch 24
  4. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914-1918, Volume XIII, Berlin 1942, p. 157
  5. ↑ a b c d 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. 627