Royal Bavarian 1st Infantry Regiment "König"

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The 1st Infantry Regiment "König" was the second unit of the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Bavarian Army alongside the Infantry Body Regiment . The regiment's peacetime location was Munich .

Grave slab for Jos. Jouvin, officer of the regiment, in the old southern cemetery in Munich

history

Emergence

The regiment was formed on July 1, 1778 and had the following names:

  • 1778–1790 body regiment
  • 1790–1799 1st Grenadier Body Regiment
  • 1800–1811 body regiment
  • 1811–1918 1st Line Infantry Regiment or Infantry Regiment "König"

Coalition wars

According to the cabinet order of June 13, 1801, Captain Karl von Büllinger received the Military Medal of Honor for his military service during the entire campaign against France from 1793 to 1800 (according to the army order of March 1, 1806, Knight of the Military Max Joseph Order ).

On November 2nd and 3rd, 1805, the newly appointed battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Alois Freiherr von Ströhl, at the head of his unit, stormed against the entrenchments of the western fort on the Strubpass, which he captured despite being shot through the thigh. With an army order of November 22, 1805, he was awarded the military medal of honor for this purpose (according to the army order of March 1, 1806, knight of the Military Max Joseph Order).

After Lieutenant Anton von Grafenstein and his 60 riflemen had occupied Rosenheim on October 26, 1805, he advanced to the Inn Bridge and ordered it to be restored. On the morning of October 27, the Austrian troops recognized the Bavarian intent and attacked the bridge from land and across the Inn. Von Grafenstein was able to reject these advances and, after reinforcements had arrived, set off across the Inn in a dashing boat trip with some men. As soon as they landed there, the Austrian troops quickly withdrew to avoid persecution. With an army order of November 20, 1805, Lieutenant von Grafenstein was awarded the Military Medal of Honor (according to the army order of March 1, 1806, Knight of the Military Max Joseph Order).

On May 14, 1807, parts of the regiment took the village of Kanth and the bridge over the Schweidnitz and took over 160 Prussian prisoners. Lieutenant Colonel Johann Baptist Theodor Graf Waldkirch on Schollenberg attacked approx. 1400 Prussian riflemen / hunters with his battalion reinforced with 2 squadrons of cavalry and 2 cannons and drove them from their position, whereby a Prussian cannon was captured. The two squadrons attacked superior Prussian cavalry and pursued them too hotly that the two squadrons were no longer available for the further battle. The second line of the Prussians was also thrown by a maneuver in the rear of the enemy.

On June 24, 1807, Lieutenant Anton Freiherr von Gumppenberg commanded the avant-garde during the storming of the fortified camp at Glatz and was the first to conquer the enemy battery despite stubborn resistance. For this, as well as for his determination and bravery, he was appointed Knight of the Military Max Joseph Order by army order of April 15, 1808.

German war

In the war against Prussia in 1866, the regiment moved out and took part in the battles near Nüdlingen , Urphar , Helmstadt and Mainz.

Franco-German War

In 1870/71 the staff and the 1st and 2nd battalions came during the war against France as part of the 1st Bavarian Army Corps Von der Tann bei Wörth , Beaumont , Bazeilles , Petit Bicêtre , Artenay , Orléans , Coulmiers , Villepion , Loigny- Poupry , engaged in the second capture of Orleans, Meung-sur-Loire and Beaugency-Travant, and participated in the enclosure and siege of Paris .
The III. Battalion was deployed in the 2nd Bavarian Army Corps Hartmann near Weißenburg , Wörth, Sedan , Plessis-Piquet, during the siege of Paris and near Chatillon.

First World War

The regiment served as part of the 1st Infantry Division in France throughout the First World War . During the Battle of the Somme at Péronne on September 24, 1914, it marched under the command of the 2nd Infantry Division of the 6th Army via Péronne to Dompierre and joined on September 25, 1914 deployed on the right wing of the division towards Cappy and Chuignes on. The regiment's attack was repulsed by a counterattack by superior French territorial troops. For the autumn battle at La Bassée and Arras (September / October 1915) the regiment was withdrawn from Péronne and deployed south of Givenchy on the right wing of the 1st Infantry Division, where the attack by parts of the III./XII. French army corps was bloodily rejected even before the regiment's positions. The enemy, who had broken in in a few places, was destroyed in close combat. In the Battle of Verdun , the regiment created the conditions for the storming of Fleury by taking possession of the so-called honeycomb trenches northwest of Thiaumont after repeated attacks on June 12, 1916. After the battles at Verdun, the regiment was deployed on the Somme . In October 1916, in the forest of St. Pierre Vaast east of Rancourt, on the left wing of the 1st Infantry Division, it held its positions steadfastly against the furious French attacks. At the Chemin des Dames near Ailles, the regiment was thrown to the front for reinforcement and was able to stabilize it effectively. In the course of the defensive battles between Oise and Aisne, the regiment, on the right wing of the 1st Infantry Division, was deployed on August 20, 1918 east of Loges for a counter-attack. It could no longer take possession of the old positions because of its already significantly reduced combat strength. The French attack came to a halt in front of Blérancourt, so that the withdrawal movements could be carried out in an orderly manner. On August 22, 1918, the regiment occupied the prepared positions east of the Oise-Aisne Canal and the Ailette between Vilette and Champs. On September 26, 1918, the regiment was thrown eastwards from Somme-Py - Tahure towards the attacking French and it was possible to throw the enemy back again via the Somme-Py - Challerange railway line. It was able to hold this line for the next few days against the attacks of the French and American troops. At the beginning of October 1918 the regiment, which had only the combat strength of a reinforced platoon, was to be pulled out of the front, but was nevertheless thrown into battle on October 4, 1918 to clear up a critical situation near St. Etienne and almost completely sacrificed itself in the process on. On October 21, 1918, the remnants of the regiment, supported by the 242nd Division (4th Royal Württembergische) , attacked east of Vouziers on the Landèves - Chamiot line and were able to defeat the French, who had already formed a bridgehead on the west bank of the Aisne to prevent a further advance as far as possible until November 4, 1918. At the end of the war the regiment stood east of Sedan.

Knight of the Military Max Joseph Order

  • August 28, 1914: Captain Balduin von Winckler (killed on September 6, 1917)
  • October 2, 1914: Lieutenant Kurt Hopffer
  • October 25, 1914: Lieutenant in the reserve Karl Gruny
  • June 28, 1916: Lieutenant of the Reserve Otto Lang (killed on June 12, 1916)
  • May 27, 1916: First Lieutenant Wolfgang Eder (killed on March 13, 1916)
  • November 1, 1916: Lieutenant of the Reserve Joachim Hitzen (killed on October 13, 1918)
  • March 23, 1918: Major Eugen von Schobert
  • October 21, 1918: Major Johann Schmidtler

Pour le Mérite

  • Major Johann Schmidtler, awarded on October 26, 1918, at that time regimental commander

Whereabouts

On the day of the Compiègne armistice , the regiment moved via Koblenz to Hungen, which was reached in early December 1918. The regiment was demobilized in Munich on December 14, 1918 and then disbanded. At the beginning of 1919, parts of the Ruith Volunteer Battalion, which was active in the Görlitz Freikorps , were set up.

At Pentecost 1922, a memorial plaque was donated by the Association of Former Members of the Regiment and the Officers' Association on the occasion of the 1st big one day in Munich's St. Michael's Church .

The 3rd, 6th and 8th companies of the 19th (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment took over the tradition in the Reichswehr .

Commanders

Rank Surname date
Colonel Heinrich Adolph von Zwanziger 1825 to 1833
Colonel / Major General Ignace of Godin 1913 to April 9, 1915
Lieutenant colonel Wilhelm von Freyberg April 10 to August 4, 1915
Colonel Anton von Langlois August 5, 1915 to June 30, 1918
Lieutenant colonel Johann von Schmidtler July 1, 1918 to 1919

literature

  • The KB 1st Infantry Regiment König. (= Memorial sheets of German regiments. Bavarian Army. Issue 8). According to the official war diaries, edited by old ones. Bavarian War Archives. Munich 1922.
  • Herbert Knorr: A picture book. 200 recordings from the history of the KB 1st Infantry Regiment König during the World War (=  memorial sheets of German regiments. Bavarian Army . 8a). Verlag Bayerisches Kriegsarchiv, Munich 1926 ( digitized version from the Württemberg State Library ).
  • Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen , Friedrichfranz Feeser : The Bavaria book of the world wars 1914-1918. Volume 1. Chr. Belser AG publishing house bookstore. Stuttgart 1930.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The KB 1st Infantry Regiment König . In: Bavarian War Archives (Hrsg.): Reminder sheets of German regiments. Bavarian Army . tape 8 . Munich 1922.
  2. ^ Jürgen Kraus: Handbook of the units and troops of the German army 1914-1918. Part 6: Infantry. Volume 1: Gerhard Bauer, Jürgen Kraus: Infantry Regiments. Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-902526-14-4 , p. 432.