Royal Bavarian 4th Chevaulegers Regiment "König"

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Ludwig II in his uniform as regiment owner

The fourth Chevauxlegers Regiment "King" was a cavalry - Association of the Bavarian army . The last place of peace for the regiment was Augsburg .

history

The regiment was set up on September 1, 1744 on the orders of Elector Karl Theodor . The regiment was initially called the Graf Elliot Reiter Regiment . In 1790 the transformation took place in the second Cuirassier regiment as part of the restructuring of the Bavarian and Palatine army . When Max Josef from Wittelsbach became elector and later King of Bavaria in 1799 , the regiment was merged with the Zweibrücken Chevauleger bodyguard. The name was initially 4th Chevauxlegers Regiment "Hereditary Prince Lois" , after the Crown Prince and later King Ludwig I. A few weeks later, King Max made himself the owner of the regiment and named it 4th Chevauleger Regiment "Elector Maximilian IV Josef " . The respective king remained the owner of the regiment until the regiment was dissolved in 1918.

Napoleonic Wars

In the defeat in the Battle of Hohenlinden on December 3, 1800, the regiment suffered considerable losses when it fought on the side of Austria. In 1805 Bavaria was in alliance with Napoleon through the Bogenhausen Treaty . The regiment captured the city of Salzburg here .

During the Fourth Coalition War against Prussia in 1806/07 , the regiment was deployed in Silesia , among others , and also marched into Berlin .

In the fifth coalition war against Austria in 1809, the Bavarians took part in the Battle of Eggmühl , among other things . There were other fights against the Tyrolean freedom fighters around Andreas Hofer .

In the campaign against Russia in 1812, the regiment was almost completely wiped out. In honor of the fallen and the only sixty returned soldiers, the obelisk was erected in Munich .

In the course of the wars of liberation , the Kingdom of Bavaria changed from France to the Allies side only late due to the Treaty of Ried . The French army defeated in Leipzig was successfully attacked by the allied Austrian-Bavarian army near Hanau on their retreat on October 28 and 29, 1813. The cavalry in particular was able to achieve some success in the first few days. The battle of Hanau on October 30 and 31, 1813 ended with a clear victory for Napoleon, but in this battle the cavalry prevented an even more severe defeat for the allies. A special event for the regiment was the entry into Paris on April 1, 1814.

German war

The following years brought Bayern a long time without fighting. A special event was in 1833 when some soldiers of the regiment accompanied Prince Otto to Greece, where he reigned as the new king for the next few years . During the revolutionary years of 1848/49 there was no fighting, even if there were several mobilizations .

In 1866 in the German War Bavaria had to intervene in the fighting with the VII Federal Corps with a strength of approx. 40,000 men on Austria's side. The regiment here was the division cavalry in the 2nd Infantry Division . The largest combat mission was in the Battle of Kissingen on July 10, 1866, which ended in a clear defeat.

Franco-German War

Immediately after the French declaration of war in 1870, Bavaria also mobilized on Prussia's side. The regiment was part of the 2nd Division in the I. Army Corps under the command of General von der Tann in the German III. Army of the Crown Prince involved in the fighting.

After the successes at Wörth and Sedan , the Bavarians' task was to secure the siege of Paris to the south against the French Loire Army . The long and very loss-making battles on the Loire were ultimately victorious for the Bavarians, but they suffered considerable losses and in December 1870 were completely exhausted and no longer operational. Accordingly, the transfer took place as a reserve to the siege army of Paris.

After the war, the regiment remained in France as part of the occupation force and did not return to Augsburg until August 4, 1873.

First World War

Western Front 1914

On the evening of August 2, 1914 (mobilization day), the 3rd squadron was transferred to Saarburg in Lorraine . The task in the first few days was to clear up along the border, expressly avoiding border violations. The rest of the regiment followed on August 7, 1914.

In the association of the 6th Army under the command of Crown Prince Rupprecht , the battle in Lorraine was fought as a defensive battle . In September the regiment was moved north to the right wing. In the course of the restructuring of the armies in late autumn 1914, parts of the Bavarian troops were detached from the 6th Army and the regiment took on guard and police tasks behind the front. In the spring of 1915, the 3rd Squadron joined the Alpine Corps .

Theater of war Romania

The regiment was in service with the 2nd Infantry Division until mid-1916 . After Romania in Transylvania had occurred, the fourth and was fifth Chevaulegers Regiment with parts of Prussian troops to the 3rd Cavalry Division summarized. During the Battle of Sibiu , the regiment held up the enemy for a long time with constant short attacks. The alpine corps that had been brought up was given considerable support in its advance towards the Red Tower Pass through the relieving attacks of the regiment during the fighting from September 26 to 29, 1916 . In doing so, it deceived the enemy (parts of the 2nd Romanian Army) through skillful maneuvers about its true strength and split parts of a Romanian cavalry regiment in pursuit. It then drove the enemy forces back over the border passes on the northern flank of the 9th Army . The Bavarian brigade formed from the 4th and 5th Chevaulegers Regiment received the designation "German-Transylvania Cavalry Brigade" on November 2, 1916. In the pursuit of Wallachia , the regiment pushed Romanians and Russians back across the Buzaul River until January 7, 1917 .

Theater of war Italy

During the fighting on the Isonzo from September 15 to December 31, 1917, the 3rd Squadron of the regiment succeeded in taking the bridge at Salt in one fell swoop , which allowed the Alpine Corps to quickly advance to the Tagliamento Bridge at Bonzicco , which the Italians had already destroyed had.

Theater of war, Eastern Front

After Russia left the war , the regiment was moved as an occupying force to the Ukraine , where it reached Kiev on March 11, 1918 , then via Poltava to Kharkov (April 8, 1918) and on to Konstantinovka , which was reached on May 9, 1918. At the end of August 1918, after the collapse of Bulgaria , the regiment was ordered to guard the border on the Danube south of Bucharest , where it remained until the end of the war.

Whereabouts

After the Compiègne armistice , the regiment returned home, was demobilized and finally disbanded in 1919. The tradition was taken over in the Reichswehr by the 1st Squadron of the 17th (Bavarian) Cavalry Regiment in Bamberg .

Commanders

Rank Surname date
Major / Lieutenant Colonel Eduard of Crailsheim 0December 4, 1909 to October 14, 1911
Major / Lieutenant Colonel August von Freyen-Seyboltstorff 1913 to September 24, 1918
Lieutenant colonel Karl von Grundherr zu Altenthan and Weyherhaus September 25, 1918 until the end of the war

literature

Web links