Royal Bavarian 14th Infantry Regiment "Hartmann"

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The 14th Infantry Regiment "Hartmann" was, together with the 21st Infantry Regiment , an association of the 9th Infantry Brigade of the Bavarian Army . The regiment's peacetime location was Nuremberg .

history

Emergence

The regiment was set up on August 15, 1814 in accordance with the highest resolution in Aschaffenburg as the 14th Infantry Line Regiment . It was formed from the Grand Ducal Frankfurt Infantry Regiment "Zweyer" (called Fürst Primas) and the royal Bavarian light infantry battalion "von Flad". It was divided into three battalions, each with a rifle company and five fusilier companies. The first Colonel Commandant (the term Kommandeur was in use from 1872) was Georg von Welsch , who was succeeded by Friedrich von Flad (ad interim) after his death on March 25, 1820 .

Campaign against France in 1815

During the campaign, the regiment was subordinate to the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Army Division. Apart from marches, it did nothing.

After the campaign, the regiment was disarmed to two active and one reserve battalion. On November 27, 1815, the 1st and 2nd battalions of the Mobile Legion Aschaffenburg as IV and V battalion, in May 1816 250 Darmstadt soldiers from various Hessian offices for the III. Battalion included. On June 26, 1817, the III. Reserve Battalion and the IV./V. to III. and IV. (Frame) Battalion reclassified. On June 1, 1822, the frame battalions were disbanded. The 1st battalion was stationed in Aschaffenburg, the 2nd battalion in Germersheim . On October 28, 1835, the regiment was renamed the "Weinrich" infantry regiment after its first owner, Lieutenant General Georg von Weinrich . From December 12, 1836 the infantry regiment “vacant Weinrich” became the owner of the regiment on August 29, 1837, Lieutenant General Max Freiherr von Zandt, which was also renamed the “Zandt” infantry regiment . The III. Battalion was re-established on April 21, 1848. From August 26, 1848 it was called the 14th Infantry Regiment "Zandt" . In May 1849 parts of the regiment were deployed during the unrest in the Palatinate. From there, the regiment was transferred to Nuremberg in battalions in 1851. In the 50s of the 19th century further regiments took place within the regiment. On May 12, 1863, the 5th, 10th and 15th Fusilier Companies were converted into rifle companies.

War against Prussia 1866

On May 16, 1866, the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 6th Brigade / 3rd Division were placed under the command of the III. The battalion was posted to the court on the Upper Franconian border for guard duties. The battalions came up with two rifle and four fusilier companies of 144 men each. In July 1866, the 4th battalion was set up for security on the border with Bohemia , which was disbanded on August 31, 1866. The reserve battalion was the garrison of the Ingolstadt fortress until August 23, 1866 and was disbanded on September 1, 1866. In the battle near Dermbach on July 3, 1866, the 1st Rifle Company had to accept eight fallen and thirty wounded. At Zella (July 4th) the 2nd Battalion was involved and lost 21 men. On July 10, 1866, the 1st Battalion, together with some companies of the 6th Infantry Regiment, held Offenthaler Berg (near Hammelburg) against thirteen Prussian battalions for over four hours. On July 24th the III. Battalion handed over to the reserve brigade, the 1st and 2nd battalions fought the next day near Helmstadt . The two battalions had fifteen dead and 39 wounded. The III. The battalion was deployed on July 26, 1866 and lost one officer, one sergeant and two men. All in all, the regiment had to accept only two officers and thirty men killed during the entire German War .

After the war the regiment was quartered in Nuremberg as a closed unit. On March 18, 1867, the regiment was called the 14th Infantry Regiment "vacant Zandt" , which was transferred to Lieutenant General Jakob Ritter von Hartmann on April 28, 1867 as the owner. It was also renamed the 14th Infantry Regiment "Hartmann" . On May 10, 1868, the rifle companies were dissolved.

Franco-German War 1870/71

The regiment was 56 officers, about 2,400 men and 62 horses. The regiment was not used as a closed unit. After the mobilization on July 16, 1870, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 6th Brigade / 3rd Battalion were on July 28th. Division as well as the III. Battalion of the 8th Brigade / 4th Division . The III. The regiment's battalion had its baptism of fire on August 4, 1870 at the Battle of Weissenburg , in which ten men were killed, 45 men wounded and two men went missing. Two days later at Wörth , the battalion had fifteen dead, 35 wounded and two missing. During the Battle of Sedan on September 1, 1870, the 1st and 2nd Battalions had been in action for the whole day and had to cope with a number of critical situations. The two associations had to accept eight officers and 78 men killed, ten officers and 165 men wounded and 23 men missing. The III. Battalion was involved in the occupation of Bellevue Palace near Fresnois. The 11th company had the honor of being an honorary company with the regiment's flag at the meeting of King Wilhelm I of Prussia and Emperor Napoleon III. to march. In the battle near Sceaux on September 19, 1870, the 1st and 2nd battalions fought successfully with comparatively low losses, with the 2nd battalion taking the so-called Bayernschanze by storm. The III. Battalion was in readiness as regimental reserve at Chatenay. In the battle of Châtillon on October 13, 1870, the regiment had fourteen dead and 39 wounded. On March 1, 1871, the regiment marched into Paris . On June 26, 1871, the regiment began its relocation and reached Nuremberg on July 2, 1871.

The regiment's total losses amounted to

  • 12 officers and 123 men killed in action,
  • 17 officers and 268 men wounded and
  • 27 missing men.

95 men died of illness.

The regiment owner, Lieutenant General Ritter von Hartmann, died on February 23, 1873, which led to the regiment being renamed the 14th Infantry Regiment "vacant Hartmann" . On June 5, 1874, Lieutenant General Karl Theodor Herzog was appointed the last owner of the regiment in Bavaria . On June 13, 1879, Theodor Ritter von Angstwurm was appointed commander of the regiment and in 1883 as leader of the 7th Infantry Brigade à la suite of the regiment. At the same time the regiment was renamed the 14th Infantry Regiment "Duke Karl Theodor" . On March 31, 1881, the 7th Company was transferred to the 18th Infantry Regiment , and on October 1, 1890, the 3rd to the 19th Infantry Regiment . On March 2, 1893, the IV. Half Battalion was set up with the 13th and 14th companies, which were transferred on April 1, 1897 to the establishment of the 21st Infantry Regiment . From September 1893 to April 1896 the 1st Battalion was relocated to Fürth again. On July 28, 1895, Prince Regent Luitpold decreed that the regiment would forever bear the name Hartmann and be called the 14th Infantry Regiment "Hartmann" . In 1900, six non-commissioned officers and 47 men volunteered for the 4th East Asian Infantry Regiment for the expeditionary force to China on the occasion of the Boxer Rebellion . On October 1, 1908, the 1st Machine Gun Company was set up. The centenary of the regiment on July 11, 1914 was the outstanding event for the garrison city of Nuremberg before the beginning of the First World War, in which the city's population actively participated.

First World War

1914

The regiment entered Lorraine with a combat strength of 70 officers and 3,000 men (as of August 2, 1914) under the command of Colonel Ludwig Hierthes, who took over the regiment on October 5, 1913 . It was the 9th Infantry Brigade , hereinafter the 5th Infantry Division and the III. Army Corps subordinated to the 6th Army . The fighting in front of Nancy - Épinal from August 25 to September 11, 1914 was marked by extreme hardship. On August 25 alone, the regiment had to defend against the French XX. Army Corps took 36 dead and 217 wounded. In particular, the lack of artillery support made life difficult for the battalions deployed in front. The regiment dug in at Réméréville. On the night of September 4th to 5th, 1914, it suffered heavy losses again. When the regiment was replaced by parts of the reserve corps on September 11, 1914, it had captured over 140 French by then. Despite the replacement of 12 officers and 350 men, it was melted down to 35 officers and 1,264 men, so that the battalions had to be reclassified into two companies each. From September 12 to 18, 1914, the regiment moved to Metz (→ Metz Fortress ), where it was subordinated to the V Army Corps under Infantry General Hermann von Strantz . In the meantime, about 330 replacements arrived, so that the battalions were again divided into four companies (140 to 150 men). The regiment played a major role in the storming of the Apremont earthworks in the Bois Brûlé, which was captured by means of a sappen attack, fifteen officers, 60 non-commissioned officers and 496 men were killed during the fighting. Of the thirteen officers wounded, two died from their injuries. The number of wounded NCOs and men could no longer be determined.

1915

On January 10, 1915, the regiment received one officer, six NCOs and 314 men replacements. On October 5, 1915, Lieutenant Colonel Alois Prenner took over the regiment. In the defensive battle in Champagne from October 8 to November 19, 1915, the regiment, meanwhile again the 9th Infantry Brigade / 5. Subordinated to the Infantry Division, thrown as a reserve of the 5th Division in the section south of Tahure, which is endangered by the sevenfold superior French forces. Initially, after devastating French artillery preparations, it was able to seal off the break-in at the Küchenschlucht, but was also attacked on the flank on October 24th and was quickly decimated. On October 26th, six officers and 712 men were replaced. The enemy was thrown from the lost positions by courageous counter-attacks and the front section remained firmly in the hands of the regiment. Three days later the bulk of the 11th and 12th companies were taken prisoner. The companies of the regiment only had an average strength of about 80 men. By November 19, 1915, it lost twelve officers, 39 non-commissioned officers and 496 men as dead and over 830 men as wounded. Seven officers and 174 men were missing, most of them presumably ended up in French captivity. It even captured over 100 French people. On November 10 and December 30, 1915, the regiment received replacements in 33 officers, ten officer deputies and 1,108 men. At the turn of the year 1915/16 it held the positions in the forest near Apremont and Ailly.

1916

On July 3, 1916, the regiment placed a mixed company for III. Army corps taking part in the parade in front of King Ludwig III. participated. In the battles in Artois from July 18 to August 31, 1916, the English tried, among other things, to throw the regiment with gas (one dead and six wounded). In the autumn of 1916 the 2nd and 3rd machine gun companies and a mine thrower company were set up. At the height of the summer battle from September 1 to 23, 1916, the regiment advanced to the positions east of Longueval - Delville forest. After a 4-day barrage, the English attack took place on September 15, 1916, supported for the first time by armored tanks, and reached a break-in of no more than 4 km. The few survivors of the III. Battalions were simply overrun; the 9th and 11th companies together had 30 survivors. The hotly contested town of Flers had to be abandoned and a new position south of Gueudecourt had to be moved. By September 23, the regiment had fallen dead with 14 officers, 47 NCOs and 453 men and 26 officers and 384 NCOs and men missing. The substitutes in particular had suffered badly.

1917

Then from October 25, 1916 the regiment, which was refreshed with eight officers, 53 NCOs and 1,067 men, was deployed in Flanders near Fromelles under the command of the 16th Infantry Division established at the beginning of 1917 , where it faced an Australian division, which bothered him with particularly resourceful scouting companies. In Artois (Vimy-Höhe), near Arras and on the Lys, the regiment had to continue defensive battles until August 27, 1917, but was not used in the main focus of the fighting, so that the losses were limited. The combat strength on these days is given as 650 men per battalion, each company being equipped with three light machine guns. After the autumn battle in Flanders on September 29, 1917, the badly battered regiment was removed from the front and was able to recover on the Dutch-Belgian border until November 24, 1917. The regiment spent the winter of 1917/18 west of Cambrai preparing for the Battle of Michael .

1918

From March 21st to April 8th, 1918 the regiment fought its way forward, but it was so decimated that by the end of the battle only 70 rifles per company were left. The regiment captured 222 Englishmen and captured eleven Lewis machine guns, but also took 140 dead, 360 wounded and 60 missing. In the meantime deployed between Arras and Albert , the regiment at Kemmelberg took up from May 24 to June 12, 1918, captured 92 Frenchmen and then held the positions north of the Kemmel until July 31, 1918. The 14th company of the regiment (3rd battalion) was named for this in the army report of June 7, 1918. At the time, the regiment was short of 40 officers and 617 NCOs and men. The regimental and battalion news trains were set up. In a final effort, the regiment fought for Bapaume with the last of its reserves (August 22 to September 2, 1918), but there was no longer any significant gain in terrain. The II. And III. The battalion consisted of only two weak companies each. On September 3, 1918, Major Robert Graf von Bothmer was appointed regimental commander. During the defensive battles in Flanders from September 28 to October 4, 1918, the regiment was initially in reserve as part of the 16th Infantry Division. The newly appointed commander fell at the head of his regiment on September 28, 1918. Then Captain Schmitz led the regiment. After the English made deep penetrations into the infantry divisions deployed in front, the regiment caught the enemy onslaught again and again by fighting, whereby it led about 260 Belgians in captivity, the companies were only 30 to 40 men strong, so that the 1st and 2nd company as well as 3rd and 9th companies had to be merged. In and near Beveren the remnants of the regiment were assigned to the intervention division. For this purpose, the 3rd, 6th and 10th companies were divided among the other companies. From October 12 to November 1, 1918, the regiment was deployed first in the Herrmann position, then in the Lys position. The number of dead, missing and wounded in the period mentioned is given as low, but with a combat strength of 14 officers, 111 NCOs and 483 men, these losses are also painful. The regiment took part in the rearguard battles on the Scheldt until November 11, 1918 and then withdrew to the Antwerp-Maas position.

The regiment suffered the following losses during the First World War

  • Dead: 83 officers, one medical officer, 344 NCOs, 2,630 men;
  • Those who died due to illness / accident: two officers, 19 NCOs, 117 men;
  • Missing: four officers, 21 NCOs and 244 men.

24 officers, two medical officers, 126 non-commissioned officers and 937 men were captured.

Whereabouts

After the armistice of Compiègne , the remnants of the regiment marched back to Nuremberg, where demobilization and subsequent dissolution took place from December 14, 1918 . Various free formations were formed from parts . Among other things, on March 1, 1919, the Volkswehr Battalion Brunner with four companies and one MG company. This formation went on July 1, 1919 as 2nd Battalion in the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 48.

The 5th and 8th companies of the 21st (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment in Nuremberg took over the tradition in the Reichswehr .

literature

  • Contribution to the history of the Royal Bavarian 14th Infantry Regiment Zandt from the time of the unrest in the Palatinate in 1849. Hügenell. 1849. Online
  • Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen , Friedrichfranz Feeser : The Bavaria book of the world wars 1914-1918. I. Volume. Chr. Belser AG. Publishing bookstore. Stuttgart 1930.
  • Günter Wegner: Germany's armies until 1918. Volume 10: Bavaria. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1984.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jürgen Kraus: Handbook of the units and troops of the German army 1914-1918. Part VI: Infantry. Volume 1: Infantry Regiments. Publishing house Militaria. Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-902526-14-4 . P. 449.