Cavalry Rifle Division
Cavalry Protect -Division described in the First World War, a federation of dismounted cavalry - regiments .
Development of the cavalry during the war
The cavalry was divided when the war began in the so-called Army Cavalry , pure cavalry major units, and the Division Cavalry that the infantry - divisions was subordinated to tactical reconnaissance. The great losses of horses, especially the artillery and the train, in the course of the war could no longer be compensated for by remonts from the country, confiscations in the occupied territories or purchases from abroad. In addition, in was trench warfare , the cavalry can not be used.
In autumn 1916, the cavalry was therefore restructured. Due to the new structure, the target number of horses in the regiments of the army cavalry was reduced from 769 to 675 and the resulting surplus horses were given to the artillery and supplies. In addition, the 3rd Cavalry Division was disbanded, the 4th , 5th and 9th Cavalry Divisions had to surrender their horses entirely and their regiments were "unridden". In 1917 the 8th Cavalry Division also lost its horses, between February and April 1918 the 5th, 8th and 9th Cavalry Divisions were disbanded and the 6th, 7th and Guard Cavalry Divisions were transferred to cavalry rifle Divisions converted.
The Division Cavalry in 1916 eskadronsweise the newly structured infantry divisions assumed the rods of these regiments in bars of infantry - or hunters converted -Regimentern or Pferdeinspizienten in the Army High Command used.
Cavalry Rifle Division
The terms "unridden cavalry regiment" and " cavalry rifle regiment " contain the same thing.
A cavalry rifle division was divided into
- Division staff
- Division troops
- a mounted squadron
- an engineer battalion
- a news department
- three cavalry rifle commands (each formed from three old cavalry regiments)
- with four cavalry rifle squadrons (six light MG MG 08/15 ) and one machine gun squadron (six heavy MG 08 and four light mortars caliber 75.8 mm ). The combat strength of a cavalry rifle regiment was roughly equivalent to that of an infantry battalion .
- a field artillery regiment with three divisions
Compared to the infantry divisions, even in the last year of the war they still had a high proportion of officers , NCOs and men trained in peace and were therefore regarded as elite associations.
Due to the large losses, 19 unridden or cavalry rifle regiments were disbanded in 1918; at the end of the war there were still 27 and 5 un ridden or cavalry rifle regiments set up during the war.
swell
- Main State Archive Stuttgart , holdings M 412 vol. 68
literature
- Edgar Graf von Matuschka: Organization history of the army 1890 to 1918 in: Military History Research Office (Hrsg.) German military history in six volumes 1648–1939 , Volume 3, Munich 1983, pp. 157–311, ISBN 3-88199-112-3
- Alfred Satter: The German Cavalry in World War I , Books on Demand, 2004 ISBN 3-8334-1564-9 [1]
References and comments
- ↑ 11 cavalry divisions, each with three brigades, each with two regiments
- ↑ There was now a shortage of horses there
- ↑ Quoted from Sattler, footnote 208, page 65: "The term" unridden "comes from the time when the cavalry had removed their horses, but had not yet given up hope of" getting back on "."