Landwehr Corps

The Landwehr Corps was a major unit of the Prussian army in the First World War . The Landwehr Corps was formed at the beginning of the First World War from Silesian and Poznan land defense units and was initially subordinate to Army High Command 8 on the Eastern Front .

structure

Mobilization 1914

• 3rd Landwehr Division

17th Landwehr Brigade

Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 6

Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 7

18th Landwehr Brigade

Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 37

Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 46

17th Replacement Brigade

Brigade Replacement Battalion No. 17

Brigade Replacement Battalion No. 18

Brigade Replacement Battalion No. 19

Brigade Replacement Battalion No. 20

Brigade Replacement Battalion No. 77

Landwehr Cavalry Regiment No. 1

Field artillery regiment consisting of replacement divisions 20 and 41 with two batteries each

• 4th Landwehr Division

22nd Landwehr Brigade

Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 11

Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 51

23rd Landwehr Brigade

Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 22

Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 23

21st Replacement Brigade

Brigade Replacement Battalion No. 21

Brigade Replacement Battalion No. 22

Brigade Replacement Battalion No. 23

Brigade Replacement Battalion No. 24

Brigade Replacement Battalion No. 78

Landwehr Cavalry Regiment No. 2

Replacement cavalry regiment

Field artillery regiment consisting of replacement divisions 6 and 57 with two batteries each

Foot artillery --- missing

Air Force --- a plane from the Poznan Fortress

Pioneers --- 2nd replacement company / Silesian Pioneer Battalion No. 5

2nd Replacement Company / Silesian Pioneer Battalion No. 6

history

First World War

Remus of Woyrsch

At the beginning of the war, General of the Infantry von Woyrsch was appointed commanding general of the corps, Lieutenant Colonel Heye acted as Chief of Staff, and the 3rd and 4th Landwehr Divisions were under Lieutenant General König and Wegerer. The corps had orders to prevent the threatening invasion of Russian units into the coal mining area in Upper Silesia. At the beginning of the war the corps was only equipped with eight machine guns and did not have a single field kitchen . Medical formations were almost completely missing. The field artillery, which was also available in small numbers, was only equipped with the most essential telephone equipment.

On August 15, 1914, the Landwehr Corps set out from the Czestochowa - Kalisch line to the east. On the western bank of the Vistula, the kuk army group Kummer near Sandomierz covered the advance of the kuk 1st army on Lublin . On August 16, General of the Cavalry Kummer von Falkenfeld reached the Nowe Brzesko - Miechów line and established a connection with the Silesian Landwehr Corps, which is now the Przedborz- Piortkow line . On September 3, 1914, the corps crossed the Vistula at Jozefow and briefly transferred to the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army under Dankls . The 4th Landwehr Division fought hard in the southern apron of Lublin near Tarnawka (September 7th to 9th) and covered the retreat of the Austrians via Krasnik to the south. Then it switched back to the western bank of the Vistula at Zawichost and went back to Sandomierz.

During the Battle of the Vistula , the corps, joined by the newly introduced 9th Army , advanced again to the Vistula. The kuk I. Corps under General Karl von Kirchbach had assembled south of Pintschow on the Nida and had advanced on Klimontow until October 4th . Already on October 17th the German leadership recognized that the further attack would have led to defeat, Colonel General Hindenburg ordered the retreat to the Silesian border. The Landwehr Corps fought retreat on the Pilica and Rawka rivers between October 21 and 28 and then set up defense north of Czestochowa. On the right wing, the Guard Reserve Corps ( Gallwitz ) with the Bredow Division and the 1st Guard Reserve Division maintained contact with the Austrians. On December 4, 1914, General von König took over the leadership of the Landwehr Corps, as General von Woyrsch had taken over the army department named after him from the beginning of November .

In the spring of 1915 the corps advanced across the border to Lososina and Czarna, then to Iłżanka . On July 17, 1915, the troops took part in the battle of Sienno, which led to the breakthrough at Ivangorod and the enforcement of the Vistula crossing at Maciejowice . After securing the bridgehead and defending against various counter-attacks, the corps advanced via Bialowies , the Serwetsch to the Tschara . There the corps went into positional warfare on both sides of Baranowitschi in September 1915 . During the Russian Brusilov offensive , the Landwehr Corps was able to successfully maintain its section of the front against the Russian attempts to break through. As early as June 13, 1916, the 4th Landwehr Division under Lieutenant General von Brietzke successfully repulsed attacks by the Grenadier Corps of the Russian 4th Army near Stolowitschi. The Battle of Baranowitschi began on July 2nd and the main Russian thrust hit the positions of the 3rd Landwehr Division in the Darowo-Labusy section. On July 3, the northern kuk XII. Corps (General of the Infantry von Henriquez ) violently attacked at Gorodishche, the positions between the Vygoda and Skrbowa were lost. The counterattack of the 5th Reserve Division mastered the critical situation on July 4th. On July 5th, after regaining the lost Darowo Höhe, the situation of the Landwehr Corps could be regarded as restored. On July 7th, the 4th Landwehr Division attacked near Krashin-Odochowschina rejected the opposing breakthrough attempts. Between July 25 and 29, 1916, General Ragosa renewed his attacks, which the 3rd Landwehr Division were again able to repel.

On January 29, 1918, the general command of the XXXX. Reserve Corps took the lead in the Slonim section . By the peace of Brest-Litovsk , the mobilization provision was canceled on March 5, 1918, the corps was used to secure occupied territory in Ukraine. After the end of the war, the reduced Landwehr Association remained in Lithuania and Belarus until the beginning of March 1919 and then returned home. The demobilization and eventual dissolution took place there by August 1919 .

Battle calendar

1914

• August 24th --- Battle at Nowe Miasto
• August 27th --- Battle at Gielniow
• September 1st --- Battle near Kazanov
• September 4th --- Battle with Lipsko and Lipa Niklas
• 5th to 7th September --- Battles near Jozesow, Pawlowska, Wola and Godów
• September 7th to 9th --- Battle of Tarnawka
• September 6th to 12th --- Retreat battles over Zawichost on Sandomierz
  • September 10th --- Battle of retreat near Kzienzomierz
  • September 11th to 12th --- Retreat battles near Janow
• September 17th to 18th --- Retreat battles at Wola Raniszowska
• October 4th to 5th --- Battle of Opatów
• October 9-20 --- Battle of Ivangorod
  • October 10th to 11th --- Battle at Kazimierz and Nowa Alexandija
• October 21-28 --- Fights on the Rawka
• October 29th --- Battle near Tomaszów
• November 4th to December 15th --- Fights near Czestochowa
• December 17th --- Skirmishes at Dankow Duzy, Koniecpol and Lelow
• December 18 --- Skirmishes near Krasocin and Malogoszcz
• from December 19th --- Fights on the Lososina and Czarna

1915

• to May 12th --- Fights on the Lososina and Czarna
• May 12th --- Battle near Kielce
• May 13th --- Skirmishes at Kajetanow, Tumlin and Kuzniaki
• May 14th --- Battle at Suchedniow
• May 14th to July 16th --- Fights in the Kielcer Bergland
• July 17th --- Breakthrough battle near Sienno
• July 18th to 19th --- Fights on the Ilzanka
• July 20-21 --- Breakthrough of the presentation of Ivangorod east of Zwolen
• July 22nd to 28th --- Reconnaissance battles on the Vistula
• July 29th --- Vistula crossing
• July 30th to August 7th --- Fighting on the east bank of the Vistula for Matzjejowicze
• August 8th to 18th --- Pursuit battles between the Vistula and the Bug
• August 19 to 24 --- Battle of Pulwa and Nurzec
• August 25th to 31st --- Persecution battles on the Bialowieska-Puszcza
• September 1st to 12th --- Fights on the Jasiolda and the Zelwianka
• September 13th to 18th --- Battle of Slonim
• September 19 to 24 --- Fighting on the upper Shchara-Servetsch
• from September 25th --- position battles on the upper Shchara-Serwetsch

1916

Army detachment Woyrsch in mid-June 1916

• Trench warfare on the upper Shchara-Servetsch

1917

• until December 12th --- Trench warfare on the upper Shchara-Serwetsch
• December 12th to 17th --- Truce
• from December 17th --- armistice

1918

• until February 18th --- Armistice
• February 19 to March 3 --- Fighting in support of Ukraine
• March 4th to December 3rd --- occupation of Great Russian Territory
• from December 4th --- Occupation and security service in Lithuania and Belarus

1919

• until March 11th --- Occupation and security service in Lithuania and Belarus

Commanding general

Rank	Surname	date
General of the Infantry	Remus of Woyrsch	0August 1 to December 3, 1914
Lieutenant General / General of the Cavalry	Götz von König	0December 4, 1914 to September 22, 1916 (entrusted with the management)
General of the Infantry	Günther von Kirchbach	September 23, 1916 to April 21, 1917
Lieutenant General / General of the Infantry zD	Arthur von Brietzke	April 24, 1917 to March 12, 1919

literature

• Wilhelm Heye : The History of the Landwehr Corps in the World War 1914–1918. Volumes 1 & 2, Wilhelm Gottlieb Korn Verlag, Breslau 1935/37.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Reichsarchiv (Ed.): The World War 1914 to 1918. Volume 1: The border battles. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1925, p. 363.
2. ^ Reichsarchiv (Ed.): The World War 1914 to 1918. Volume 2: The liberation of East Prussia. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1925, p. 332.
3. ^ Reichsarchiv (Ed.): Volume 9: The fights at Baranowitschi. Gerhard Stalling Verlag, Berlin 1924, p. 39f.
4. ↑ Dermot Bradley (ed.), Günter Wegner: Occupation of the German Army 1815-1939. Volume 1: The higher command posts 1815–1939. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1990. ISBN 3-7648-1780-1 . P. 644.