XI. Army Corps (German Empire)

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The XI. Army Corps was a major unit of the Prussian Army from 1866 to 1919.

structure

With the last state of peace in 1914, the corps were:

history

The large association was established after the German War on October 11, 1866 and had its general command in Kassel . Its administrative area essentially comprised the newly founded Prussian province of Hessen-Nassau and the Thuringian principalities . The Grand Duke Hessian contingent joined the newly established corps.

Franco-German War

Lieutenant General Julius von Bose

In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 the corps (21st and 22nd divisions) were subordinate to the 3rd Army , which was mainly composed of southern German troops, under the command of the Crown Prince of Prussia . From July 18, 1870, Lieutenant General von Bose was the commanding general of the corps, which met in Germersheim until July 27 . Colonel Oskar Stein von Kaminski acted as chief of the general staff . On August 4, 1870, the corps crossed the Bienwald , while to the north the right neighbor, the V Army Corps (Lieutenant General Hugo von Kirchbach ) tried to penetrate the fortifications of the Weißenburg lines near Altenstadt. The same day the Weissenburg meeting followed , where Bose's approach through the coppice against the right flank of the French Corps Douay brought the decision.

On August 5th the corps marched further on Sulz, followed by the Werder corps (Badener and Württemberger) on Aschbach. The V Army Corps reached Preuschdorf late because the XI. Army Corps proceeded on the same road in the direction of Wörth . On August 6, the Bavarian II Army Corps (General of the Infantry Hartmann ) met the enemy near Langensulzbach and initiated the battle at Wörth . The XI. Army Corps intervened with the 41st Brigade (Colonel Hermann von Koblinski ) near the village of Gunstett on the left wing of the 5th Army Corps, which was already fighting with the French. The 22nd division under the command of Lieutenant General von Gersdorff was assigned to encircle the right wing of the enemy over Morsbronn . The 42nd Infantry Brigade (Major General von Thiele ) of the 21st Division (Lieutenant General von Schachtmeyer ) crossed the Sauer near Spachbach, the 43rd Infantry Brigade (Colonel Hermann von Kontzki ) crossed it at Bruchmühle near Gunstett. The 44th Infantry Brigade (Major General von Schkopp ) stormed the village of Morsbrunn. The whole edge of the coppice gradually fell into the hands of the XI. Army Corps. General von Bose had the entire artillery drawn up on the left bank of the Sauer to support the attack of the V Army Corps on Fröschweiler . During the attack on Elsaßhausen, the commander of the 88th Infantry Regiment , Colonel Köhn von Jaski, fell. General von Bose was seriously wounded for the second time, his chief of staff lost a horse, and Major General von Schkopp took over command of the army corps in battle. Only when the double encirclement became apparent did the French marshal Mac-Mahon order the retreat via Niederbronn on Zabern, which was followed by the following XI. Army Corps, after a granted day of rest, was only reached on August 8th. A serious wound forced Bose to return to Hanover. After the contact with the enemy was lost, the 4th Cavalry Division under Prince Albrecht of Prussia took over the reconnaissance up to the Saar . The XI. Army corps, which was now commanded by General von Gersdorff, reached the Pfalzburg fortress on August 12th, but could not reach its delivery and was required for the march by the advancing VI. Army corps vacated. The next step took place via Nancy to the Maas, the corps reached Gondrecourt on August 21 with the Württemberg division.

General Hermann von Gersdorff

On August 25th, Gersdorff's troops stood south of Vitry on the Marne and had to follow the V Army Corps to turn right to the north in the direction of Sainte-Menehould . The aim of the German 3rd Army was to push the French Mac-Mahon Army to the Belgian border. On August 31, the XI. Army Corps occupied Donchery on the Meuse and controlled the right bank of the Meuse and the railway line to Mezieres. Together with the V Army Corps (Kirchbach), a general breakthrough of the French to the west was to be prevented, while the guard and the Bavarian corps, including the Maas Army, were to hold the enemy in the east. On September 1st, the XI. and V. Army Corps from the west along the Meuse to the north intervene comprehensively in the battle of Sedan . The attack took place against St. Menges and Fleigneux, the security of the Meuse after Mezieres was left to the Württemberg field division under General von Obernitz . Lieutenant General von Gersdorff was fatally wounded during the battle for the village of Floing. While the 3rd Army immediately moved to Paris after the French surrender at Sedan, the XI. Army Corps and the Bavarian I. Army Corps carried away the prisoners and did not follow until the end of September. The XI. Under the deputy commander of Schachtmeyer, the Army Corps took up position between Meudon and Sèvres with the 21st Division and strengthened the ring of enclosure around besieged Paris . The 22nd Division under General von Wittich and the Bavarian Corps were branched off to the lower Loire as security .

At the military training area in the north of the small town of Ohrdruf in Thuringia , the maneuvers were held annually with around 8,000 soldiers. During the First World War, the camp was used to house 20,000 prisoners of war.

First World War

Until the beginning of the First World War , the XI. Army Corps of the VI. Army inspection subordinated. After the mobilization it came under the command of the 3rd Army in the west under the commanding General von Plüskow . After the end of the siege of Namur , the corps with the 22nd (Lieutenant General Dieffenbach ) and 38th Divisions (Lieutenant General Ernst Wagner) were transferred to the Eastern Front. The corps proved its worth in September 1914 in the 8th Army in the battle of the Masurian Lakes and attacked the Korschen-Nordenburg line. This was followed by the campaign in southern Poland until the end of October , with the corps of the 9th Army deploying on the Silesian border and the Guard Reserve Corps maintaining contact with the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army operating on Sandomir. After the capture of Opatow on October 4th, the corps advanced on Ivangorod and further north to the Vistula . After the Russian counter-offensive, it was necessary to retreat to the Silesian border, and the corps was transported to Thorn for a new attack by the 9th Army. After the battle for Łódź , which took place at the end of November 1914 , the important industrial city together with the XVII. Army Corps, despite heavy losses, was finally captured on December 6th while wrestling with the Russian 2nd Army.

General Viktor Kuehne

In January 1915 the corps pushed its front to Rawa and held together with the XX. Army Corps the Rawka . Until the beginning of July 1915, the corps was engaged in positional battles on the Bzura , then moved further north and took part in the Narew offensive with the Gallwitz Army Group between July 13 and 15, 1915 with the 38th and 86th Divisions . The 50th Reserve Division , brought in via Mława , was ready to follow up as reinforcement . The small town of Grudusk was taken on July 13th. In the further course of this offensive, the corps advanced to the Narew and captured Pułtusk on July 24 , before the corps command returned to the western front at the end of 1915. During the war in 1916, the corps was standing at the right wing of the 7th Army between Chauny -Nampcel in trench warfare .

On March 13, 1917 Lieutenant General Kühne became the commanding general of the corps that had been withdrawn from the area northwest of Soissons during the Alberich Movement . The corps gave up the line between Carlepont - Autrêches - Nouvron, also cleared Coucy and moved the new line between St. Gobain - Brancourt - Vauxaillon - Laffaux corner to Conde. At the end of March, the 211th and 222nd Divisions and the 25th Landwehr Division were subordinate to the corps . Between April 10 and August 9, 1917, the corps was referred to as the “Vailly” group and proved its worth in the second battle of the Aisne . Between September 2 and November 1, 1917, the corps was referred to as the “Ornes” group after its new location after its transfer to the “Gallwitz” Army Group in the Verdun area . Between November 21, 1917 and January 6, 1918, the corps command was referred to as the "Maas Group East".

During the German spring offensive , the corps formed the left wing of the 17th Army in the area west of Cambrai and had the 119th Division , the 24th Reserve Division and the 53rd Reserve Division under their command.

During the Battle of Amiens on August 8, 1918, the Black Day of the German Army , the Corps and General Command 51 were in the main field of attack of the British 4th Army. The breakthrough of the Australians in the 13th and 41st divisions on both sides of Villers-Bretonneux initiated the German retreat on the Somme . At the end of August 1918, the XI. Corps lost the city of Péronne .

Commanding general

The general command as the command authority of the corps was under the leadership of the commanding general .

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Heinrich von Plonski October 30, 1866 to July 17, 1870
General of the Infantry Julius of Bose July 18 to August 6, 1870
General of the Infantry Heinrich von Plonski 0August 7, 1870 to January 7, 1871
General of the Infantry Julius of Bose 0January 8, 1871 to April 5, 1880
General of the cavalry Ludwig von Schlotheim 0April 6, 1880 to March 21, 1889
General of the Infantry Wilhelm von Grolman March 22, 1889 to August 10, 1892
General of the Infantry Adolf von Wittich August 11, 1892 to April 23, 1904
Lieutenant General / General of the Infantry Wilhelm von Linde April 24, 1904 to September 23, 1906
General of the cavalry Albrecht of Württemberg September 24, 1906 to February 24, 1908
General of the Infantry Reinhard von Scheffer-Boyadel February 25, 1908 to December 31, 1913
Lieutenant General Otto von Plüskow 0January 1 to February 16, 1914 (in charge of the tour)
Lieutenant General / General of the Infantry Otto von Plüskow February 17, 1914 to March 12, 1917
Lieutenant General Viktor Kuehne March 13 to August 26, 1917
General of the Infantry Franz von Soden August 27 to November 16, 1917 (in charge of the tour)
General of the Infantry Viktor Kuehne November 17, 1917 to September 30, 1919

Flags / flag decorations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prussian War Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1914, p. 88ff.
  2. ^ Alfred Cramer : History of the Infantry Regiment Prince Friedrich of the Netherlands (2nd Westphalian) No. 15. Verlag R. Eisenschmid, publishing bookshop for military science, Berlin 1910.
  3. ^ Justus Scheibert : The war between France and Germany. after the Great General Staff Works. W. Paulis successor, Berlin 1895, p. 11.
  4. ^ Justus Scheibert: The war between France and Germany. after the Great General Staff Works. W. Paulis successor, Berlin 1895, p. 20.
  5. ^ Justus Scheibert: The war between France and Germany. after the Great General Staff Works. W. Paulis successor, Berlin 1895, p. 28.
  6. ^ Justus Scheibert: The war between France and Germany. after the Great General Staff Works. W. Paulis successor, Berlin 1895, p. 34.
  7. ^ Justus Scheibert: The war between France and Germany. after the Great General Staff Works. W. Paulis successor, Berlin 1895, p. 52.
  8. ^ Justus Scheibert: The war between France and Germany. after the Great General Staff Works. W. Paulis successor, Berlin 1895, p. 133.
  9. ↑ Reichsarchiv (ed.): The World War 1914–1918. Volume VI. ES Mittler & Sohn, Supplements No. 16, 17.
  10. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914 to 1918. Volume XII, Supplement 16: Situation map on April 16, 1917.
  11. ↑ Dermot Bradley (ed.), Günter Wegner: Occupation of the German Army 1815-1939. Volume 1: The higher command posts 1815–1939. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1780-1 , p. 69.