XII. (I. Royal Saxon) Army Corps

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The XII. (I. Royal Saxon) Army Corps was from 1867 a major Saxon unit and a territorial command authority of the Army of the North German Confederation and the Army of the German Empire . The general command was in Dresden .

structure

Peace structure 1914

history

In the new constitution of the North German Confederation of April 17, 1867, a reorganization of the German armed forces was decided. The Saxon army was called XII. Army corps integrated into the new federal army under the command of the Prussian king. The supreme command of all Saxon troops remained with the Saxon king. Until the XIX. (II. Royal Saxon) Army Corps In 1899 the XII. Remained the only Saxon corps. Then the corps district was reduced to the eastern part of the Kingdom of Saxony .

Franco-German War

Crown Prince George of Saxony

At the beginning of the war, the XII. Corps and the IX. Army Corps in the Mainz area as a reserve, but both were added to the 2nd Army operating in Lorraine under Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia . Commanding General of the XII. Corps remained until August 19, 1870 Crown Prince Albert , subordinated to the 23rd Division under Prince Georg and the 24th Division under Major General Nehrhoff von Holderberg .

On August 11, 1870, the Corps crossed near Pont-à-Mousson , the Mosel and reached to 17 August the battlefield of Mars-la-Tour . The Saxon corps experienced the baptism of fire on August 18th in the battle of Gravelotte . After the attack of the Prussian Guard Corps on St. Privat had stalled, the Saxons supported the attack on the artillery and infantry positions in the village. After the encirclement from the north and heavy fighting, the village of St. Privat was taken by assault. The losses were devastating, 106 officers and 2,100 NCOs and men died or were wounded. During the subsequent siege of Metz , the Meuse Army was set up, this was made up of the Prussian Guard Corps, the IV. And the Saxon XII. Corps, as well as the 5th and 6th Cavalry Divisions. The Maas Army had the task of preventing the advance of the French Marshal Mac-Mahon's army on Metz . Prince Albert of Saxony received the supreme command, and the Saxon corps was then taken over by his brother, Prince Georg. On August 29, the 24th Division encountered parts of the French 5th Corps in the battle near Nouart, which however withdrew. On August 30, the Meuse Army succeeded in pushing the French across the Meuse in the Battle of Beaumont .

King Albert of Saxony on a photograph by Nicola Perscheid

On September 1, 1870, the corps was involved in the decisive battle at Sedan , with Prince Georg sending his avant-garde , the 24th division and his entire corps artillery, already fighting for the village of La Moncelle, to the Bavarians who were fighting at Bazeilles . On both sides of the road to Lamecourt, 12 German batteries were soon engaged in fire fighting. The main French army under Emperor Napoleon III. was defeated and forced to surrender. The way to the French capital was now clear, and on September 19th the siege of Paris began . The Saxon Corps was assigned a section about 10 kilometers wide in the east of Paris, from the Canal de l'Ourcq to the Marne . The forts of Nogent, Rosny, Noisy and Romainville were seven to eight kilometers from the front line. Everything remained calm on this front line until mid-November, until increased troop movements indicated an attempt by the French to break out. Mont Avron, which was also in this section of the front, was occupied by the French on November 29th and fortified with 80 heavy artillery pieces. On November 30, 1870, the French under General Ducrot succeeded in the first battle at Villiers , with heavy losses, to reach the left bank of the Marne and to establish themselves in front of Champigny. Two days later the French corps was stopped by the 23rd Division at Brie and Villiers-sur-Marne and defeated by the Saxon troops despite multiple superior numbers. Two companies of Saxon fortress artillery were also involved in the bombardment of Mont Avron from December 27th. The bombardment of the fortress of Paris, which was now beginning, broke the remaining resistance, and on January 28 an armistice was declared . On July 11th, 1871, the Saxon corps entered Dresden for a victory parade . The only thing missing was the 24th Division, which had remained in France as part of the occupation army.

The corps was subordinate to the Second Army Inspection in peacetime , at the beginning of the First World War it was subordinated to the 3rd Army .

First World War

Karl Ludwig d'Elsa

The Saxon XII. At the beginning of the war in August 1914, the Corps under the commanding general of the Infantry d'Elsa was subordinate to the 3rd Army under Colonel General Max von Hausen , while Lieutenant Colonel von Eulitz was Chief of Staff . The 32nd Division under Lieutenant General von der Planitz and the 23rd Division under Lieutenant General von Lindeman were subordinated .

Deployed in the center of the 3rd Army, the corps entered neutral Belgium and met the French 1st Corps under General Franchet d'Esperey on the advance to the Meuse in the Dinant area . On August 29, 1914, the 23rd Division succeeded in occupying Rethel .

At noon on September 3, the XII. Corps without a fight the line Prosnes-Baconnes, which took place between the Suippes and Aubérive , the further advance to the south aimed at Châlons-sur-Marne . While the XII. Reserve Corps occupied the eastern apron of Reims with the 23rd Reserve Division on September 4th, the XII. Corps with the 32nd Division advanced east of it over the Vesle to the Marne near Tours. During the Battle of the Marne , the corps stood together with XIX. Corps ( Maximilian von Laffert ) west of Vitry-le-François in combat with the French 21st and 17th Corps. The XII. Army Corps was initially assigned to the Fort St. Hilaire – Butte d'Infant line after the general withdrawal of the German right wing. On September 14, during the Battle of the Aisne , the corps was regrouped to the right wing of the 2nd Army in Berry-au-Bac and placed under the newly introduced 7th Army . Together with the right neighbor, the XV from Lorraine . Army Corps (Deimling), attempts to break through by the French 18th Corps in the Craonne area ( Chemin des Dames ) were sealed off.

Between October 18 and November 4, 1916, the XII. Corps under the name “Hardaumont” group in the “Maasgruppe Ost” (General of the Infantry von Lochow ) in the Verdun area . During the French counterattack on October 24th, the front of the subordinate 9th and 54th Divisions and the 33rd Reserve Division collapsed completely. The village of Fleury, the Thiaumont and Douaumont tank works and the Chapitre forest were lost. From November 5, 1916 to October 2, 1918, the General Command employed by the 3rd Army in Champagne was referred to as the “Py” group after the main town of Py (Suippe) . At the end of the war, the corps was in the "Sierentz" group of Army Division B in Alsace and was subordinate to the 25th and 44th Landwehr Divisions .

Commanding general

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Albert of Saxony February 23, 1867 to August 18, 1870
General of the Infantry George of Saxony August 19, 1870 to March 21, 1900
General of the Infantry Max von Hausen March 22, 1900 to August 25, 1902
General of the Infantry Friedrich August of Saxony August 26, 1902 to October 17, 1904
General of the cavalry Hermann von Broizem October 18, 1904 to September 25, 1910
General of the Infantry Karl Ludwig d'Elsa September 26, 1910 to April 16, 1916
General of the Infantry Horst Edler from the Planitz April 17, 1916 to September 7, 1917
General of the cavalry Hans Krug from Nidda 0September 8, 1917 to July 10, 1919

The Deputy General Command formed in Dresden during the mobilization in 1914 led General of the Cavalry Hermann von Broizem until March 1918 , then General of the Infantry Leo Götz von Olenhusen .

Web links

Wikisource: From the Battle of Sedan , in: Die Gartenlaube , Heft 41, pp. 687–688.  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ von Bucher: Service instruction of the Royal Saxon Infantryman. Dresden 1915, p. 105 ff.
  2. ↑ Justus Scheibert : War between Germany and France, W. Paulis successor, Berlin 1895, p. 79
  3. ↑ Justus Scheibert: War between Germany and France, W. Paulis successor, Berlin 1895, p. 126
  4. ↑ Justus Scheibert: War between Germany and France, W. Paulis Successor, Berlin 1895, p. 204
  5. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914–1918. Band IES Middle & Son. Berlin 1925, p. 672
  6. ^ 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. 71.