XIX. (II. Royal Saxon) Army Corps

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The XIX. (II. Royal Saxon) Army Corps was from 1899 to 1919 a large unit and at the same time a territorial command authority of the Saxon Army .

structure

Peace formation on July 13, 1913

Division of war on August 17, 1914

  • 24th Division (2nd Royal Saxon)
  • 40th Division (4th Royal Saxon)
  • II. Division / 1st Royal Saxon Foot Artillery Regiment No. 12
  • Aviation Department No. 24
  • 2nd Royal Saxon Train Battalion No. 19
  • Telephone Department No. 19
  • Headlight pull / 2. Royal Saxon Pioneer Battalion No. 22

history

The corps was established on April 1, 1899 and had its general command in Leipzig . It was subordinated to the Second Army Inspection . The catchment area of ​​the corps in 1901 included the district authorities of Leipzig and Zwickau, and from 1903 the district authorities of Chemnitz , Leipzig and Zwickau .

When the First World War broke out in August 1914, the corps was subordinated to the 3rd Army under General of the Cavalry Maximilian von Laffert . It was used on the Western Front throughout the war . At the beginning of the war , the chief of staff of the corps was Lieutenant Colonel Georg Frotscher , the 24th Division led Lieutenant General Krug von Nidda and the 40th Division was under Lieutenant General Götz von Olenhusen .

By August 20, the 3rd Army, which was crossing neutral Belgium , had reached the Spontin-Ciergnon area east of Dinant . Held up by heavy losses in, north and south of Dinant on August 23, only smaller detachments managed to cross the Meuse . Used on the left wing of the 3rd Army, the XIX. Army Corps launched the attack against Givet and Fumay . The corps reached Romedenne with the 24th division, the 40th division arrived, held up by enemy rear guards, only in the evening east of Fumay on the Meuse. On August 24th, due to a lack of bridge equipment, it was not possible to cross the river; on August 27th, the 40th division was pulled over Revin to the parts of the corps that had already advanced. The XIX. Corps that advanced west of Charleville-Mézières to the south should reach the Aisne near Attigny by August 29th . On August 31, the enemy still held out against the corps on the southern bank, and the river crossing was only possible in the evening. On September 1, the French 17th Corps retreated surprisingly to Vesle without a fight , so that Semide could be reached in the evening.

On the left wing, the VIIIth Corps of 4th Army was advancing towards Somme Py via Vouziers . The XIX. Corps was dispatched to pursue on September 2nd in the direction of St. Hilaire le Grand. The 40th Division encountered renewed resistance at St. Marie a Py-Somme Py. The 24th Division advanced on the right wing of the corps via Leffincourt-Machault to St. Souplet. On September 3, the 24th Division marched on Mourmelon-le-Grand and the 40th Division, breaking little resistance at Cuperly, on to Châlons-sur-Marne . The XII. and XIX. Army Corps only succeeded in the course of September 4th to force the Marne from Tours to Chalons and to take the bridges there.

On September 5th the enemy was in full retreat behind the Aube. The 3rd Army pushed further south, taking Reims with its right wing . The first battle of the Marne began on September 6th, and the 3rd Army was involved in new fighting with two corps in the Vitry-en-Perthois area due to French counter-attacks. Standing on the left wing of the 3rd Army, the Corps in support of the 4th Army intervened in the battle via Coole- Maisons-en-Champagne . After the call for help from the right neighbor (VIII Army Corps), the corps advanced via the march destination Loisy-sur-Marne via Glannes to attack the flank in a south-easterly direction. On September 7th, Colonel General von Hausen ordered the attack to continue southwards, after the 19th century. and XII. Army Corps was already involved in the most violent fighting, the XII. Reserve corps introduced in combat at Fère-Champenoise .

Towards noon on September 9th, the situation of 3rd Army seemed quite stable; the east wing had withstood a superior opponent, the center and the west wing were successful on the Maurienne section. The XIX. Army corps held its previous position. The overall situation brought the 3rd Army the order to withdraw on September 10th, the XIX. Army corps had to withstand longer west of Vitry-le-François until the withdrawal of the center and right wing of the 3rd Army was guaranteed.

Only on September 11th began for the XIX. Corps of retreat; in the morning the troops were withdrawn via the Chaintrix - Vatry - Maisons-en-Champagne line, and by evening the retreat to the north bank of the Marne was completed. During the further retreat across the Vesle, the Saxon XIX. Army Corps first, the XII. Army Corps followed, both were directed to the northwest in support of the beleaguered 2nd Army . The XIX. Army Corps was reassigned to the position at Suippes as a new section and it was again in contact with the 4th Army to the east . After the departure of the XII. Corps to close the gap in the front on the right wing of the 2nd Army to Juvincourt, the XII. Reserve Corps and the XIX. Corps during the Aisne battle until October on the Aubérive - Souain line in western Champagne .

As a result of the race to the sea , the corps was regrouped north. Backed by the XIV. Army Corps , which wrestled with the French north of Lens , the XIX. Corps unloaded at and east of Valenciennes . It was assigned to the northern wing of the 6th Army , was able to occupy Lille until October 12 and marched in the area west of Armentières , where it went into multi-year trench warfare. In mid-October 1914, the VII Corps General Command was pushed in as a new left neighbor in the La Bassée area .

After the loss of Pozières , the XIX. AK relocated to the Somme on August 10, 1916 to replace the Boehn group ( IX. RK ) and was assigned not only the main divisions (24th and 40th ID) but also the 16th division to stop the English at Mouquet Farm. After just two weeks, the general command known as Laffert Group was withdrawn from the major battle and replaced by the Guard Reserve Corps ( Marshal Group ).

Between January 7 and June 13, 1917, the XIX corps command was called Gruppe Wytschaete . On the morning of May 21, 1917, the Battle of Messines was initiated by the British 2nd Army under General Plumer : around 2100 guns bombarded the positions of Gruppe Wytschaete (General Command XIX Army Corps) for 17 days without interruption . On June 7th, after 19 mines had been blown up, the British infantry attack began. The positions of the 40th Division and the 3rd Bavarian Division , which were being relieved, were almost completely destroyed by the explosions . Further mines detonated in the northern adjoining section of the 2nd and 35th Divisions . Around 9,000 soldiers fell or were captured, mostly buried or already cut off from the enemy. The entire German position was taken within three hours, the intervention divisions in reserve ( 7th Division and 1st Guard Reserve Division ) could not be brought forward quickly enough due to the rapidity of the action. The front line fell completely into British hands in heavy fighting until June 14th.

Adolph von Carlowitz

On June 14, 1917, the general command of the 6th Army took over the "Aubers" group, subordinated to the 38th Landwehr Division , the 79th Reserve Division and the 1st Bavarian Reserve Division .

During the German spring offensive , the "Carlowitz" group had to force the Lys crossing at Sailly-Estaires from April 9, 1918 at the Battle of Armentieres and attack Steenvoorde. The Corps were assigned the 35th and 42nd Divisions in the first and the 11th and 81st Reserve Divisions in the second meeting. At noon the divisions of the XIX. Corps and the following General Command 55 everywhere the Lys and the Lawe. The 42nd and 35th Infantry Divisions captured Estaires in urban warfare. After the German withdrawal from Flanders began, the command was withdrawn to Alsace .

From September 26, 1918 until the end of the war, the corps command was regrouped to Duke Albrecht von Württemberg's Army Group and referred to as the Herlingen Group. The commanding Lieutenant General Lucius was assigned the 48th Landwehr Division and the 84th Landwehr Brigade in October 1918 .

Commanding general

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Heinrich Leo von Treitschke March 25, 1899 to April 21, 1904
General of the Infantry Alexander Vitzthum von Eckstädt April 22, 1904 to November 26, 1907
General of the artillery Hans von Kirchbach November 27, 1907 to November 27, 1913
General of the cavalry Maximilian von Laffert November 30, 1913 to July 20, 1917
General of the Infantry Adolph von Carlowitz 0August 8, 1917 to August 8, 1918
Lieutenant General Karl Lucius 0August 9, 1918 to January 22, 1919
Lieutenant General Max Leuthold January 23 to October 2, 1919

The Deputy General Command in Leipzig formed during the mobilization in 1914 led General of the Infantry Georg Hermann von Schweinitz throughout the war .

swell

  • Saxon. State Ministry of the Interior (Ed.): Saxon State Handbooks. 1728 to 1934.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914–1918. Volume I., ES Mittler und Sohn, Kriegsgliederungen, p. 672f.
  2. ^ Hermann Stegemann Volume I., p. 145.
  3. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914–1918. Volume III. ES Mittler and Son, p. 217f.
  4. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914–1918. Volume III, Mittler and Son, pp. 245f.
  5. ^ Reichsarchiv: Volume XII. ES Mittler and Son, Berlin 1939, pp. 453f.
  6. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914–1918. Volume XIII, ES Mittler und Sohn, Appendix 2a
  7. ↑ 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. 85.