XV. Army Corps (German Empire)

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The XV. Army Corps was a large unit of the Prussian Army from 1871 to 1919.

structure

Peace structure 1914

history

The XV. Corps was formed after the establishment of the Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine on March 20, 1871 from contributions from other large units of the Prussian Army. The corps district initially comprised the entire realm of Alsace-Lorraine, until 1890 in Lorraine through the levies of the corps, which had since grown beyond normal strength, the XVI. Army Corps was formed.

The headquarters of the General Command was Strasbourg until November 1918 . The corps was subordinate to the 5th Army Inspection in Karlsruhe .

First World War

Berthold von Deimling

After the beginning of the First World War , the XV. Army Corps subordinated to the 7th Army under Colonel General von Heeringen in Alsace in August 1914 . The 30th Division under Lieutenant General von Eben and the 39th Division under Lieutenant General von Watter were assigned to the corps that marched in the Zabern- Schirmeck area and departed for Colmar . Together with the XIV Army Corps advancing to the south under General von Hoiningen , the northern Vosges were covered against French attacks. The French 7th Corps under General Bonneau crossed the border and occupied Mulhouse on August 8th . Colonel General von Heeringen commissioned the XIV. And XV. Army corps with the immediate counterattack. Mulhouse was retaken by the XIV. Corps, the XV. Corps led a thrust into the flank of the French troops, which were already returning to Thann . In mid-August, the Commander-in-Chief of the German left wing of the Army, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria , urged the 6th Army, which was subordinate to him, to counterattack on the Saar line. The attack by the 7th Army extended the attack south on August 20 - between Saarburg and Lützelhausen . The XIV. Corps fought victoriously on the left wing via Blamont to Baccarat , on the right the XV. Corps Badonviller .

After the retreat from the Marne, the XV. Corps as vanguard of the 7th Army transported to the new front on the Aisne. Colonel-General von Heeringen feared that the enemy would break through between the XV. Corps and the VII Reserve Corps . The German counterattack took place after the arrival of the 39th Division, Corbeny was recaptured on September 14th, including the Craonne plateau. The 30th Division, transported later, went into action without the following artillery and stormed the village of Craonne on September 16. The capture of Hurtebise succeeded on September 21, the 30th division had 3000 men in losses.

After the fighting froze to trench warfare on the Aisne , the Chief of Staff Falkenhayn ordered the withdrawal of the XV. Army Corps to Flanders . Deimling's corps was transferred to the 6th Army in the second phase of the Battle of Flanders , and in the newly formed “Fabeck” group it took over the northern flank protection of the Bavarian II Army Corps , which was set up on Wytschaete . On November 3rd, the XV. Corps Veldhoek and on November 4th Deimling had the famous medieval cloth halls of Ypres under artillery fire against the express instructions of the Commander-in-Chief of the 6th Army . On November 25th, the corps transferred to the command area of ​​the 4th Army of the Duke of Württemberg and set up for trench warfare in the area southeast of Ypres.

On the evening of April 17, 1915, the British exploded a mine on the Ypres-Comines line, the XV. Corps suffered heavy losses southeast of Zillebeke . The height 60 held by the 172nd Infantry Regiment was lost on April 21 after changeable fighting. In the Second Battle of Flanders attacked the XV. Corps, as well as the XXVII. Reserve corps arrived late at Hollebeke and Gheluvelt . After the battle for height 60 , the attacks in the area of ​​the corps were stopped on both sides on May 9; the corps remained in position warfare off Ypres until December 1915 and was transferred to the 5th Army in mid-February 1916 .

The corps on the left wing of the army did not take part in the Battle of Verdun until February 25, 1916, and the attack by the 30th and 39th divisions on the Woevre plain ate stuck in three days. The attacks, which continued until July, meanwhile brought the corps the assignment of the 50th division . At the end of August the corps was in the area of ​​the "Maasgruppe Ost" on the village line of Abaucourt and Moranville.

In the final phase of the Battle of the Somme , the 1st Army Corps was transferred under General von Below . On October 26, 1916, the XV. Corps the "Combat Section C" opposite the place Sailly-Saillisel . The attack on Sailly-Sallisel on October 30th failed, the previous shock troops were cut off from the following units. General von Deimling was replaced on May 24, 1917, the corps was taken over by the previous Chief of Staff of the 4th Army, Lieutenant General Ilse .

From October 30, 1917, the corps was in the Reims area and was referred to as the "Brimont Group". At the beginning of the Third Battle of the Aisne at the end of May 1918, the "Brimont Group" formed the right wing of the 1st Army . The "Ilse Group" then also attacked during the Second Battle of the Marne in July 1918 with the 33rd Reserve Division and the 86th , 213rd and 242nd Divisions between Berry-au-Bac and Brimont in the so-called "Reims-Marneschutz Offensive" a.

From July 26, 1918, the corps was under the name "Gruppe Bensdorf" in the Army Group Duke Albrecht von Württemberg in the section of the 19th Army under Colonel General von Bothmer . The 1st Landwehr Division and the 83rd Division were subordinate to the Corps Command in October 1918 .

Commanding general

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

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Eduard von Fransecky March 20, 1871 to October 31, 1879
General of the Infantry Edwin von Manteuffel 0November 1, 1879 to September 15, 1885
General of the cavalry Wilhelm von Heuduck September 16, 1885 to November 3, 1890
General of the Infantry Alfred von Lewinski 0November 4, 1890 to March 31, 1892
General of the Infantry Wilhelm von Blume 0April 1, 1892 to April 3, 1896
Dignity. Lieutenant General / General of the Infantry Kuno von Falkenstein 0April 4, 1896 to May 6, 1899
Lieutenant General Emil von Meerscheidt-Hüllessem May 22nd to July 2nd, 1899 (in charge of the tour)
Lieutenant General Emil von Meerscheidt-Hüllessem 0July 3, 1899 to June 8, 1900
Lieutenant General / General of the Infantry Anton Herwarth von Bittenfeld 0June 9, 1900 to March 31, 1903
Lieutenant General / General of the Infantry Leopold Hentschel from Gilgenheimb 0April 1, 1903 to January 13, 1910
General of the Infantry Max von Fabeck January 31, 1910 to February 28, 1913
General of the Infantry Berthold von Deimling 0March 1, 1913 to May 24, 1917
Lieutenant General Emil Ilse May 25, 1917 to April 15, 1919
Lieutenant General Arnold Lequis April to June 1919

Flags / flag decorations

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ War Ministry, Secret War Chancellery (editors): Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914. […] As of May 6, 1914. […] , Verlag Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1914. P. 95ff.
  2. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914–1918. Band IES Middle & Son. Divisions of War, p. 680f.
  3. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914–1918. Volume V: The Autumn Campaign 1914. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1929, pp. 16–80.
  4. ^ 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. 77.