XX. Army Corps (German Empire)

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The XX. Army Corps was a large unit of the Prussian Army .

structure

Peace structure 1914

history

Friedrich von Scholtz

The corps was established on October 1, 1912 and had its headquarters in Allenstein . It was subordinated to the 1st Army Inspection .

First World War

At the beginning of the First World War , the XX. Corps (37th and 41st Divisions) under General der Artillerie von Scholtz part of the 8th Army on the Eastern Front in East Prussia . Before the Battle of Tannenberg began , General von Scholtz withdrew his corps from the superior strength of the approaching Russian 2nd Army via the Usdau-Mühlen line. On August 25, Scholtz had instructions to keep his front between Gilgenburg and Tannenberg defensive until the advance of the I. Reserve Corps and the XVII. Army Corps would be effective in the rear of the enemy. The XX. Corps pulled it the mass of the Russian XXIII. and XV. Corps on themselves and could only withstand the pressure with difficulty. On the left he was supported by General von Morgen's 3rd Reserve Division in the Hohenstein area. On the right wing, General François's I. Army Corps positioned itself in the Neidenburg area after the long rail transport via Eylau before the German attack. After the victory at Tannenberg, which was achieved by the end of August, the corps was also significantly involved in the battle of the Masurian Lakes , in which the Russian 1st Army was pushed back to the Angerapp .

At the end of September 1914, the corps moved to East Silesia to the newly established 9th Army and, following the advance via Czestochowa, took part in the Battle of the Vistula , which had to be broken off before Warsaw due to Russian counter-attacks. In November 1914, the corps moved to the center of the 9th Army from the Thorn area to the southeast, fought in mid-November near Kutno and at the end of November after the advance on Stryków in the battle of Łódź . Here too, due to strong Russian counter-attacks, the withdrawal had to be started. At the beginning of December 1914, the 9th Army on Łowicz took a new approach , the XX. Corps followed this advance up to the Rawka . At the beginning of 1915 the XX. Corps (“Scholtz” group) moved back to the 8th Army in the Johannisburg area. It held the front against the enemy forces standing on the Narew in the area north of Lomscha and was subordinate to the 41st Division , the 1st Landwehr Division and the 3rd Reserve Division . The old Army High Command 8 was withdrawn from the front, renamed "Nyemen Army" and took over the command of the German armed forces in Courland on May 26, 1915 from Tilsit .

Lieutenant Colonel Detlof von Schwerin was on January 25, 1915 Chief of the General Staff of the XX. Army Corps and from May 26, 1915 also Chief of the General Staff of the 8th Army. With the formation of the Scholz Army Department on October 8, 1915, Schwerin also took over the post of Chief of the General Staff here. After proceeding to the Bobrlinie the general command of the XX. Army Corps in the period from May 26 to September 18, 1915, the name of the 8th Army in the Lyck area . It was not until December 1915 that the previous command authority (Nyemen Army) took over its original name as AOK 8.

On September 18, 1915, the XX. Corps (with that at the same time the deputy 8th Army) was dissolved and the staff used to form the "Scholtz" army group, whose units advanced in the direction of Grodno to the east in autumn 1915 and were freed there by the 12th Army .

Army Department Scholtz and Army Department D

The General Command XX was renamed on October 28, 1915 in Army Department Scholtz. The "Scholtz" army department moved north and took over the action of the German troops in the Dünaburg area , where they were subordinate to the Eben corps , the Lauenstein corps and the Richthofen cavalry corps .

On January 3, 1917, the Army Division "Scholtz" , which had been in the position war on the Daugava for a year, was renamed Army Division "D". On April 22, 1917 Günther von Kirchbach was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Army Department D, and on December 12, 1917, the Saxon Colonel General Hans von Kirchbach was his successor. In January 1918 the following were subordinate to the large association between Düna and Dysna :

From February 18 to 28, 1918, the advance was resumed to enforce peace with Soviet Russia. Daunaburg was occupied on the first day, Rositten followed on February 21, Ostrow on 23 and Pleskau was reached by General Command 53 on February 24 . General Command 56 reached Polotsk around the same time , but it was already part of the advance strip of the 10th Army advancing south .

As a result of the war situation, Army Department D became superfluous and dissolved on October 2, 1918. The vacated staff served on October 2, 1918 to reactivate the XX. Army Corps, which, under the commanding General Albrecht, was used for the last time in the "Kiev" Army Group to secure the Ukraine and against the Red Army in the Poltava area .

Commanding general

Rank Surname date
General of the artillery Friedrich von Scholtz 0October 1, 1912 to September 18, 1915
Gen. Kdo. XX. dissolved September 18, 1915 to October 2, 1918
Lieutenant General Viktor Albrecht 0October 2, 1918 to November 29, 1918

Flags / flag decorations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914–1918. Volume VII. ES Middle and Son. Supplement - map sketch W.
  2. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914-1918, Volume XIII, p. 367 f
  3. ↑ XX Army Corps , German War History.
  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. 84.