XXI. Army Corps (German Empire)

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The XXI. Army Corps (also Saarbrücker Korps ) was a large unit of the Prussian Army from 1912 to 1919.

structure

Peace structure 1914

history

Fritz von Below

The corps was established on October 1, 1912 and had its headquarters in Saarbrücken . It was subordinated to the VII Army Inspection and included parts of the administrative districts of Koblenz and Trier as well as part of Alsace-Lorraine .

First World War

At the beginning of the First World War in August 1914, the XXI. Corps on the Western Front and was deployed in the center of the 6th Army , which attacked on August 20 , during the Battle of Lorraine . The corps under the commanding General von Below threw back the French 15th Corps in the battle of Mörchingen and quickly gained ground. The 31st Division (Lieutenant General Albert von Berrer ) stormed Vergaville and the 42nd Division (Lieutenant General Hasso von Bredow ) occupied Dieuze . After the attack of the II Bavarian and I Bavarian Reserve Corps in the north stalled during the advance on Luneville , the XXI believed. Corps on August 26th to be able to continue its attack over the high terrain near Gerbéviller to the Moselle. After the failure of the breakthrough experiment in the Battle of the Trouée de Charmes occurred between the towns of Moyen and MENARMONT for trench warfare .

From September 22, 1914, the XXI. Corps and the I. Bavarian Corps from Lorraine to St. Quentin . The XXI. Corps marched as a result of the race to the sea to form the new front in the area Nesle - Chaulnes - Chilly and was subordinated to the 2nd Army .

In mid-January 1915 the corps arrived on the Eastern Front . It was used on February 7th as the left wing of the 10th Army in the winter battle of the Masurian Mountains. While the 31 and on the right the 42nd Division was set left, right neighbor was the parallel previous XXXIX. Reserve Corps (General von Lauenstein ). The thrust was directed along the border of East Prussia to the south-east towards Schirwindt .

Oskar von Hutier

On April 4, 1915, General Hutier took over the command of the corps. Together with the XXXX. Reserve Corps under General Litzmann succeeded in conquering the Kovno fortress between August 8 and 18, 1915 . Then the corps fought in the Battle of Njemen and in the Battle of Vilna . From the beginning of October 1915 the trench warfare followed between Krewo - Smorgon - Narotsch-See - Tveretsch .

In March 1916, the corps was in the main field of attack of the Russian offensive between Postavy and Lake Naroch . The subordinate 31st , 42nd and 115th divisions faced the Russian onslaught on both sides of Postawy. The 107th Division served as a reserve . After the attack, the Hutier Corps Group was reinforced with the 80th Reserve Division and the 3rd Cavalry Division . The Russian army group Pleshkow achieved a sham success on March 18, when the first trench of the German 42nd Division was captured with enormous losses. Their columns were then caught in a strong defensive fire in front of the second line, and in the first eight hours they lost 15,000 men dead and wounded. The Russian attacks continued vigorously until the end of March, but were unsuccessful.

On January 2nd, 1917 General von Oven succeeded Hutier. In November 1917, the corps was transferred to the Western Front and deployed in the area of Army Division A , then in the area of Army Division B in the Vosges . From December 22, 1917 to April 2, 1918, the corps was known as the Heiligblasien Group . Between May 1 and November 3, 1918, the corps was deployed with Army Group Gallwitz in the area west of Verdun and referred to as Maas Group West . At first it was able to assert itself in the heavy defensive battles between the Argonne and the Meuse . In October 1918, during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive , the corps was attacked by outnumbered troops of the 1st US Army and pushed back to Sedan until the end of the war .

Commanding general

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Fritz von Below October 1, 1912 to April 3, 1915
Lieutenant General Oskar von Hutier April 4, 1915 to January 1, 1917
Lieutenant General Ernst von Oven January 2, 1917 to April 1919 (in charge of the tour)

Flags / flag decorations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reichsarchiv. Volume I: Border Battles. ES Mittler & Sohn. Berlin 1925. p. 595.
  2. ↑ Hanns Möller: The history of the knights of the order “pour le merite” in the World War 1914-1918. Volume 2: M-Z. Bernard & Graefe publishing house. Berlin 1935. p. 491.
  3. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914-1918. Volume X. Supplement sketch 24. ES Mittler & Sohn.
  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. 85.