XXV. Reserve Corps (German Empire)

The XXV. Reserve Corps of the German Army was formed at the beginning of the First World War as part of the first wave of mobilization, mainly from volunteers.

structure

When it was set up in August 1914, the corps were:

49th Reserve Division :

• 97th Reserve Infantry Brigade
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 225
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 226
• 98th Reserve Infantry Brigade
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 227
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 228
  • Reserve Cavalry Division No. 49
  • Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 49
  • Reserve Engineer Company No. 49

50th Reserve Division :

• 99th Reserve Infantry Brigade
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 229
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 230
• 100th Reserve Infantry Brigade
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 231
  • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 232
  • Reserve Cavalry Division No. 50
  • Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 50
  • Reserve Engineer Company No. 50

First World War

Reinhard von Scheffer-Boyadel

Arnold von Winckler

General of the infantry Reinhard von Scheffer-Boyadel was on August 25, 1914 the commanding general of the newly established XXV on the Western Front . Reserve Corps appointed. During the First Battle of Ypres , the corps moved to the Eastern Front and was the beginning of November in space Thorn aufmarschierenden 9th Army assumed. Together with the I. Reserve Corps, forming Mackensen's left wing , both advanced south from the Vistula towards Kutno . During the fighting of the 49th Reserve Division in the Włocławek area on November 12, the division commander von Briesen fell . From November 21, 1914, the corps got into the Lowitsch pocket during the Battle of Łódź . The trapped troop units, with the 3rd Guard Division under General Litzmann at the head, managed to break out to the east via Brzeziny by November 24, 1914 .

After the great withdrawal of the troops on the Russian western front, the "Scheffer" corps established itself in the Novogrodek area in autumn 1915 . In March 1916 the 84th Division , the 49th and 5th Reserve Divisions were subordinate to the corps south of the Nyemen . The corps had changing commanders from mid-1916 and was mainly deployed on the central section of the Eastern Front. During the attack of the Russian 4th Army (General Ragosa ) in the Baranowitschi area (July 1916) the corps sent the staff of the 49th Reserve Division under Major General von Zoellner to the hard-pressed kuk XII. Corps ( von Henriquez ) north of the Serwetsch knee to help.

During the Kerensky offensive in July 1917, the corps was part of the German Southern Army and was established in the Brzezany area with the 15th and 24th Reserve Divisions . The corps was also known as the "Czortkow Group" between August 13 and October 22, 1917.

During the German spring offensive in 1918 , the corps under General der Infanterie Arnold von Winckler was deployed to the German Crown Prince Army Group on the Western Front. After the German breakthrough on March 21st, transferred to the 18th Army , the Winckler Corps was between III. and IX. Army Corps pushed in at the front line and led the advance in the area north of Montdidier with the 52nd Reserve Division and the 206th Division . By counter-attacks by the French Debeney army, Winckler's advance at Cantigny at the end of March came to a standstill . At the end of April by the XXVI. Reserve corps cleared in this section and transferred the general command for the Blücher attack on the Aisne to the 7th Army . At the beginning of the Third Aisne Battle , the Winckler group was subordinated to the 1st Guard Division , the 33rd and 10th Reserve Divisions in the first meeting - and the 197th Division behind them. On May 27th, they stormed the Chemin des Dames . Within a few days, the breakthrough was made towards Fère-en-Tardenois , where the advance stagnated again. In the French-American counter-offensive from July 18 in the second Battle of the Marne , the corps was subordinate to the 40th Division , the 78th Reserve Division and the 10th Bavarian Division for defense . The attacks of the French 6th Army from the Villers-Cotterêts area made the German withdrawal from the Marne arc to the Vesle and Aisne necessary by the beginning of August . After further retreat fighting, the corps was transferred to the 3rd Army . At the end of October 1918, the 9th Landwehr Division , the 199th Division and the 3rd Guard Division were under command .

Commanding general

Rank	Surname	date
General of the Infantry	Reinhard von Scheffer-Boyadel	August 25, 1914 to September 3, 1916
Lieutenant General	Karl Surén	September 3, 1916 to November 18, 1916
Lieutenant General	Manfred von Richthofen	November 18, 1916 to March 8, 1917
Lieutenant General	Constance by Heineccius	March 8, 1917 to November 23, 1917
General of the Infantry	Horst Edler from the Planitz	November 23, 1917 to December 20, 1917
Lieutenant General	Wilhelm Groener	December 20, 1917 to February 25, 1918
General of the Infantry	Arnold von Winckler	February 25, 1918 until the end of the war

literature

• Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume II: M-Z. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Berlin 1935, pp. 249-250.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reichsarchiv: The World War, Volume XIII, ES Mittler und Sohn, card insert 14
2. ↑ 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. 633.