XXXXI. Reserve Corps (German Empire)

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The XXXXI. Reserve Corps was a major unit of the army of the German Empire in the First World War . From August 5, 1916, the General Command was also referred to as the Gronau Army Group and on September 18, 1916 it was renamed the Gronau Army Department .

structure

The corps was created at the beginning of the war with the second wave of mobilization from Prussian war volunteers and was structured as follows:

81st Reserve Division

  • 81st Reserve Infantry Brigade
    • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 267
    • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 268
    • Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 269
    • Reserve cyclist company No. 61
    • Reserve Cavalry Division No. 81
  • 81st Reserve Field Artillery Brigade
    • Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 67
    • Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 68
  • Reserve Engineer Company No. 84
  • Reserve Engineer Company No. 85

82nd Reserve Division

Corps troops

history

General Hermann von François

On December 24, 1914, General of the Infantry Hermann von François became the first commander of the reserve corps set up with the mobilization . After deployments in Picardy , his association was relocated to Galicia in April 1915 and participated in the breakthrough battle of Gorlice-Tarnów in early May in the association of the 11th Army . Here Francois was awarded the order Pour le Mérite for the performance of his units . The troops crossed the San and took part in the fighting for Przemyśl . On May 9th the corps stood at Jaslo , from May 12th to 21st in the south of Radymno and at the beginning of June at Medyka. After the reconquest of Lemberg , which succeeded on June 22nd, Francois gave up command.

On June 29, 1915, Lieutenant General Arnold von Winckler took command of the corps, which took part in the Bug Offensive at the beginning of July as part of the newly formed Bug Army under the supreme command of the Infantry General von Linsingen . The fall of the Brest-Litovsk fortress on August 25th forced the Russian troops to retreat to Pinsk by mid-September . Reserve Corps was occupied. Shortly before, General von Winckler exchanged his post with Hans von Gronau in order to lead his previous IV Reserve Corps in the campaign against Serbia . The corps was in the inaccessible Pripyat area for trench warfare over.

From August 5, 1916, the General Command was also referred to as the Gronau Army Group and on September 18, 1916 it was renamed the Gronau Army Department . The latter army division held the section at Pinsk and was disbanded on March 27, 1918 after the peace agreement on the Eastern Front. In February 1919, Gronau resigned from the military.

Commanding general

Rank Surname date
General of the Infantry Hermann von François December 24, 1914 to June 29, 1915
Lieutenant General Arnold von Winckler June 29, 1915 to September 11, 1915
General of the artillery Hans von Gronau September 11, 1915 until the end of the war

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Winfried Baumgart, Alfons Paquet, Wilhelm Groener, Albert Hopman: From Brest-Litovsk to the German November Revolution. From the diaries , page 281 (footnote), compiled by Winfried Baumgart, Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht ( excerpt )
  2. ↑ a b c 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