Public-domain ebook
by United States. War Department. General Staff
Language: en2,020 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: History - Modern (1750+)·History - Warfare
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #55620.
This work is an official intelligence compilation produced by the United States War Department’s General Staff during the final year of the First World War. It presents a systematic “history of an enemy division” for each of the 251 German formations that fought between 1914 and 1918, beginning with a detailed description of how the data were gathered, front‑line observation, prisoner interrogation, captured documents, and daily reports from various troop headquarters. The opening passages explain that the information is collated into a standardized format that lists a division’s composition, past engagements, recruitment background, commanders, strength, morale, and a fighting‑quality rating. The text then proceeds to a series of tables and narrative summaries, such as the Alpine Corps’ movements across Italy, France, Serbia, and Romania, followed by assessments of its combat value.
The voice is that of a contemporary military analyst, terse and factual, reflecting the bureaucratic style of early‑20th‑century American staff work. Its language is dense with abbreviations, unit designations, and operational terminology, making it a primary‑source document rather than a literary narrative. Readers with an interest in military history, World War I scholars, or anyone studying the evolution of intelligence gathering and order‑of‑battle analysis will find it especially rewarding.
The opening · free to read
The history of an enemy division is a summary of all the information obtained from all sources. It includes the latest composition—that is, the regiments and other units that make up the division; a record of its past engagements; its recruitment and racial features; commanders; present strength; and morale. On a basis of these factors the division’s fighting quality is rated on a standard of classes adopted by General Headquarters and noted in the history. The data is collected and filed daily at various troop headquarters and eventually in the Enemy Order of Battle subsection of the General Staff, Intelligence Section at the General Headquarters. The information comes chiefly from the front-line troops, resulting from their observation, reconnaissance, and the interrogation of the prisoners they take. This evidence is often fragmentary and inconclusive, being gathered as more or less disassociated items, here and there along the whole front. But when it is consolidated and collated it becomes of great value and warrants deductions which may be depended upon.
Prisoners’ statements and captured documents are the source of almost all the information contained in a divisional history. The outline of the past engagements of a division is known from the Battle-Order records. Prisoners add to this specific account of successes, citations, failures, internal disturbance, etc. The divisional composition is established by prisoners, and in the case of the smaller divisional units from addresses on captured letters. The effective strength is deduced from prisoners’ stories of recent losses incurred and drafts of new men arriving. In estimating the quality of a division the Intelligence Section considers principally the conditions under which the enemy command has used it in previous military operations.
All this information is kept posted up to date so that a history of present value can be written without delay and dispatched to our front- line troops opposite whom a new or additional enemy unit has appeared or is about to appear.
The use to our troops of these histories is obvious. Much of the information contained is of direct value to our commanders. The strength, morale, and fighting qualities of the opposing divisions are, of course, an important factor in our plans and operations. Other items, such as the names of the enemy commanders, assist the examining officer in checking the veracity and accuracy of prisoners’ statements. It has been often observed that the more the intelligence officer knows or appears to know of the prisoner’s organization the better results he obtains from his questions. The uses to which information of the enemy may be put have proved so various and unexpected that the principle is established that no fact about the enemy is too unimportant to be recorded.
In preparing this set of Histories of German Divisions the histories published by French General Headquarters have been used for the years prior to 1918. For the last year of the war the histories were written by the Second Section of the General Staff, General Headquarters, A. E. F., from the American records. These included all information from American sources and also that which was received from Allied armies.
Alpine Corps.
COMPOSITION.
─────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────── │ 1915 │ 1916 ─────────────┼──────────────┬──────────────┼──────────────┬────────────── │ Brigade. │ Regiment. │ Brigade. │ Regiment. ─────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼────────────── Infantry. │1 Bav. Jag. │1 Bav. Jag. │1 Bav. Jag. │Body Inf. │ │Body Inf. │ │1 Bav. Jag. │2 Jag. │2 Jag. │2 Jag. │2 Jag. │ │3 Jag. │ │3 Jag. ─────────────┼──────────────┴──────────────┼──────────────┴────────────── Cavalry. │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Artillery. │203 F. A. Rgt. │2 Mountain F. A. Abt. Detch. │ │ of the 187, 203, and 204 F. │ │ A. Rgts. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Engineers and│ │102 Pion. Co. │ │105 Pion. Co. │ │106 Pion. Co. │ │175 Mountain T. M. Co. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Medical and │ │ Veterinary.│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Transport. │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Odd units. │201 Mountain M. G. Detch. │201 Mountain M. G. Detch. │202 Mountain M. G. Detch. │202 Mountain M. G. Detch. │205 Mountain M. G. Detch. │205 Mountain M. G. Detch. │209 Mountain M. G. Detch. │209 Mountain M. G. Detch. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Attached. │ │Cyclist Btn. (dissolved in │ │ June). ─────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────
─────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────── │ 1917 │ 1918 ─────────────┼──────────────┬──────────────┼──────────────┬────────────── │ Brigade. │ Regiment. │ Brigade. │ Regiment. ─────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼────────────── Infantry. │1 Bav. Jag. │Body Inf. │1 Bav. Jag. │Body Inf. │ │1 Bav. Jag. │ │1 Bav. Jag. │ │2 Jag. │ │2 Jag. │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼──────────────┴──────────────┼──────────────┴────────────── Cavalry. │ │3 Sqn. 4 Bav. Light Cav. Rgt. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Artillery. │Art. Command: │7 Art Command: │ │ │ │ │ 203 F. A. Rgt. (1 Abt.) │ 204 F. A. Rgt. │ 6 Mountain A. Abt. │ 1 Abt. 1 Bav. Res. Ft. A. │ │ Rgt. │ │ 6th Mountain Art. Abt. │ │ (Staff and 1, 2, and 17 │ │ Btries.). │ │ 1401 Light Am. Col. │ │ 1402 Light Am. Col. │ │ 1403 Light Am. Col. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Engineers and│Pion. Btn.: │9 Bav. Pion. Btn.: │ 102 Pion. Co. │ 102 Pion. Co. │ 283 Pion. Co. │ 283 Pion. Co. │ 175 T. M. Co. │ 175 Mountain T. M. Co. │ 204 Bav. T. M. Co. │ 102 Searchlight Section. │ 102 Bav. Searchlight │622 Signal Command: │ Section. │ │ 622 Tel. Detch. │ 622 Tel. Detch. │ 88 Div. Wireless Detch. │ 133 Bav. Wireless Detch. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Medical and │201 Ambulance Co. │201 Ambulance Co. Veterinary.│ │ │239 Ambulance Co. │239 Ambulance Co. │202 Field Hospital. │201 Field Hospital. │203 Field Hospital. │44 Bav. Field Hospital. │18 Bav. Field Hospital. │18 Bav. Field Hospital. │Vet. Hospital. │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Transport. │444 M. T. Col. │695 Bav. M. T. Col. │695 M. T. Col. │ │790 M. T. Col. │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Odd units. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Attached. │ │ │ │ ─────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────
HISTORY.
1915.
The Alpine Corps was formed in May, 1915.
ITALY.
1. At the end of May, 1915, it was sent by way of Innsbruck to the Trentino, where it remained until October 16 (vicinity of Campitello). It took part in several smaller actions (particularly on Sept. 24).
FRANCE.
2. On October 17 it left Bozen and went to France by way of Innsbruck, Neu-Ulm, Stuttgart, Deux-Ponts, and detrained at Laonnois on the Mezieres-Rethel line on October 19.
3. It remained in this area until October 25. At that time it was transferred to Serbia by way of Mezieres, Germershein, Augsburg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Temesvar. It detrained at Weisskirchen on October 29.
SERBIA.
4. The Alpine Corps advanced in Serbia by way of Kragujevac and Kraljevo as far as Novipasar (near the Montenegrin frontier); from that place to Mitrovica. Elements of the Alpine Corps remained south of Uskub until the end of March, 1916.
1916.
FRANCE.
1. On March 21, 1916, the Alpine Corps was taken to Hungary by way of Belgrade, and then to France. Itinerary: Budapest, Breslau, Dresden, Leipzig, Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, Liege, Charleville.
2. It went into line on the front east of Rheims (the Leib Regiment at Cernay) on April 1.
VERDUN.
3. Relieved at the beginning of May, it went to rest in the vicinity of Charleville. About May 30 it went to the Spincourt area by way of Sedan. At the beginning of June it went into action at Verdun north of the Vaux Fort, northeast of Fleury, and took part in the attacks launched in this sector during the month of June (attack of June 23 upon Thiaumont).
4. After reorganization, at the end of June or the beginning of July, the Alpine Corps came back into line near Fleury on July 11.
ARGONNE.
5. After having lost 71 per cent of its Infantry in the various attacks at Verdun, the Alpine Corps was withdrawn on August 12 and took over the sector Fontaine-aux-Charmes-Vauquois, in the Argonne. The 3d Jaeger Regiment was taken from it and entered into the composition of the 200th Division (Carpathian Corps).
6. In the first half of September the Alpine Corps left the Argonne and entrained for Roumania.
ROUMANIA.
7. At the end of September it went into action in the vicinity of Hermannstadt, then in the vicinity of Brasso. On December 10 it reached Ploesci; it was at Rimnicu-Sarat on the 24th. Upon the stabilization of the Roumanian front it occupied the front of Panciu-Focsani. During the active period in Roumania the Leib Regiment lost heavily.
1917.
1. Relieved northwest of Focsani on April 6, 1917, the Alpine Corps was sent to Hungary, in the vicinity of Karlsburg. After a rest of three weeks it was transferred to the western front. Itinerary: Karlsburg (May 10), Szegdin, Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Rosenheim, Munich, Strassburg, Colmar, Neu-Breisach.
UPPER ALSACE.
2. On June 15 it went into line on the Alsatian front (Rhone-Rhine Canal, Aspach).
3. On July 20 it was withdrawn from the front and sent to rest.
ROUMANIA.
4. At the beginning of August it was again sent to Roumania. It took over its old sector near Focsani and received the Russo-Roumanian attacks launched between Briala and Panciu.
ITALY.
5. In September it was sent to the Italian front.
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