Part 18

7. It was engaged on October 9 to the east of Bohain before the extreme right of the 4th British Army. It was relieved in this sector on October 23 by the 200th Division. At this time the division was very low in effectives; two regiments had three battalions of three companies and one regiment had but two battalions. The average company strength was about 50 men.

8. Retired to rest for 15 days, the division returned to line on November 5, near Wiege Faty. It was last identified at Trelon on November 11.

VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.

The division was rated as a second-class division. In the earlier years it was a very good division, but through losses and lack of reinforcements during 1918 considerably reduced its value.

5th Ersatz Division.

COMPOSITION.

─────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────── │ 1916 │ 1917 ─────────────┼──────────────┬──────────────┼──────────────┬────────────── │ Brigade. │ Regiment. │ Brigade. │ Regiment. ─────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼────────────── Infantry. │37 Mixed Ldw. │73 Ldw. │37 Ldw. │3 Res. Ers. │ │74 Ldw. │ │73 Ldw. │2 Res. Ers. │4 Res. Ers. │ │74 Ldw. │ │3 Res. Ers. │ │ ─────────────┼──────────────┴──────────────┼──────────────┴────────────── Cavalry. │8 Cuirassier Rgt. (Ers. │8 Cuirassier Rgt. (Ers. │ Sqn.). │ Sqn.). │ │88 Cav. Rgt. (3 Sqn.). ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Artillery. │102 F. A. Abtl. (1 Ers. Abt. │102 F. A. Regt. │ 26 F. A. Rgt). │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Engineers and│161 T. M. Co. │Pion. Btn.: Liaisons. │ │ │ │ (?) 2 Landst. Co. 9 C. Dist. │ │ Pions. │ │ 405 T. M. Co. │ │ 303 Searchlight Section. │ │ 555 Tel. Detch. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Medical and │ │269 Ambulance Co. Veterinary.│ │ │ │(?) (11 Ldw.) Field Hospital. │ │505 Vet. Hospital. │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Transports. │ │763 M. T. Col. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Attached. │ │2 Insterburg Landst. Inf. │ │ Btn. (1 C. Dist. Btn. No. │ │ 6). ─────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────

─────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────── │ 1918 │ 1918 ─────────────┼──────────────┬──────────────┼──────────────┬────────────── │ Brigade. │ Regiment. │ Brigade. │ Regiment. ─────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼────────────── Infantry. │37 Ldw. │73 Ldw. │37 Ldw. │73 Ldw. │ │74 Ldw. │ │74 Ldw. │ │8 Landst. │ │(?) │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼──────────────┴──────────────┼──────────────┴────────────── Cavalry. │ │1 Sqn. 16 Drag. Rgt. │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Artillery. │ │250 Ldw. F. A. Rgt. │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Engineers and│ │2 Landst. Co. 9 C. Dist Liaisons. │ │ Pions. │ │111 Searchlight Section. │ │ │ │555 Signal Command. │ │555 Tel. Detch. │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Medical and │ │269 Ambulance Co. Veterinary.│ │ │ │500 Field Hospital. │ │11 Ldw. Field Hospital. │ │505 Vet. Hospital. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Transports. │ │763 M. T. Col. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Attached. │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────

HISTORY.

(73d Landwehr and 74th Landwehr: Tenth District—Hanover. 8th Landsturm; Eighth District—Rhine Province.)

1916.

The 5th Ersatz Division was organized in the fall of 1915 with the name of Basedow Division. It comprised the 37th Landwehr Brigade (73d and 74th Landwehr); until then attached to the 26th Reserve Corps, and the 2d Reserve Ersatz Brigade (3d Ersatz Reserve and 4th Reserve Brigade), situated in the Dixmude sector. With the 4th Ersatz Division, the Basedow Division, which became the 5th Ersatz Division in 1916, constituted at the end of 1915 the Werde Corps.

BELGIUM.

1. From January to October, 1916 the division remained in Belgium (region of Yser, then southeast of Ypres). However, the 4th Ersatz Reserve was transferred to the 206th Division at the beginning of September.

SOMME.

2. Withdrawn from the Ypres front at the beginning of October, the division was sent to the Somme and engaged north of Courcelette from October 19 to 30.

3. In November it was sent to rest behind the Champagne front.

RUSSIA.

4. At the beginning of December it was sent to Russia (the 73d Landwehr entrained December 11 northeast of Reims, via Dusseldorf-Hamburg- Koenigsburg-Tilsit-Poneviej. Detrained at Elovka the 16th).

1917.

COURLAND.

Sent into line in the Illukst sector (region of Dvinsk) at the beginning of January 1917 and remained in this country during the whole year (Illukst, Lake Stenten, Kchtchava). Its losses were very small—17 killed and 20 wounded in the 3d Ersatz Reserve from the end of December, 1916, to the end of August, 1917. Because the sector was so quiet the division had only small forces during the last months of 1917. The 73d Landwehr at the end of November had only 60 to 65 men per company (examination of Russians).

VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.

The division remained for a long time in the quiet sectors of the Russian front and seems to have had only moderate fighting value.

1918.

COURLAND.

1. The 5th Ersatz Division was still in the vicinity of Dvinsk in February. In March it exchanged the 3d Ersatz Regiment for the 8th Landsturm Regiment of the 87th Division, the latter being on the point of leaving for France.

LIVONIA.

2. The division advanced into Livonia (in March) and remained in the Pskov-Ostrov region as late as June 27th. The 74th Landwehr Regiment was identified here on August 6, but the rest of the division was identified near Mitau during July.

3. Toward the end of October, it was reported that the division, having been refitted, had come to the Western Front via Trier and Rethel; however, the division was never actually identified on the Western Front.

VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.

The division was rated as 4th class.

5th Landwehr Division.

COMPOSITION.

─────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┬─────────────────── │ 1914 │ 1915 │ 1916 ─────────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬───────── │Brigade. │Regiment.│Brigade. │Regiment.│Brigade. │Regiment. ─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────── Infantry. │14 Ldw. │36 Ldw. │14 Ldw. │36 Ldw. │14 Ldw. │36 Ldw. │ │66 Ldw. │ │66 Ldw. │ │66 Ldw. │ │17 Ldw. │30 Ldw. │25 Ldw. │30 Ldw. │25 Ldw. │30 Ldw. │25 Ldw. │ │65 Ldw. │ │65 Ldw. │ │65 Ldw. │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────┴─────────┼─────────┴─────────┼─────────┴───────── Cavalry. │ │ │4 Sqn. 1 Uhlan Rgt. │ │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Artillery. │ │ │1 and 2 Landst. 4 │ │ │ C. Dist. │ │ │ Batteries. F. A. │ │ │256 Ldw. F. A. Rgt. │ │ │ (left in July). │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Engineers and│1 Ldw. 11 C. Dist. │ │1 Ldw. 11 C. Dist. Liaisons. │ Pion. Co. │ │ Pion. Co. │ │ │1 Ldw. 16 C. Dist. │ │ │ Pion. Co. │ │ │305 T. M. Co. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Medical and │ │ │ Veterinary.│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Transports. │ │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Attached. │ │93 Ldw. Inf. Regt. │ │ │ (June to Sept.) │ ─────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────

─────────────┬───────────────────┬─────────────────── │ 1917 │ 1918 ─────────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬───────── │Brigade. │Regiment.│Brigade. │Regiment. ─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────── Infantry. │30 Ldw. │25 Ldw. │30 Ldw. │25 Ldw. │ │36 Ldw. │ │36 Ldw. │ │65 Ldw. │ │65 Ldw. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────┴─────────┼─────────┴───────── Cavalry. │2 Sqn. 16 Uhlan │2 Sqn. 16 Uhlan │ Rgt. │ Rgt. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Artillery. │Art. Command: │256 Ldw. F. A. Rgt. │ │ │ │ │ 256 Ldw. F. A. │1,415 Light Am. │ Rgt. │ Col. │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Engineers and│(405) Pion. Btn.: │405 Pion. Btn.: Liaisons. │ │ │ 1 Ldw. 11 C. Dist.│ 1 Ldw. Co. 11 C. │ Pion. Co. │ Dist. Pions. │ 1 Ldw. 16 C. Dist.│ 1 Ldw. Co. 16 C. │ Pion. Co. │ Dist. Pions. │ 305 T. M. Co. │ 305 T. M. Co. │ 321 Searchlight │ 217 Searchlight │ Section. │ Section. │ Tel. Detch. │505 Signal Command: │ │ 505 Tel. Detch. │ │ 92 Wireless Detch. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Medical and │Ambulance Co. │12 Ambulance Co. Veterinary.│ │ │151 Field Hospital.│67 Field Hospital. │Vet. Hospital. │79 Field Hospital. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Transports. │M. T. Col. │775 M. T. Col. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Attached. │ │ │ │ ─────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────

HISTORY.

(25th Landwehr and 65th Landwehr: Eighth District—Rhine Province. 36th Landwehr: Fourth District—Prussian Saxony.)

1914.

The 5th Landwehr Division is composed of two Landwehr brigades meant to be the war garrison of Metz, where they detrained August 9 and 10, 1914: 14th Landwehr Brigade from the Fourth District (36th Landwehr and 66th Landwehr); 30th Landwehr Brigade from the Eighth District (25th Landwehr and 65th Landwehr). The 17th Landwehr was under the 14th Brigade.

WOEVRE.

1. During the first days of September the 14th Landwehr Brigade was engaged at Fresnes and Marcheville (in Woevre), near the 33d Reserve Division. It fought on the Cotes de Meuse, near Champlon and Les Eparges, at the beginning of October and suffered heavy losses there.

2. In December the two brigades (14th Landwehr Brigade and 30th Landwehr Brigade) were united in the Woevre (Warcq, Hennemont, Marcheville, Champlon, Saulx). The division at that time was part of the Von Strantz detachment.

1915.

1. The division remained in the sector between Warcq and Saulx en Woevre during the whole of 1915. In January the 17th Landwehr, from which many men had deserted, was sent to Russia, where it assisted in the formation of the 85th Landwehr Division.

1916.

COTES DE MEUSE.

1. At the time of the Verdun offensive the division was present during the attacks on the Cotes de Meuse, near Braquis, Ronvaux, Manhuelles, at the end of February to March, 1916.

2. Toward the end of March the 14th Landwehr Brigade took the place of the First Guard Ersatz Brigade (Guard Ersatz Division) in the Apremont sector.

3. The 30th Landwehr Brigade was kept before the Cotes de Meuse (region of Fresnes en Woevre) until July. It then rejoined the other brigade east of St. Mihiel.

1917.

FOREST OF APREMONT.

1. The division from this time on did not leave the Forest of Apremont sector. In April, 1917, the 66th Landwehr was transferred to the 23d Landwehr Division, newly organized, and soon sent to Russia.

VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.

A sector unit.

1918.

1. On April 12 the division undertook a local operation in the Apremont sector in an effort to divert troops and artillery from the Somme front. About 800 men of the Storm Battalion were engaged. Forty-seven prisoners were lost in the attack. Aside from this the sector continued very quiet until September 12.

BATTLE OF ST. MIHIEL.

2. The division was engaged in the attack in the St. Mihiel salient. It lost heavily in prisoners, among whom were the entire staff of the 3d Battalion, 65th Landwehr Regiment, which was taken on September 12 in the Bois de Thiaucourt. The division retreated with orders to take up positions between the first and second positions of the Hindenburg line. Here it had orders to hold the Mihiel Zone under all circumstances.

3. The division continued in line until the armistice.

VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.

The 5th Landwehr Division was rated as a fourth-class division. In 1918 it held the Apremont sector continuously, showing no initiative or capacity for offensive operation, but due to the small losses and heavy effectives it offered as much resistance to our attack in September as did the other German divisions in the salient.

5th Bavarian Division.

COMPOSITION.

─────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┬─────────────────── │ 1914 │ 1915 │ 1916 ─────────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬───────── │Brigade. │Regiment.│Brigade. │Regiment.│Brigade. │Regiment. ─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────── Infantry. │9 Bav. │14 Bav. │9 Bav. │14 Bav. │9 Bav. │14 Bav. │ │21 Bav. │ │21 Bav. │ │21 Bav. │10 Bav. │7 Bav. │10 Bav. │7 Bav. │10 Bav. │7 Bav. │ │19 Bav. │ │19 Bav. │ │19 Bav. │ 2 Bav. Res. Jag. │ 2 Bav. Res. Jag. │ │ │ Btn. │ Btn. │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────┴───────── Cavalry. │7 Bav. Light Cav. │7 Bav. Light Cav. │7 Bav. Light Cav. │ Rgt. │ Rgt. │ Rgt. (2 Sqns.). ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Artillery. │5 Bav. Brig.: │5 Bav. Brig.: │5 Bav. Brig.: │ │ │ │ 6 Bav. F. A. Rgt. │ 6 Bav. F. A. Rgt. │ 6 Bav. F. A. Rgt. │ │ │ │ 10 Bav. F. A. Rgt.│ 10 Bav. F. A. Rgt.│ 10 Bav. F. A. Rgt. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Engineers and│1 and 4 Field Cos. │1 and 4 Field Cos. │1 and 4 Field Cos. Liaisons. │ 3 Bav. Pion. Btn.│ 3 Bav. Pion. Btn.│ 3 Bav. Pion. Btn. │ │5 Bav. Pont. Engs. │5 Bav. T. M. Co. │ │5 Bav. Tel. Detch. │5 Bav. Pont. Engs. │ │ │5 Bav. Tel. Detch. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Medical and │ │ │ Veterinary.│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Transport. │ │ │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Attached. │ │ │84 Labor Btn. Anti- │ │ │ Aircraft. │ │ │Section 1 Bav. │ │ │ Balloon Sqn. ─────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────

─────────────┬───────────────────┬─────────────────── │ 1917 │ 1918 ─────────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬───────── │Brigade. │Regiment.│Brigade. │Regiment. ─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────── Infantry. │10 Bav. │7 Bav. │10 Bav. │7 Bav. │ │19 Bav. │ │19 Bav. │ │21 Bav. │ │21 Bav. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────┴─────────┼─────────┴───────── Cavalry. │2 Bav. Light Cav. │4 Sqns. 2 Bav. │ Rgt. (4 Sqns.). │ Light Cav. Rgt. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Artillery. │5 Bav. Art. │5 Bav. Art. │ Command: │ Command: │ 6 Bav. F. A. Rgt. │ 10 Bav. F. A. Rgt. │ (6 Btries.). │ │ │ 3 Abt. 1 Bav. F. │ │ A. Rgt. (Staff, │ │ and 9, 10, and 11 │ │ Btries.). │ │103 Bav. Light Am. │ │ Col. │ │109 Bav. Light Am. │ │ Col. │ │166 Bav. Light Am. │ │ Col. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Engineers and│(S) 5 Bav. Pion. │3 Bav. Pion. Btn.: Liaisons. │ Btn.: │ │ 10 Bav. Pion. Co. │ 10 Bav. Pion. Co. │ 13 Bav. Pion. Co. │ 13 Bav. Pion. Co. │ 5 Bav. T. M. Co. │ 5 Bav. Searchlight │ │ Section. │ 5 Bav. Tel. Detch.│5 Bav. Signal │ │ Command: │ │ 5 Bav. Tel. Detch. │ │ 100 Bav. Wireless │ │ Detch. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Medical and │3 Bav. Ambulance │6 Bav. Ambulance Veterinary.│ Co. │ Co. │6 Bav. Ambulance │21 Bav. Field │ Co. │ Hospital. │Field Hospital. │25 Field Hospital. │Vet. Hospital. │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Transport. │114 M. T. Col. │685 M. T. Col. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Attached. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────

HISTORY.

(Upper and Middle Franconia—Bavaria.)

1914.

LORRAINE.

1. At the beginning of the war the division was a part of the 3d Bavarian Army Corps, with the 6th Bavarian Division, and was part of the 6th Army (Crown Prince Ruprecht of Bavaria). Detrained between Boulay and Courcelles from August 9 to 11, it fought August 20 on the right of the 2d Bavarian Corps at Oron, Lusy, Fremery. Crossed the frontier on the 22d and advanced to Sanon, fighting on the 25th at Serres and Hoéville, and on September 2 at Einville Wood. During the days following it formed the left of the troops attacking Nancy by way of Champenoux.

WOEVRE.