Part 83

In March the British wrote: “From the bearing of prisoners of the 88th Division, recently captured, it appears that this formation, which from its composition might be expected to be indifferent is of a very fair quality and well-disciplined. Men and officers are mostly young and keen; many of the latter are active.

“As a fighting formation, the 88th Division thus appears to have been brought up to the standard of the majority of the German divisions in the western theater and in addition has a leader well acquainted with the conditions of warfare on this front.”

Although its subsequent conduct was not such as to justify completely the above estimate, it did at least prove that its rating as a fourth- class unit was too low.

89th Division.

COMPOSITION.

─────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────── │ 1915 │ 1916 ─────────────┼──────────────┬──────────────┼──────────────┬────────────── │ Brigade. │ Regiment. │ Brigade. │ Regiment. ─────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼────────────── Infantry. │21 Ldw. │10 Ldw. │178. │333. │ │38 Ldw. │ │375. │(In November the above passed│ │8 Ldw. │ to the 14 Ldw Div.) │ │ │Jonas (178). │333. │ │ │ │375. │ │ │ │8 Ldw. │ │ ─────────────┼──────────────┴──────────────┼──────────────┴────────────── Cavalry. │89 Cav. Rgt. │89 Cav. Rgt. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Artillery. │89 F. A. Abt. │89 F. A. Rgt. │ │ │ │ │ │911 F. A. Btry. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Engineers and│ │5 Co. 6 Pions. Liaisons. │ │ │ │2 Res. Co. 17 Pions. │ │89 T. M. Co. │ │89 Pont. Engs. │ │89 Tel. Detch. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Medical and │ │ Veterinary.│ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Transport. │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Odd Units. │ │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Attached. │ │11 Labor Btn. │ │45 Labor Btn. ─────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────

─────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────── │ 1917 │ 1918 ─────────────┼──────────────┬──────────────┼──────────────┬────────────── │ Brigade. │ Regiment. │ Brigade. │ Regiment. ─────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼────────────── Infantry. │178. │333. │178. │333. │ │375. │ │375. │ │8 Ldw. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ─────────────┼──────────────┴──────────────┼──────────────┴────────────── Cavalry. │4 Sqn. 11 Drag. Rgt. │4 Sqn. 11th Drag. Rgt. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Artillery. │Art. Command: │89 Field Art. Rgt. (Rgt. │ │ Staff, 1 Abt. Staff Btries. │ │ 1 to 3). │ 89 F. A. Rgt. │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Engineers and│Pion. Btn.: │5 Co. 26th Pion. Btn. Liaisons. │ │ │ 5 Co. 26 Pions. │89 Div. Signal Command. │ 2 Res. Co. 17 Pions. │89 Tel. Detch. │ 89 T. M. Co. │ │ Tel. Detch. │ ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Medical and │68 Ambulance Co. │68 Ambulance Co. Veterinary.│ │ │Field Hospital. │264 Field Hospital. │Vet. Hospital. │183 Vet. Hospital. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Transport. │721 M. T. Col. │586 M. T. Col. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Odd Units. │ │36 Bav. Mun. Col. ─────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────── Attached. │ │ │ │ ─────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────

HISTORY.

(333d Regiment: 5th and 6th Corps District—Silesia. 375th Regiment: 17th Corps District—Western Prussia. 8th Landwehr: 3d Corps District—Brandenburg.)

1915.

The 89th Division reached its present form of organization about October, 1915. With the 87th Division, it was used to form, while named Westernhagen Division, the Thorn Corps, and was engaged on the Eastern Front from the beginning of the war. It at first was comprised of the 21st Landwehr Brigade, taken from the Breslau Corps and the Jonas Brigade (Keller Regiment and the 8th Landwehr) which became the 178th Brigade. In November, 1915, this division having given up the 21st Landwehr Brigade to form the 14th Landwehr Division, it brought up its strength to three regiments by taking the 333d Regiment from the 84th Division.

RUSSIA.

1. During the middle of October, 1915, the 89th Division was identified in the Krevo sector, which it occupied until the end of August, 1916.

1916.

ROUMANIA.

1. About the 24th of August, 1916, the 89th Division was transported to the Transylvanian front (detraining near Maros-Ludas on Aug. 30).

2. It fought in the vicinity of St. Georges de Brasso (middle of October); near the Roumanian frontier in the valley of Buzeu (October- November); on the Buzeu-Rimnicu-Sarat highway (end of December); and near Plaginesci (Dec. 31).

1917.

ROUMANIA.

1. In the middle of January, 1917, the 89th Division was in line to the north of Rimnicu.

2. From the end of January to the middle of August it occupied a sector north of Focsani, east of Odobesci. It took part in the attacks made, in August, north of Focsani and suffered very heavy losses. After a few days’ rest it took over the sector between Panciu and Marasesci.

RECRUITING.

The 89th Division took part in the entire campaign against Roumania.

It was kept on the Roumanian front until May, 1918.

VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.

Its offensive value seemed mediocre.

1918.

ROUMANIA.

1. In January, 1918, the division furnished a great many replacements to the 76th Reserve Division which was destined to leave for the Western Front; men were also sent to the 115th Division.

2. Relieved southeast of Panciu early in January, the division remained for some time in reserve in the Focsani region, then came back into line northeast of that town. It was identified there in March and April. In June the 375th Regiment was identified by contact near Drenoud in Macedonia, but left soon after for the Panciu region where it was identified on the 28th of July. The division was identified near Bucharest late in October.

VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.

The Division was rated as fourth class.

91st Division.

COMPOSITION.

─────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┬─────────────────── │ 1916 │ 1917 │ 1918 ─────────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬───────── │Brigade. │Regiment.│Brigade. │Regiment.│Brigade. │Regiment. ─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────── Infantry. │175 Ldw. │33 Ldw. │175 Ldw. │37 Ldw. │175 Ldw. │37 Ldw. │ │349 Ldw. │ │349 Ldw. │ │349 Ldw. │ │350 Ldw. │ │437. │ │437. ─────────────┼─────────┴─────────┼─────────┴─────────┼─────────┴───────── Cavalry. │3 Sqn. 5 Cuirassier│3 Sqn. 12 Mounted │2 Sqn. 10 Drag. │ Rgt. │ Jag. Rgt. │ Rgt. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Artillery. │ │277 F. A. Rgt. │277 F. A. Rgt. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Engineers and│385 T. M. Co. │91 Pion. Btn.: │91 Pion. Btn. Liaisons. │ │ │ │ │ 3 Co. 1 Pions. (?)│3 Ers. Co. Pion. │ │ │ Btn. No. 1. │ │ 3 Ers. Co. 1 │2 Ldst. Pion. Btn. │ │ Pions. │ 6 Army Corps. │ │ (91 T. M. Co.). │219 Searchlight │ │ │ Section. │ │ Tel. Detch. │91 Div. Signal │ │ │ Command. │ │ │91 Tel. Detch. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Medical and │ │67 Ambulance Co. │67 Ambulance Co. Veterinary.│ │ │ │ │27 Ldw. Field │110 Field Hospital. │ │ Hospital. │ │ │Vet. Hospital. │27 Ldw. Field │ │ │ Hospital. │ │ │241 Vet. Hospital. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Transport. │ │801 M. T. Col. │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Odd Units. │ │Deuxponts Landst. │ │ │ Inf. Btn. (2 C. │ │ │ Dist. Btn. No. │ │ │ 2). │ ─────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────

HISTORY.

(37th Landwehr; 5th Corps District—Posen. 349th Landwehr; 8th Corps District—Rhenish Province. 437th Regiment; 11th Corps District—Thuringe.)

1916.

The 91st Division (Clausius Division) was formed about August, 1916, from two Landwehr regiments—the 349th and the 350th, which constituted the 175th Brigade, taken from the 88th Division—and an active regiment, the 150th, temporarily transferred from the 37th Division. Later the organization of the 91st Division was modified.

VOLHYNIA.

1. As soon as it was organized the 91st Division was engaged on the Stokhod, north of the Kovel-Sarny railway and in the vicinity of Borovno (August, 1916). During these attacks the 150th suffered very big losses. This regiment rejoined its division (the 37th) shortly thereafter and was replaced by the 37th Landwehr, which had exercised a discreet surveillance over the Austrian troops (Russian information).

1917.

VOLHYNIA.

1. During the year 1917 the 91st Division was kept in Volhynia in the region of the Kovel-Sarny railway.

2. About the month of April it transferred the 350th Landwehr to the 45th Landwehr Division. It received the 437th Infantry, which had been organized in 1916 from Prussian elements taken from the 344th Infantry, the 349th Landwehr, and the 350th Landwehr, and which was with Austrian units.

In November the division seemed to have no particular sector and is “distributed among the little reliable troops of the Austrian Army,” (Weekly Bulletin of Information of Russian Army, Dec. 16–23, 1917.)

VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.

Kept in Russia for the occupation of Ukrainia, the 91st Division had but a very small combat value (April, 1918).

1918.

1. The division was last identified in the Ukraine at the end of August. There is evidence that the division was brought to the Western Front in September. Reports and prisoners’ statements pointed to the presence of the division in the Muelhausen area during October. However, it did not come into line on the Western Front. The division was not identified after the armistice among the retreating German units.

VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.

The division was rated as fourth class.

92d Division.

COMPOSITION.

─────────────┬───────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────── │ 1917 │ 1918 ─────────────┼─────────────┬─────────────┼─────────────┬───────────── │ Brigade. │ Regiment. │ Brigade. │ Regiment. ─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼───────────── Infantry. │28 Ldw. │39 Ldw. │28 Ldw. │39 Ldw. │ │419. │ │2 Ldw. │ │432. │ │32 Ldw. ─────────────┼─────────────┴─────────────┼─────────────┴───────────── Cavalry. │ (?) │1, 3, and 4 Sqns. 3 │ │ Cuirassier Rgt. │ │4 Sqn. Body Gd. Hus. Rgt. ─────────────┼───────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── Artillery. │Art. Command: │12 Ldw. F. A. Rgt. (except │ │ Rgt. Staff, 1 Abt. Staff, │ │ 1 and 5 Btries., 2 Abt. │ │ Staff, 7 and 9 Btries.). │ 2 F. A. Rgt. │ │ 895 F. A. Btry. │ ─────────────┼───────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── Engineers and│Pion. Btn.: │1 Ldw. Co. 14 C. Dist. Liaisons. │ │ Pions. │ 346 Pion. Co. │120 Searchlight Section. │ 92 T. M. Co. │92 Signal Command: │ 92 Tel. Detch. │ 92 Tel. Detch. ─────────────┼───────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── Medical and │276 Ambulance Co. │276 Ambulance Co. Veterinary.│ │ │5 Ldw. Field Hospital. │5 Ldw. Field Hospital. │Vet. Hospital. │242 Vet. Hospital. ─────────────┼───────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── Transport. │M. T. Col. │ ─────────────┴───────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────

HISTORY.

(39th Landwehr; 7th Corps District—Westphalia. 32d Landwehr; 11th Corps District—Thuringen.)

1917.

The 92d Division (Rusche Division) was formed at about the end of November, 1916, on the Eastern Front.

VOLHYNIA.

1. At first as a part of the Bernhardi Army, the 92d Division occupied in Volhynia the Gorokhov-Kisselin sectors south of the Kovel-Rovno railway (February-August, 1917). It was then made up of the 419th, 432d, and the 133d Landwehr (Saxon), the latter being afterwards replaced by the 39th Landwehr.

GALICIA.

2. In August, 1917, the division was transferred toward the south and put into line in the Zalosce (Galicia) sector. The 419th Infantry left the division to join the 77th Division, with which it left for France.

VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.

Having occupied from the time of its organization until April, 1918, but quiet Russian sectors, and, moreover, having given up its best men (those less than 35 years of age), who were transferred to other divisions on the Western Front, the 92d Division had but a mediocre combat value.

The 39th Landwehr, from the time of its formation in 1914, was noted in Belgium for its acts of insubordination (recruited from the mining population of Westphalia).

1918.

1. Relieved in the Zalosce sector in January, the division was in reserve in the vicinity of Zborow during February.

UKRAINE.

2. In April the division was in the Ukraine (39th Landwehr Regiment was identified near Kiev on the 23d; the 432d Regiment was in the vicinity of Klintsy on the 27th). The third regiment was the 32d Landwehr, left behind by the 197th Division upon its departure for France in February. The 432d Regiment sent to the Western Front was dissolved in May and was divided between the 22d Reserve and 82d Division. The 2d Landwehr and the 32d Landwehr Regiment were identified in the Ukraine early in October. Toward the end of the month elements of the division were reported along the Danube.

VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.

The Division was rated as fourth class.

93d Division.

COMPOSITION.

─────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┬─────────────────── │ 1916 │ 1917 │ 1918 ─────────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬─────────┼─────────┬───────── │Brigade. │Regiment.│Brigade. │Regiment.│Brigade. │Regiment. ─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼───────── Infantry. │215. │342. │166. │342. │ (?) │433 (10 │ │ │ │ │ │ and 11 │ │ │ │ │ │ cos.). │ │433. │ │433. │ │434. │ │434. │ │434. │ (?) │ (?) ─────────────┼─────────┴─────────┼─────────┴─────────┼─────────┴───────── Cavalry. │ │5 Sqn. 16 Drag. │5 Sqn. 16 Drag. │ │ Rgt. │ Rgt. │ │4 Sqn. 85 Cav. Rgt.│4 Sqn. 4 Hus. Rgt. │ │ │85 Cav. (Heavy) │ │ │ Rgt. ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Artillery. │ │Art. Command: │253 Ldw. F. A. Rgt. │ │ │ (except the Rgt. │ │ │ Staff, and 1 and │ │ │ 2 Abt. Staffs, │ │ │ and 4 and 6 │ │ │ Btries. of the 3 │ │ │ Abt.). │ │ 35 F. A. Rgt. │ │ │ 899 F. A. Btry. │ │ │ 900 F. A. Btry. │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Engineers and│1 Res. Co. 26 │Pion. Btn.: │81 Searchlight Liaisons. │ Pions. │ │ Section. │93 T. M. Co. │ 2 Ldw. Co. 1 │93 Signal Command: │ │ Pions. │ │ │ 1 Ldw. Co. 17 C. │ 93 Tel. Detch. │ │ Dist. Pions. │ (except 2 Sect.). │ │ 93 T. M. Co. │ │ │ 93 Tel. Detch. │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Medical and │ │233 Ambulance Co. │ Veterinary.│ │ │ │ │Field Hospital. │ │ │243 Vet. Hospital. │ ─────────────┼───────────────────┼───────────────────┼─────────────────── Transports. │ │M. T. Col. │ ─────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────┴───────────────────

HISTORY.

(433d Regiment: 18th and 20th Corps District—Hesse and Eastern Prussia. 434th Regiment: 4th Corps District—Prussian Saxony.)

1916.

The 93d Division (von Kramsta) was formed on the Eastern Front about the month of October, 1916 (region of Lida). One of its regiments, the 342d, had come from the 86th Division. The 433d and the 434th were newly created units.

RUSSIA.

1. In November, 1916, the 93d Division was in line to the southeast of Vichnev. At that time, with the 85th Landwehr Division, it formed the 17th Reserve Corps.

1917.

RUSSIA.

1. During the whole year 1917 the division stayed on the Little Berezina (Vichnev) front with the 12th Army.

VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.

Mediocre combat value.

1918.

RUSSIA.

1. About the middle of December, 1917, the 93d Division left the Berezina and advanced toward the east.

2. It was in reserve near Minsk the 2d of March and in the Klintsy region the 27th of April. The 342d Regiment had entrained on April 10 at Lida for Belgium, where it was dissolved in May; its men being divided between the 22d Reserves and 119th Division.

UKRAINE.

3. About the middle of May the division was identified near Kiev, where it was also identified as late as the 9th of September.

RUMANIA.

4. Toward the end of October elements of the division were identified along the Danube.

VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.

The Division was rated as fourth class.

94th Division.

COMPOSITION.