The 10th Reserve Division (''10. Reserve-Division'') was a unit of the Prussian Army, part of

Imperial German (, literally translated ) is an archaic term for those ethnic Germans who resided within the German state that was founded in 1871. In contemporary usage, it referred to German citizens, the word signifying people from the German ', i.e., Imp ...

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The division was formed on mobilization of the German Army in August 191410. Reserve-Division (Chronik 1914–1918)
/ref> as part of V Reserve Corps. The division was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I. The division was formed with a regular infantry brigade from the

Province of West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and from 1878 to 1919. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773, formed from Royal Prussia of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonweal ...

and a reserve infantry brigade from West Prussia and the

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...

Combat chronicle

The 10th Reserve Division fought on the Western Front, participating in the opening German offensive which led to the Allied

Great Retreat The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western F ...

. Thereafter, the division remained in the line in the Verdun region until February 1916, when it entered the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun ( ; ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in French Third Republic, France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

under command of

General der Infanterie General of the infantry is a military rank of a General officer in the infantry and refers to: * General of the Infantry (Austria) * General of the Infantry (Bulgaria) * General of the Infantry (Germany) ('), a rank of a general in the German Impe ...

Max von Bahrfeldt Max Ferdinand Bahrfeldt (), ennobled as von Bahrfeldt in 1913 (6 February 1856 – 11 April 1936), was a royal Prussian General of the Infantry (Germany), General of the Infantry, a local historian, and a numismatist of world renown. In the anglo ...

. After a respite in the lines in the Upper Alsace and Champagne, the division fought in the later phases of the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

. It returned to Verdun in late October 1916. In 1917, it fought on the Aisne, including in the

Second Battle of the Aisne The Second Battle of the Aisne ( or , 16 April – mid-May 1917) was the main part of the Nivelle Offensive, a French Third Republic, Franco-British attempt to inflict a decisive defeat on the German Empire, German armies in France. The Entente ...

, also known as the Third Battle of Champagne. The division returned again to Verdun in April 1917, remaining in the line until late July, when it went into reserve for a few weeks. It returned to the trenchlines near Reims on 8 August, remaining in that region until March 1918. The division then participated in the 1918

German spring offensive The German spring offensive, also known as ''Kaiserschlacht'' ("Kaiser's Battle") or the Ludendorff offensive, was a series of German Empire, German attacks along the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during the World War I, First Wor ...

, including the

Third Battle of the Aisne The Third Battle of the Aisne () was part of the German spring offensive during World War I that focused on capturing the Chemin des Dames Ridge before the American Expeditionary Forces arrived completely in French Third Republic, France. It w ...

, and in the Second Battle of the Marne, the last major German offensive of the war. It fought against the French and American Aisne-Marne Offensive and remained in the line until the end of the war. Allied intelligence rated the division as first class and described it as a "big attack" division.

Order of battle on mobilization

The order of battle of the 10th Reserve Division on mobilization was as follows: *77. Infanterie-Brigade **Füsilier-Regiment von Steinmetz (1. Westpreußisches) Nr. 37 **7. Westpreußisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 155 *18. Reserve-Infanterie-Brigade **Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 37 **Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 46 *Reserve-Ulanen-Regiment Nr. 6 *Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 10 *1.Reserve-Kompanie/Niederschlesisches Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 5 *2.Reserve-Kompanie/Niederschlesisches Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 5

Order of battle on 14 March 1918

The 10th Reserve Division was triangularized in April 1916. Over the course of the war, other changes took place, including the formation of artillery and signals commands and a pioneer battalion. The order of battle on 14 March 1918 was as follows:Cron et al., ''Ruhmeshalle''. *77. Infanterie-Brigade **Füsilier-Regiment von Steinmetz (1. Westpreußisches) Nr. 37 **Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 37 **7. Westpreußisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 155 **Maschinengewehr-Scharfschützen-Abteilung Nr. 10 *1. Eskadron/Reserve-Dragoner-Regiment Nr. 3 *Artillerie-Kommandeur 61 **Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 10 **I.Bataillon/Reserve-Fußartillerie-Regiment Nr. 3 *Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 310 *Divisions-Nachrichten-Kommandeur 410

References

10. Reserve-Division (Chronik 1914/1918) – Der erste Weltkrieg
* Hermann Cron et al., ''Ruhmeshalle unserer alten Armee'' (Berlin, 1935) * Hermann Cron, ''Geschichte des deutschen Heeres im Weltkriege 1914–1918'' (Berlin, 1937) * Günter Wegner, ''Stellenbesetzung der deutschen Heere 1815–1939.'' (Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, 1993), Bd. 1 * ''Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions of the German Army which Participated in the War (1914–1918), compiled from records of Intelligence section of the General Staff, American Expeditionary Forces, at General Headquarters, Chaumont, France 1919'' (1920)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:10 Reserve divisions of Germany in World War I Military units and formations established in 1914 Military units and formations disestablished in 1919 1914 establishments in Germany