Introduction

The image of the German army during World War I, although 102 years have now passed, is still that of a powerful war machine: this is because, despite the fact that Germany was surrounded by many adversaries and starved by the naval blockade put in place by the powers of the Entente, it managed to hold its own and vibrate hard blows to its adversaries for four years while enduring material and human losses that a nation with a less efficient industrial and military base would never have carried out; yet despite everything, even this war machine had its limitations derived both from the extent of the fronts in which it operated that ranged from the West to Russia to the Middle East and the Caucasus not to forget the Italian fronts. Moreover as a result of the many defeats suffered by his allies ( Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire) he had to disperse his not-so-great human and material forces, which makes it all the more surprising that he lasted so long.

This army was the image of the empire that had created it i.e., that federal-type structure that came into being in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War, which had been the last of the wars that had brought about the unification of the various kingdoms and territorial entities present in Germany up to that time even though the core was the Prussian armies that had been the driving force behind this process that had begun as early as 1815 when Prussia after suffering harsh defeats at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte, reconstituted its army making it the driving center of its policy that led to the birth of the unified German state. Until that time, the various state entities in Germany had often fought each other over the centuries, and resentments did not subside even after the establishment of the empire, and this is especially true for the Kingdom of Bavaria, which maintained a command structure separate from that of the rest of the army albeit subordinate to the supreme command at the top of which were Prussian officers.

The army actually did not have its own name, and it can be said that Germany had its own real army only after World War I when the Reichswehr ( defense of the Reich) was established, which remained in existence until the end of the Weirmar Republic when, in 1933, Hitler took power and the Reichswehr transformed into the Wehrmacht that would conduct operations during World War II; at the end of which Germany found itself occupied by the Allies and then divided into two separate states that the Cold War climate would lead to being enemies with their own armed forces. The Federal Republic of Germany in the west will form in 1955 the Bundeswehr ( Federal Defense) framed in NATO which,after reunification in 1990 will transform into the present Deutsche Armee, in the east the German Democratic Republic will form the Nationale Volks Armee (NVA) framed in the Warsaw Pact and under strict Soviet control, this armed force will be disbanded upon reunification with West Germany in 1990, and few of its members will enter service in the unified German Army, although after years of judicial travails former members of the NVA were granted recognition of their service in the GDR with full legal and economic rights.

The German army in the First World War managed to keep itself intact even in morale because it was commanded by a caste of officers and non-commissioned officers who were prepared for long years in military schools and academies and subjected to constant training that included not only the study of theory but also periods of command in operational units, moreover then as now in the German armed forces cadres are trained to assume responsibility from their immediate superiors and to bring in a dowry of personal initiative, this explains the importance given to smaller units such as platoons and sections furthermore, staff officers before assuming positions of responsibility were sent to units at the front for a period of command to become aware of the real situation and then to be able to apply those lessons at a higher level, morale was also kept high and this is evidenced by the sparse cases of desertion and death sentences carried out by the military tribunals i.e. 28 far fewer than those enforced during the later conflict when about 15000 men were executed although data are missing from January to May 1945 when the SS and military police flying military tribunals executed without bothering to draw up records.

In the course of the First World War the structure of the German army underwent changes in relation to the situations on the various fronts and the political situations of the adversaries, as happened after the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in October 1917, which resulted in Russia’s exit from the conflict and thus the transfer of many units to the Western Front in an attempt to strike a decisive blow to the Allies, which, however, was unsuccessful, resulting in the final defeat that was to be followed by a turbulent period of internal revolutions in Germany with the appearance of the Frankish Corps into which many of the former military personnel would flow and then again with the birth of the National Socialist Party, which, while restoring the armed forces, would lead to a greater tragedy that would change the face of Germany and the world.

Organization of German infantry units

A German infantry division at the beginning of the conflict had a command with associated services ( transportation, stewardship and supply, military judges, health) and this type of structure was identical for reserve infantry divisions, while the command of Landwehr and replacement (Ersatz) divisions was more simplified. After mobilization was completed the frontline division had 12 infantry battalions, 4 machine gun companies, 3-4 cavalry squadrons ( detached from higher units), 12 artillery batteries, 2 pioneer companies, and a jager battalion. This pattern underwent little change during the conflict while the reserve divisions as they often lacked the machine gun companies and talvonta regiments consisted of two battalions instead of the normal division’s three, and the artillery component was also smaller with only one regiment out of six batteries and with the cavalry regiment attached to it consisting of three squadrons, while the guard reserve divisions were slightly different as they had one artillery brigade and two jager battalions. Ersatz/replacement division ) had three mixed brigades with a total of 15 battalions , 6 machine gun battalions, 3 cavalry sections and 12 artillery batteries; finally, the landwehr divisions had only 12 infantry battalions without the machine gun component and a smaller artillery outfit.

As the war progressed and losses increased new infantry divisions were formed with elements from other units, and those sent to the front first consisted of two reserve infantry brigades and with less cavalry and artillery, the later ones had only one infantry brigade but more artillery while the last divisions formed in 1917-18 saw their numbers reduced in all components, but sometimes ad hoc divisions were created by combining units from different backgrounds, gradually replacement and reserve units were also brought up to the structure of front-line units: the only exception was the Naval Division which included one infantry brigade and one artillery brigade, after November 1914 two more were formed but the 2nd division had one infantry brigade while the 3rd included three infantry regiments and replacement units.

There were then three Jaeger divisions of which the Alpen Korps was the oldest , these units had two Jaeger brigades of which one consisted of the Bavarian Guard Infantry Regiment and the 1st Jaeger Regiment, while the others had two Jaeger regiments, 10 machine gun companies, 3 field artillery battalions. Each infantry army corps had a military police component (feldgendarmerie) detached from the Prussian territorial police .

Infantry brigades were made up of two regiments and often acted autonomously divided internally into three groups although many fenced then within the division some remained autonomous throughout the war they were:11-21- 29-31 47- 51-55- 56-61 and 84 Landwehr, 2 Bicycle Brigade, 1 Bavarian Landwehr Brigade, 1 and 61 Reserve Brigade. Infantry regiments consisted of three battalions and a machine gun company which however was missing in the reserve and Landwehr divisions but was present in the replacement divisions ( Ersatz) , while some reserve regiments had only two battalions however infantry battalion manning was reduced during the conflict due to losses and reorganization of the divisions but during the same period it was those in reserve that were increasingly employed on the front lines and the number of regiments in the reserve and replacement infantry brigades was also increased. As for the Landsturm at the beginning of the conflict it had 334 battalions of which 142 were mobile mostly deployed on the eastern border and then later sent to quiet areas of the Western Front . initially the training of recruits took place at garrison depots then increasingly at front-line units to accustom the reinforcements to trench warfare. Jager units had a tactical use similar to that of normal infantry and only at the beginning of the war did they flank cavalry units in advancing westward then they were assembled into divisions and sent to the Carpathians, Alps however their numerical size was double that of normal infantry battalions and only at the start of the war did they have machine gun units from 18 battalions in 1914 to 27 in 1918 including one composed of Finnish volunteers

The German army formed units for the war that had their first deployment in the Vosges then in December 1914 the 1st Bavarian Ski Battalion and the Wurtemberg Ski Company were formed later three more ski battalions were trained so in April 1915 the famous Alpenkorps was formed that joined the previous units with units of the Bavarian Landwehr, so there were three jager regiments in May 1915 were then added the 1st Bavarian Jaeger Regiment, the 10th Prussian jager battalion, and the 10th and 14th reserve jager battalions, which together with the previous units formed the 2nd Jaeger Regiment .. the Wurtemberg Ski Company remained in the Vosges and then incorporated into the Wurtemberg Mountain Battalion and remained in the same area until 1916 then participated in the Romanian campaign to return to the Western Front where it remained until the end of the war. As for the Alpenkorps at the time of its establishment it consisted of the following units: 1st Bavarian Jager Brugata ( 1st Bavarian Jager Regiment and Bavarian Guard Infantry Regiment); 2 Bavarian Jager Brigade ( 2nd Jager Regiment, 3rd Jager Regiment ) , three machine gun units, one cavalry squadron, six artillery battalions, support units; this order was maintained throughout the department’s deployment on the various fronts while at the end of the war this large unit had the 1 Bavarian Jager Brigade on two regiments, a cavalry squadron and support units.

A special mention within the German infantry deserves the assault units, the famous Sturmtruppen, which arose out of the need to break the deadlock on the Western and Italian fronts; the Eastern and Balkan fronts were more fluid, the formation of these particular units was entrusted to the pioneer army (sappers) and the first unit was given to Major Calsow and sent to Lorraine with disappointing results, its remnants went to cofluence in the unit that Captain Rohr of the Guard Fusiliers was forming , although an experimental unit it had good results in the capture of the hill called Hartmannsweilerkopf in December 1915 and in 1916 it was included in the 5 Army. Jager units also played a role as assault troops, and gradually, following the example of the Rohr battalion other units were formed, which by 1918 had grown to 14 to which were added three independent companies and a marching battalion

During the course of the conflict, military police units were also brought to the lien of the front in the area of Army Group Kronprinz while others were subordinated to the military governorate in Poland.As the end of the war approached and discipline in German units eased, the military police were almost all sent west where the Military Police Corps for Special Employment ( Feldgendarmerie Korps Zur besonderen Verwendung) was formed consisting of five cavalry squadrons and nine police regiments

Summing up at the beginning of the conflict there were 218 active infantry regiments, 18 active jager battalions, 113 reserve regiments and 75 Landwehr regiments to which were added 406 replacement infantry battalions and 18 replacement jager battalions while 21 landwehr infantry regiments and 334 landsturms remained at home but were then sent to the front at the end of 1914, the war took its toll of casualties and thus the infantry units were subject to various reorganizations , some landsturn battalions went to the border with Holland and Switzerland, others to the defense of the Baltic Sea islands while all reserve units performed front-line duties until the end of the war .

Conclusion

The German army in World War I was structured in an articulate and efficient way and knew how to adapt to the changing situations that occurred in the course of the conflict, this was also due to the command cadres who were trained, after hard selections, in academies and in the famous war school in Berlin as well as in the Bavarian one, these men did not remain tied to their offices but were sent to the field to experience operational conditions this made them more efficient than the Allied generals who rarely ventured to the front lines, they equally made major tactical and strategic mistakes but knew how to find a solution to even the most difficult situations. As in all armies, however, it was the junior officers and non-commissioned officers who were the mainstay of the German infantry, and casualties among them were always high. A characteristic feature of the German armed forces was, and still is, the ability to set up ad hoc units to deal with emergency situations, and this will be seen especially in World War II. Discipline remained firm until the last months when it was now obvious, that after years of effort and suffering , the war was lost , and only then did cases of desertion and mutiny occur but this was only when troops retreated across the Rhine and returned to their prewar garrisons, this led to what was the German Revolution, the birth of the Free Corps and then that of National Socialism .

Appendix

List of German infantry regiments in World War I

Foot Guards Regiments 1-5; Grenadier Guards Regiments 1-5; Infantry Training Regiment ( Lehr); Grenadier Regiments 1-7; Leib Grenadier Regiment 8; Grenadier Regiments 9- 12; Infantry Regiments 12-32; Rifle Regiments 33-40; Infantry Regiments 41-72; Rifle Regiment 73; Infantry Regiments 74-79; Rifle Regiment 80 ; Infantry Regiments 81-85 ; Rifle Regiment 86; Infantry Regiments 87-88; Grenadier Regiment 89; Rifle Regiment 90; Infantry Regiments 91-99; Leib Grenadier Regiment 100 ; Grenadier Regiment 101; Infantry Regiments 102-107; Schutzen Regiment 108 ( Shooters); Leib Grenadiers Regiment 109; Grenadier Regiment 110; Infantry Regiments 111-114 ; Guard Infantry Regiments 115-118 ; Grenadier Regiment 119; Infantry Regiments120-121; Grenadier Regiment 123; Infantry Regiments 124-182; Bavarian Guard Infantry Regiment; Bavarian Infantry Regiments 1-23

These were the regiments at the beginning of the conflict their numbering was double i.e. consequential within the army and the states that made up the German empire, except those of the Grenadiers and the Guard the other units came from East Prussia, Pomerania, West Prussia, Brandenburg, Silesia ( Upper and Lower) , Westphalia, Posen, Rhineland, Magdeburg, Thuringia, Hohenzollern, Hanover, East Frisia, Schleswig, Nassau, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg, Oldemburg, Braunschweig, Anhalt, Metz (Alsace) Saxony, Baden, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Wurtemberg, Danzig, Lotharingia ( Lorraine), Kulm, Masuria, Ermland, Alsace, Bavaria; as can be seen, the units reflected the complex structure of the German empire which onclude armies of four kingdoms ( Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria and Wurtemberg),six grand duchies ( Baden, Hesse – Darmstadt, Mecklenburg – Schwerin, Mecklenburg – Streliz, Saxony Weimar and Olbemburg), five duchies ( Braunschweig, Saxony – Meiningen,Saxony – Altemburg, Saxony-Coburg-Gotha, Anhalt), seven principalities ( Schwarzburg Sodnerhausen, Schwarzburg Rudolstadt, Waldeck, Reuss first and second line, Schaumburg Lippe and Lippe), and the free cities of Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck to which were added Alsace and Lorraine taken from France in the War of 1870-71 and considered imperial territories. Each regiment bore an honorific title to denote the ” owner ( Inhaber) since in the Middle Ages regiments were made available to the sovereign by the great feudal lords who armed them and paid out of their own pockets then over time the names ended up being those of sovereigns to other persons of high rank. The following units were formed in 1915: Guard Infantry Regiments 6-7; Infantry Regiments 183-190; Infantry Regiments 192-193; Infantry Regiments 329-336, – 341-347 – 351-354 – 357-365 367-368 – 380-

381; Bavarian Infantry Regiments 24-25; in 1916 Infantry Regiments 389 to 428, 431 to 434, 442 to 444, 477 and Bavarian Infantry Regiments 26 to 29 were added; finally in 1917 there were Infantry Regiments 445-476,478-479 and Bavarian 30 and 31. Regiments

Reserve Infantry: 1-2 of the Guard, 1-3, 5-13, 15-32, 34-40, 46, 48-49, 51-53, 55-57, 59-61,

64-84, 86-88, 90-94, 98-99, Grenadiers 100, 101-104, 106-107, 109-111, 116, 118-121, 130, 133,

Bavarian reserve regiments 1-8, 10-15 to which were added until the end of the conflict Bavarian regiments 201-248, Bavarian regiments 16-17-20-21, regiments 249-272, Bavarian 18-19, -22-23,

Regiment 122, 273,440-441: Landwehr Infantry Regiments 1-13 , 15-40, 46-49, 51-53, 55-56,

60-61, 65-66, 68, 71-78, 80-85, 87, 93-94, 99, Grenadier Landwehr 100, 101-102, 104, 106-107,

109-110, 116, 118-125, 133, 350, Bavarian Landwehr 10, 12-14, 57, 103, 126,349, 379, 382, 111,

383-388, 429-430, 435-436, 86, 89, 105, 153, 327-328. Presidio Infantry Regiments 1-3. Replacements Infantry Regiments /Ersatz) 1-2 of the Guard, 1-3 Konigsberg, 1-3 Bavarian, 23-24, 28, 32, 40, 51-52, 4 Bavarian, 29, 5 Bavarian. Regiments of Replacements 1-4 . Regiments

Replacement Infantry Landwehr : 1-5 , 6-9. Regimental Infantry Landsturm : 1-2-3-7-11, 13-

17-19-23-25-26-109 and 115, 31-36, 38-40 and 2 Bavarian. Jager regiments ( Hunters) : 1

Bavarian, 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10, 29 Bavarian, 11-14, 15 Bavarian. Mountain re giments : Wurtenìmberg Mountain Regiment. Assault battalions : Rohr (later No. 5), 1-3, 4-12, 14-16, 17-18.

These units plus skier battalions and other support units went to form 21747 Infantry Brigades including the Bavarian ones to which must be added 6 infantry brigades of the Guard, 82 of the Reserve, 18 of the Bavarian Reserve, 88 of the Landwehr, 6 of the Bavarian Landwehr, 27 replacement ( Ersatz), 2 of the Landsturm, 2 Bavarian jager brigades, and 4 naval infantry which included both actual navy infantrymen and supernumerary sailors landed from surface units

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