The First Battle of the First World War

Alsace-Lorraine

Karl Deuringer, Terence Zuber

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780752460864
• eBook ISBN: 9780750951791
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

On 7 August 1914 a French corps attacked towards Mulhouse in Alsace and was immediately thrown back by the Germans. On 14 August, two weeks before Tannenberg and three weeks before the Battle of the Marne, the French 1st and 2nd Armies attacked into Lorraine, and on 20 August the German 6th and 7th Armies counterattacked. After forty-three years of peace, this was the first test of strength between France and Germany. In 1929, Karl Deuringer wrote the official history of the battle for the Bavarian Army, an immensely detailed work of 890 pages, chronicling the battle to 15 September. Here, First World War expert and former army officer Terence Zuber has translated and edited this study to a more accessible length, while retaining over thirty highly detailed maps, to bring us the first account in English of the first major battle of the Great War.

1

The Bavarian Army at the Outbreak of War

The Peacetime Army

The Bavarian Army at the outbreak of the war can be considered from two points of view. From the outside it appeared to be an integral part of the German Army, but from within it was a complete, separate and independent army. The titular commander of the army was the King of Bavaria; the War Minister exercised command in his name, as well as having administrative authority. The Bavarian General Staff was subordinate to the Bavarian War Ministry. This was in contrast to Prussia, where, in addition to the War Ministry, the Military Cabinet, Great General Staff, Corps Commanding Generals and General Inspectors of the various arms all had immediate access to the King.

The peacetime Bavarian Army consisted of three corps, each with two divisions:

24 infantry regiments (72 battalions)6

2 Jäger (light infantry) battalions

1 machine-gun section

12 cavalry regiments (57 squadrons)7

12 field artillery regiments (72 field artillery batteries, 3 horse artillery batteries)8

3 foot (heavy) artillery regiments (22 batteries and 4 draught horse sections)

4 engineer battalions (14 companies)

1 railroad battalion

2 telegraph battalions (5 companies and a draught horse section), plus a cavalry telegraph school

1 transportation battalion (1 airship and 1 truck company)

1 aviation battalion (aviation company and flight school)

3 supply battalions (12 companies)

The production, procurement and administration of military equipment was the responsibility of the Bavarian Quartermaster Office, which included a small-arms factory in Amberg, a gun foundry and munitions plant in Ingolstadt, an artillery maintenance plant in Munich, the central laboratory and a powder works in Ingolstadt, as well as seven artillery depots and three supply depots. Bavaria also administered a separate military educational system, with a General Staff college, artillery, engineer and infantry schools, and a corps of cadets, a school of military equitation and a non-commissioned officer (NCO) academy. Bavaria also possessed a separate army archive, topographic bureau, army museum and library.

Bavaria had three Major Training Areas at Grafenwöhr, Hammelburg and Lechfeld. Troop support was provided by civil servants: commissary officers, facilities managers, garrison administrators and finance officials, etc. There was a military hospital system, including a military medical school. Bavaria had its own military justice system and a military police (MP) corps, with a MP headquarters and a detachment in each of the eight regional governments. The personnel replacement system consisted of three Landwehr inspectorates and thirty-four county replacement commands. The Bavarian fortress at Germersheim had gained in importance and been equipped as a bridgehead over the Rhine. The fortress at Ingolstadt had been reduced to caretaker status.

The authorised peacetime strength of the Bavarian Army at the start of the war was 3,375 officers, 289 doctors, 102 veterinarians, 1,015 senior and mid-grade administrators, 11,830 NCOs, 71,295 enlisted men and 16,918 horses.

After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870−1 Bavaria adopted the Prussian military system in accordance with the alliance treaty of 23 November 1870.9 This did not affect the independence of the Bavarian Army, however. Only with the declaration of war – at the beginning of mobilisation – did the Bavarian Army fall under the command authority of the German Emperor, but still remained an independent element of the German Army under the command and administration of the King of Bavaria. In peacetime, the German Emperor had the right and duty to inspect the Bavarian Army to insure that it was complete and combat effective. Initially, these inspections were entrusted to Prussian officers. In 1892 the Bavarian General of Cavalry, Prince Leopold...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Quote
• Contents
• Preface
• Translator/Editor Preface
• A Note on the Maps
• Glossary
• 1 The Bavarian Army at the Outbreak of War
• 2 Covering Force, Deployment and Combat to 19 August
• 3 The Battle in Lorraine and the Vosges, 20−22 August
• 4 The Battle at Nancy-Épinal 23 August – 14 September
• Order of Battle
• Copyright