The I Royal Bavarian Army Corps / I Bavarian AK (german: I. Königlich Bayerisches Armee-Korps) was a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

level command of the Royal Bavarian Army, part of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, before and during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. As part of the 1868 army reform, the I Royal Bavarian Army Corps of the Bavarian Army was set up in 1869 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

as the ''Generalkommando'' (

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

) for the southern part of the Kingdom. With the formation of the

III Royal Bavarian Corps The III Royal Bavarian Army Corps / III Bavarian AK (german: III. Königlich Bayerisches Armee-Korps) was a corps level command of the Royal Bavarian Army, part of the German Army, before and during World War I. As the German and Bavarian Armies ...

in 1900, it was made responsible for

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

and most of Upper and

Lower Bavaria Lower Bavaria (german: Niederbayern, Bavarian: ''Niedabayern'') is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of the state. Geography Lower Bavaria is subdivided into two regions () – Landshut and Donau-W ...

. Like all Bavarian formations, it was assigned to the IV Army Inspectorate. This became the 6th Army at the start of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The Corps was disbanded at the end of the war along with the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

Franco-Prussian War

The I Royal Bavarian Corps (along with the

II Royal Bavarian Corps The II Royal Bavarian Army Corps / II Bavarian AK (german: II. Königlich Bayerisches Armee-Korps) was a corps level command of the Royal Bavarian Army, part of the German Army, before and during World War I. As part of the 1868 army reform, the ...

) participated in the Franco-Prussian War as part of the 3rd Army. It initially fought in the battles of Worth, Beaumont and

Bazeilles Bazeilles () is a commune in the Ardennes department in the Grand Est region of northern France. On 1 January 2017, the former communes of Rubécourt-et-Lamécourt and Villers-Cernay were merged into Bazeilles. The inhabitants of the commune are ...

, where it lost about 7,000 men, it also fought at the decisive

battle of Sedan The Battle of Sedan was fought during the Franco-Prussian War from 1 to 2 September 1870. Resulting in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and over a hundred thousand troops, it effectively decided the war in favour of Prussia and its allies, ...

. After Sedan, the Corps was responsible for the removal of prisoners and ensuring transport of the booty. Thereafter, it moved south of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

to the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

, to shield the army during the Siege of Paris. A newly formed French Corps gathered in the

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and 17th Division, 22nd Division and two cavalry divisions. After the Battle of

Artenay Artenay () is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. Artenay station has rail connections to Orléans, Étampes and Paris. Population See also * Communes of the Loiret department The following is the list of the 325 commun ...

, Orléans was captured and the reinforcing divisions were removed so the Corps did not have them for the first battles against the

Army of the Loire An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. As a result of the subsequent

Battle of Coulmiers The Battle of Coulmiers was fought on 9 November 1870 between French and Bavarian forces during the Franco-Prussian War, ending in French victory. The struggle The Army of the Loire, under General D'Aurelle de Paladines, surprised a Bavaria ...

, Orléans was lost once again. In the period from October to late December 1870, the Corps was on service without interruption, particularly from the beginning of November in the battles of Villepion, Loigny,

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Beaugency Beaugency () is a commune in the Loiret department, Centre-Val de Loire, north-central France. It is located on the Loire river, upriver (northeast) from Blois and downriver from Orléans. History 11 March 1152 the council of Beaugency annulled ...

, usually against a numerically superior enemy. The losses in December alone amounted to 5,600 men. A planned return to the siege army at Paris had to be postponed several times because the Bavarians could not be spared.

Peacetime organisation

The 25 peacetime

Corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

of the German Army (Guards, I - XXI, I - III Bavarian) had a reasonably standardised organisation. Each consisted of two divisions with usually two infantry brigades, one field artillery brigade and a cavalry brigade each. Each brigade normally consisted of two regiments of the appropriate type, so each Corps normally commanded 8 infantry, 4 field artillery and 4 cavalry regiments. There were exceptions to this rule: : V, VI,

VII VII or vii may refer to: the Roman numeral 7 Art and entertainment * The Vii, a video game console * vii, leading-tone triad, see diminished triad * ''VII'' (Blitzen Trapper album) * ''VII'' (Just-Ice album) * ''VII'' (Teyana Taylor album) * ...

, IX and

XIV Corps 14 Corps, 14th Corps, Fourteenth Corps, or XIV Corps may refer to: * XIV Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * XIV Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army prior to and during World ...

each had a 5th infantry brigade (so 10 infantry regiments) : II,

XIII XIII may refer to: * 13 (number) or XIII in Roman numerals * 13th century in Roman numerals * ''XIII'' (comics), a Belgian comic book series by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance ** ''XIII'' (2003 video game), a 2003 video game based on the comic b ...

, XVIII and XXI Corps had a 9th infantry regiment : I, VI and XVI Corps had a 3rd cavalry brigade (so 6 cavalry regiments) :the Guards Corps had 11 infantry regiments (in 5 brigades) and 8 cavalry regiments (in 4 brigades). Each Corps also directly controlled a number of other units. This could include one or more :Foot Artillery Regiment : Jäger Battalion :

Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

Battalion :

Train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

Battalion

World War I

Organisation on mobilisation

On mobilization, on 2 August 1914, the Corps was restructured. 1st Cavalry Brigade was withdrawn to form part of the

Bavarian Cavalry Division The Bavarian Cavalry Division (''Bayerische Kavallerie-Division'') was a unit of the Royal Bavarian Army, part of the German Army, in World War I. The division was formed on the mobilization of the German Army in August 1914. The division was disb ...

and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade was broken up and its regiments assigned to the divisions as reconnaissance units. Divisions received engineer companies and other support units from the Corps headquarters. In summary, I Bavarian Corps mobilised with 25 infantry battalions, 8 machine gun companies (48 machine guns), 8 cavalry squadrons, 24 field artillery batteries (144 guns), 4 heavy artillery batteries (16 guns), 3 pioneer companies and an aviation detachment.

Combat chronicle

On mobilisation, I Royal Bavarian Corps was assigned to the predominantly Bavarian 6th Army forming part of the left wing of the forces for the Schlieffen Plan offensive in August 1914. It was still in existence at the end of the war in the 18th Army, ''Heeresgruppe Deutscher Kronprinz'' on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

Commanders

The I Royal Bavarian Corps had the following commanders during its existence:The Prussian Machine
Accessed: 7 June 2012

Headquarters staff during World War I

From 2 August 1914, its headquarters staff were: * Commanding General: Gen. d. Inf. Oskar Ritter v. Xylander, Gen.-Lt. Nikolaus Ritter v. Endres as Führer from 23 June 1918 * Chief of General Staff: Gen.-Maj. Karl Frhr. v. Nagel zu Aichberg, Gen.-Maj. Möhl from 6 March 1915, Maj. Ludwig Graf v. Holnstein from Bavaria from 13 September 1916, Oberstlt. Friedrich Haack from 29 May 1918. * General staff: Maj. Hans Hemmer, Hptm. Wilhelm Leeb, Hptm. Otto Frhr. v. Berchem, Hptm. Karl Deuringer * Commander of Engineers: Major Georg Vogl

Notes

References

Bibliography

* von Dellmensingen Konrad Krafft & Feeser Friedrichfranz; ''Das Bayernbuch vom Weltkriege 1914-1918'', Chr. Belser AG, Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1930 * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:B01 Corps of Germany in World War I Military units and formations of Bavaria 1869 establishments in Bavaria Military units and formations established in 1869 Military units and formations disestablished in 1919