The 119th Infantry Division (''119. Infanterie-Division'') was a formation of the

Imperial German ', literally translated "Germans of the ", 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 Germ ...

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 ...

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 ...

. The division was formed on March 25, 1915, and organized over the next several weeks.119. Infanterie-Division (Chronik 1915/1918)
/ref> It was part of a wave of new infantry divisions formed in the spring of 1915. The division was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I. The division was formed primarily from the excess infantry regiments of regular infantry divisions which were being triangularized. The division's 237th Infantry Brigade staff was formerly the staff of the 19th Infantry Brigade of the 10th Infantry Division, which came to the new division along with the 46th Infantry Regiment. The 46th Reserve Infantry Regiment was formerly part of the 10th Reserve Division. The 58th Infantry Regiment came from the 9th Infantry Division. The division was primarily recruited in the V Army Corps area (Posen and Lower Silesia).

Combat chronicle

The 119th Infantry Division initially fought on the Eastern Front in World War I, entering the line in April as part of "Combined Corps Kneussl" (''Kombiniertes Korps Kneussl'') and then fighting in the battle of Gorlice-Tarnów and the ensuing Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive. In August 1915, it participated in the attack on Brest-Litovsk. From September 1915 to March 1916, the division occupied the line between the Servech and Shchara Rivers, near

Baranovichi Baranavichy ( ; be, Бара́навічы, Łacinka: , ; russian: Бара́новичи; yi, באַראַנאָוויטש; pl, Baranowicze) is a city in the Brest Region of western Belarus, with a population (as of 2019) of 179,000. It is not ...

. It remained in the line in Russia until May 1917, when it was transferred to the Western Front, where it was initially stationed on the Belgian/Dutch border. It went into the line in Flanders in May and fought in the Battle of Messines and the Battle of Passchendaele. It was removed from the line to rest in October and returned to line to face the Allied attack in the Battle of Cambrai. In 1918, the division participated in the German spring offensive, fighting in the

First Battle of the Somme (1918) Operation Michael was a major German military offensive during the First World War that began the German Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. Its goal was to ...

, also known as the Second Battle of the Somme (to distinguish it from the 1916 battle), and the Battle of the Lys, also known as the Fourth Battle of Ypres. It later fought in the

Second Battle of the Somme (1918) The Second Battle of the Somme of 1918 was fought during the First World War on the Western Front from late August to early September, in the basin of the River Somme. It was part of a series of successful counter-offensives in response to the ...

, also known as the Third Battle of the Somme. It remained in the line until the end of the war. Allied intelligence rated the division as second class.

Order of battle on formation

The 119th Infantry Division was formed as a

triangular division A triangular division is a designation given to the way military divisions are organized. In a triangular organization, the division's main body is composed of three regimental maneuver elements. These regiments may be controlled by a brigade head ...

. The order of battle of the division on March 25, 1915, was as follows: *237. Infanterie-Brigade **Infanterie-Regiment Graf Kirchbach (1. Niederschlesisches) Nr. 46 **3. Posensches Infanterie-Regiment Nr.58 **Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 46 *3.Eskadron/Ulanen-Regiment Kaiser Alexander III von Rußland (Westpreußisches ) Nr. 1 *4.Eskadron/Regiment Königs-Jäger zu Pferde Nr. 1 *Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 237 *Fußartillerie-Batterie Nr. 119 *Pionier-Kompanie Nr. 237

Late-war order of battle

The division underwent relatively few organizational changes over the course of the war. Cavalry was reduced, artillery and signals commands were formed, and combat engineer support was expanded to a full pioneer battalion. The order of battle on March 10, 1918, was as follows:Cron et al., ''Ruhmeshalle''. *237.Infanterie-Brigade **Infanterie-Regiment Graf Kirchbach (1. Niederschlesisches) Nr. 46 **3. Posensches Infanterie-Regiment Nr.58 **Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 46 **Maschinengewehr-Scharfschützen-Abteilung Nr. 15 *4.Eskadron/ Regiment Königs-Jäger zu Pferde Nr. 1 *Artillerie-Kommandeur 119 **Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 237 **I.Bataillon/Fußartillerie-Regiment Nr. 27 *Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 119 **Pionier-Kompanie Nr. 237 **Pionier-Kompanie Nr. 273 **Minenwerfer-Kompanie Nr. 119 *Divisions-Nachrichten-Kommandeur 119

References

119. Infanterie-Division (Chronik 1915/1918) - 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 1825-1939.'' (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:119th Infantry Division (German Empire) Infantry divisions of Germany in World War I Military units and formations established in 1915 Military units and formations disestablished in 1919 1915 establishments in Germany