The XVIII Reserve Corps (german: XVIII. Reserve-Korps / XVIII RK) 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

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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 ...

Formation

XVIII Reserve Corps was formed on the outbreak of the war in August 1914 as part of the mobilisation of the Army. It was initially commanded by

Generalleutnant is the Germanic variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries. Austria Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed Forces (''Bundesheer''), roughly equivalent to the NATO rank of O ...

Kuno von Steuben Kuno Arndt von Steuben (Eisenach, 9 April 1855 – Berlin, 14 January 1935) was a Prussian military officer, and a general in the First World War. Life He was born in a noble family, of which Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730–1794) is best k ...

, formerly of the Prussian War Academy. It was still in existence at the end of the war in the 18th Army, ''Heeresgruppe Deutscher Kronprinz'' on the Western Front.

Structure on formation

On formation in August 1914, XVIII Reserve Corps consisted of two divisions, made up of reserve units. In general, Reserve Corps and Reserve Divisions were weaker than their active counterparts :Reserve Infantry Regiments did not always have three battalions nor necessarily contain a machine gun company :Reserve Jäger Battalions did not have a machine gun company on formation :Reserve Cavalry Regiments consisted of just three squadrons :Reserve Field Artillery Regiments usually consisted of two ''abteilungen'' of three batteries each :Corps Troops generally consisted of a Telephone Detachment and four sections of munition columns and trains In summary, XVIII Reserve Corps mobilised with 24 infantry battalions, 5 machine gun companies (30 machine guns), 6 cavalry squadrons, 12 field artillery batteries (72 guns) and 3

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 de ...

companies. It included one active Infantry Regiment (168th).

Combat chronicle

On mobilisation, XVIII Reserve Corps was assigned to the 4th Army forming part of the centre of the forces for the

Schlieffen Plan The Schlieffen Plan (german: Schlieffen-Plan, ) is a name given after the First World War to German war plans, due to the influence of Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen and his thinking on an invasion of France and Belgium, which began on 4 ...

offensive in August 1914.

Commanders

XVIII Reserve Corps had the following commanders during its existence:

References

Bibliography