15th Division (German Empire)

15th Division (15. Division); in 1870-71 and from August 2, 1914, 15th Infantry Division (15. Infanterie-Division)
Active1818–1919
CountryPrussia/Germany
BranchArmy
TypeInfantry (in peacetime included cavalry)
SizeApprox. 15,000
Part ofVIII. Army Corps (VIII. Armeekorps)
Garrison/HQCologne
EngagementsAustro-Prussian War: Königgrätz

Franco-Prussian War: Gravelotte, Metz, Amiens, Hallue, Bapaume, St. Quentin

World War I: Great Retreat, 1st Marne, Somme, German spring offensive, Oise-Aisne, Meuse-Argonne
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Ernst von Pfuel
Max von Gallwitz
Gerhard Tappen

The 15th Division (15. Division) was a unit of the Prussian/German Army.[1] It was formed as the 16th Division on September 5, 1818, in Cologne from the 4th Brigade of the Army Corps in France.[2] It became the 15th Division on December 14, 1818. The division was subordinated in peacetime to the VIII Army Corps (VIII. Armeekorps).[3] The division was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I. It was recruited in the densely populated Prussian Rhine Province, mainly in the Lower Rhine region.

  1. ^ From the late 1800s, the Prussian Army was effectively the German Army, as during the period of German unification (1866-1871) the states of the German Empire entered into conventions with Prussia regarding their armies and only the Bavarian Army remained fully autonomous.
  2. ^ Günter Wegner, Stellenbesetzung der deutschen Heere 1815-1939. (Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, 1993), Bd. 1, p.111-112; Claus von Bredow, bearb., Historische Rang- und Stammliste des deuschen Heeres (1905), pp.493-494.
  3. ^ Bredow, p. 491.