| 1st Division 1st Infantry Division | |
|---|---|
| 1. Division 1. Infanterie-Division | |
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| Active | 1818–1919 |
| Countries |  Prussia German Empire |
| Branch |  Prussian Army Imperial German Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | Division (Approx. 10,000) |
| Part of | I Army Corps (I. Armeekorps) |
| Garrison/HQ | Königsberg (1818–1919) |
| Engagements | Austro-Prussian War |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | August Wilhelm Graf von Kanitz August von Stockhausen Karl Friedrich von Steinmetz Julius von Verdy du Vernois |
The 1st Division (1. Division) was a unit of the Prussian/German Army.[1] It was formed in Königsberg in March 1816 as a Troop Brigade (Truppen-Brigade).[2][3] It became the 1st Division on September 5, 1818.[4] From the corps' formation in 1820, the division was subordinated in peacetime to I Army Corps (I. Armeekorps).[5] The 1st Division was disbanded in 1919, during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I.
The 1st Division and its regiments fought in the Austro-Prussian War against Austria in 1866, including the Battle of Königgrätz.[6] The division then fought in the Franco-Prussian War against France in 1870–71. Its regiments saw action in the Battle of Noisseville, the Battle of Gravelotte, the Siege of Metz, the Battle of Amiens, the Battle of Hallue, and the Battle of St. Quentin, among other actions.[7]
In World War I, the division initially served on the Eastern Front, seeing action at the battles of Stallupönen, Gumbinnen, and Tannenberg, and the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes. The division then fought in the Battle of Łódź and in the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive of 1915. In March 1916, the 1st Infantry Division was transferred to the Western Front. One month later, it entered the Battle of Verdun. After several months' hard fighting around Fort Vaux, the division was withdrawn from the line and returned to the Eastern Front, where it arrived in August 1916. It then participated in the invasion of Romania, which had entered the war in 1916 on the Allied side. The division returned to Verdun at the end of 1917. In 1918, it took part in the German spring offensive, which the Germans referred to as the Kaiserschlacht, the Second Battle of the Marne, and the Battle of the Hindenburg Line.[8]
- ^ 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.
- ^ Günter Wegner, Stellenbesetzung der deutschen Heere 1815–1939. (Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, 1993), Bd. 1, p. 90.
- ^ Claus von Bredow, bearb., Historische Rang- und Stammliste des deutschen Heeres (1905), p.232
- ^ Wegner, p. 90.
- ^ Wegner, p. 43.
- ^ Hermann Cron et al., Ruhmeshalle unserer alten Armee (Berlin, 1935)
- ^ Cron et al., Ruhmeshalle
- ^ 1. Infanterie-Division