Comments | little_details: German troop movements, 1916-1917

only_the_trying in little_details

German troop movements, 1916-1917

Aug 11, 2011 20:29

When - 1916, into 1917

Where - France.

Searched - 'Somme Offensive', 'Battle of Verdun'', 'German casualties in Somme/Verdun' (I searched both), 'German units at Verdun/Somme' (again, both)

Question - It's a silly question and I'm almost certainly going to find an answer using a different Google search string which I haven't thought of yet, but I have ( Read more... )

~world war i, germany: history

Comments 6

seanchaidh August 13 2011, 11:42:57 UTC

I did a search under "german units at verdun" to find this.

It was the German Fifth Army, so if you follow that piece of information, you should be able to get more information. The issue with the German side in the Great War is that, as I understand, its records are nowhere as complete or organized as the British/French side.

lizzardgirl August 13 2011, 11:51:23 UTC

Yes, but as far as I know, the 5th Army remained at Verdun and didn't fight at the Somme. I might be mistaken though - no guarantees.

chickenfeet2003 August 13 2011, 13:14:21 UTC

"Army" is not a useful level really. Divisions were quite often switched between armies.

lizzardgirl August 13 2011, 11:49:01 UTC

I don't know how good your German is - I found a regiment that was present at both battles by searching German wikipedia - it's the 1. Kurhessische Infanterie-Regiment (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/1._Kurhessisches_Infanterie-Regiment_Nr._81#1916). If you click through the other regiments of the German army listed in the box at the bottom of that page, you could check where they were in 1916 and will probably find others. Alternatively, Falkenhayn commanded at both battles, so you could make him a member of Falkenhayn's staff if you want someone higher up the ladder ( ... )

chickenfeet2003 August 13 2011, 13:13:24 UTC

The term you want is probably "order of battle". That said I think it quite unlikely that German ORBATs down to regimental level are anything like complete. You might be able to find a division that was present at both battles and dig down from there.

stormwreath August 13 2011, 16:16:27 UTC

When the battle of the Somme started, the Germans didn't immediately transfer forces directly from Verdun. Instead, they just called a halt to their attacks in that region and moved the forces they'd earmarked as reserves for Verdun to the Somme instead. Quiet sectors of the front, like the Sixth Army to the north of the Somme, were also stripped of spare troops. A total of 14 new divisions had reached the battlefield nine days after the start of the offensive, but none of them cam directly from Verdun ( ... )