Battle of the Somme - Infanterie-Regiment 22

[Jaeger6]

While seaching the whereabouts of my relatives in WWI, I came across Adolf Behrens who was KIA on 18 October 1916. Unfortunately, the "Erinnerungsblätter" of his Infanterie-Regiment 22 had not been published. All information I got was that his regiment fought during the time of his death at the Somme.

I thought the Battle of Le Transloy would be a place to look for his unit, but I could find no information. Does anyone have an idea where the Infanterie-Regiment 22 might have been engaged? The regiment belonged to the 23. Infanterie-Brigade, 11. Reserve-Division, VI. Armee-Korps, 5. Armee.

 

Markus

[AOK4]

Hello,

The unit did not belong to the 5. Armee any more in 1916 on the Somme... And 11. Reserve-Division belonged to VI. Reservekorps originally (I don't know to which Generalkommando it was attached while on the Somme as divisions became detached from their pre-war or mobilisation army corps during the war).

Anyway, there is a regimental history for IR 22...

 

Jan

 

Edited 2 February , 2020 by AOK4

[charlie2]

Markus,

According to the German OH Vol 11, the 11.R.D. was in the line southeast of Biaches.

Charlie

[Sly]

Hi,

 

On the 18th of October 1916 French units launched an attack in the sector held by the German 11 Reserve Division at La Maisonnette, south of Biaches and Péronne.The units diaries (60th and 61st Bataillon de Chasseurs à Pied) mention a "large number" of German casualties (?) and more than 200 prisoners.

Regards,

 

Sly

 

Map from the 60th French BCP war diary, dated on 18 October 1916:

[Jaeger6]

On 02/02/2020 at 18:13, AOK4 said:

And 11. Reserve-Division belonged to VI. Reservekorps originally (I don't know to which Generalkommando it was attached while on the Somme

You're right, Jan. I got the information from GenWiki where I made the mistake to quote the structure from 1914 and they made the mistake to mix up VI. Armeekorps and VI. Reservekorps. On their pages of the right Korps they say that 11. Reserve-Division belonged to AOK 2 in the beginning of their operations at the Somme and came to Heeresgruppe Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern after Heeresgruppe Gallwitz was dissolved. VI. Reservekorps was assigned to 6. Armee (except 23.09.-01.10.16 - 2. Armee).

 

Markus

[Jaeger6]

On 02/02/2020 at 21:10, charlie2 said:

According to the German OH Vol 11, the 11.R.D. was in the line southeast of Biaches.

 

On 03/02/2020 at 02:41, Sly said:

On the 18th of October 1916 French units launched an attack in the sector held by the German 11 Reserve Division at La Maisonnette, south of Biaches and Péronne.

Thank you both for thee interesting maps. They are most useful and I finally have a reason to visit Peronne again.

 

Markus

[Jaeger6]

On 02/02/2020 at 18:13, AOK4 said:

Anyway, there is a regimental history for IR 22...

Yes, I know. There are even two of them, the large one by Gebhard Graf von der Schulenburg and a short one by Walter Siegmund and Otto Kranz. The problem is to get hold of a copy and of course the question whether it is useful to spend time, effort and money on it and in the end I don't get what I'm looking for. The only version I could find on the Internet was a digital one on Military-Books 14-18 and it gives no information on the number of pages or the publisher. "Eigenverlag" is the only information and not helpful here, as Schulenburg's book was published in Berlin 1932 and Siegmund und Kranz's at Gleiwitz in 1924. So it doesn't seem to be a version of one of the official books and I don't want to buy a pig in a poke. Well, maybe I can order it somewhere via inter-library loan.

 

Markus