We continue today with a present, that I received from a very good person and collector, Mr. Andreas Jäger, Thank you Sir. It is a very interesting picture of a (at least) Vizefeldwebel of the Royal Bavarian 16th Infantry Regiment. The quality of the pic is very good and can clearly see a very beautiful medal bar, which contains the following decorations:
– Militär-Verdienstkreuz 2. Klasse mit Schwertern (Bayern).
– Eisernes Kreuz (Preußen).
– Jubiläumsmedaille 1905 (Bayern)
– Dienstauszeichnung II oder III Klasse (Bayern).
The NCO is at least a Vizefeldwebel, even if the band and button in the collars were part of many ranks, the Militär-Verdienstkreuz 2. Klasse mit Schwertern was given to “Vizefeldwebel, Feldwebel, Fähnriche”. As we can see in the shoulder boards, he served in the Königlich Bayerisches 16. Infanterie-Regiment Großherzog Ferdinand von Toskana.
In 1914, this regiment had its 2nd and 3rd Battalion in Passau and the 1st one in Landshut. It was part of the Royal Bavarian 1st Division, a very fine and good one in the 6th Army under the Command of Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern.
The Regiment crossed the Frontier with France on the 12th of August, fighting during the following days in the unsuccessful Nancy-Epinal offensive. The division was sent to the Somme Area during the “Race to the See”. They fought hard north of Péronne. By November, the whole division suffered heavy casualties.
In 1915, the 1st Division was going to be reorganized and the 16th Infantry Regiment was transferred to the Royal Bavarian 10th Infantry Division, where it remained until almost the end of the war. During this year and part of 1916, the Division was going to be located south west Peronne, in the Somme (Foucaucourt).
During the (un)famous British and French Offensive in July 1916, the Regiment served as reserve of the 28th Reserve Division. Once they were overrun by the British XIII. Corps, the Bavarian held them for almost 2 weeks. The 10th Bavarian Infantry Division left the line on the 23rd of July after suffering appalling casualties.
The Division had to be taken out of the line, quickly organized and sent back to fight. Only this time, they would be sent to the East Front in Bukowina, to fight against the Russian during the last weeks of the Brussilow offensive. The 16th Regiment was assigned to the K.u.K. XI Army Corps (Habermann) until November, the time it was sent to Transylvania. I am sure he did have a tough time fighting against the Romanians and Russians.
From Romania to Gallize and from there, back to France in May 1917 for resting and training in Alsace. Soon later, the whole division was going to be under fire…. in Flanders. They were sent to Ypres and in July, the regiment took part in the 3rd Battle of Ypres.
The offensive started on the 31st of July and lasted until the 6th of November 1917. But before that date, the Regiment was sent to Russia. To mention is that the 10th Division fought against the British and the ANZAC during the battle of Poelcapelle on the 9th of October 1917, when the German managed to regain the lost ground of the previous offensive. The Australians fought hard, but without enough Artillery Support and with the flanks open, they had to pull back.
They would stay little time in Russia, because already at the end of 1917, the Division could be placed in Lorraine. The last year of the War was about to start.
The first 5 months of 1918, the Division was deployed in a quiet area in the Vogesen, near the Swiss border. At the end of May, the division was sent to Soissons and Reims for the German Offensive, which ended in a fierce French Counterattack, which would push the line back.
The end of the war was coming, but before that, it came the end of the division. At the end of July, the division was dissolved and the 16th Bavarian Regiment was sent to the 11th Bavarian Division in Belgium until the end of the war.
No doubt, this Vizefelwebel saw the Hell in those 4 years.
Sources:
Histories of the Two Hundred and Fifty One Divisions of the German Army.
Foto von www.passau.de.
Foto Somme von Wikipedia.