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Army Corps Training Centers (Truppenübungsplätze) and Firing Ranges

Many, but not all, corps had a field-training center maintained by the corps. Of the 25 army corps, all but four of them had major training areas that were assigned to army corps. The size of the training areas is listed in hectares (1 ha = 2,47 acres). The average corps training area was about 4-5,000 hectares in size, but some like Friedrichsfelde, Darmstadt and Orb were far smaller. [Names given in parentheses such as “Lager Stetten” or Munster (“lager”) are common colloquial names frequently encountered together or even instead of the official names. Lager means “camp.”]

Prussian Army

Bavarian Army

Saxon Army

Württemberg Army

Each training area had its own Kommandantur, usually headed by a major general or a colonel. It did not belong to the army corps but reported directly to the respective War Ministry.

The Kommandantur of such a Truppenübungsplatz did not belong to the organization of the respective army corps, so the Kommandant did not report to the commanding general of “his” army corps. In the Rangliste, they are not listed with the army corps organizations. On the other hand, it is not believed that they formally reported into the War Ministry since the responsible department (5. Übungsplatz-Abteilung) was headed by a lieutenant colonel (Oberstlt. v. Oven), and the commandants were usually colonels or major generals. This department was basically responsible for the layout and administration of the training areas. Probably the Kommandanturen reported directly to the Armee-Verwaltungs-Department (BD) of the War Ministry that was headed by Major General v. Schöler (Direktor) in 1914. This department was also superior to the 5. Department. At the end of the Rangliste, the Truppenübungsplätze are listed in the garrison list (Verzeichnis der Standorte) including the number of the army corps they belonged to—without specifying what “belonged to” exactly meant. It is the same in pages 137-139 of the Rangliste 1914 in which the Truppenübungsplätze are listed with the names of their commandants and adjutants and again the army corps they belonged to without specifying what that means.

Munster, for example, was a large training area that was certainly not used exclusively by the X Army Corps. The Guards Corps had two training areas assigned, while many corps in the East had no assigned training area at all. Some training areas like Friedrichsfelde in Wesel (VII Army Corps) were actually not big enough to accommodate an entire corps for field training and inspection purposes. The army corps were basically free to use other training areas as well; they just had to book the facilities in advance. The War Ministry had to co-ordinate the scheduled autumn maneuvers and to make sure that budgetary restrictions (railroad transportation) were observed so that all training facilities would be equally used. Most commanding generals insisted upon frequently changing the training areas to prevent their officers from getting too familiar with the local situation.

For the autumn inspections the training area that generally was used belonged to one of the army corps that was hosting the autumn maneuvers. Particularly in the east (Eastern Prussia and Pomerania), a kind of makeshift or improvised training grounds could be used in open land since there was enough sparsely populated land available. Except for artillery live firing, all other forms of training could be conducted there. Infantry live firing could be carried out at local rifle ranges (Standortschießanlagen) or at local training areas (Standortübungsplätze). Scheduling of exercises, maneuvers and inspections was based upon the regulations given by the Bestimmungen für die größeren Truppenübungen (Manöver-Ordnung)—D.V.E. Nr. 270 in Prussia, D.V. Nr. 80 in Bavaria. This manual laid out detailed schedules for the autumn maneuvers (except the Kaisermanöver) and inspections within an army corps. The War Ministry in co-operation with the Great General Staff scheduled the Kaisermanöver years ahead.

As most garrisons were in urban areas, these facilities or training grounds offered a lot more open area. They were called Trüppenubungsplätze and were mainly developed during the period when Waldersee and Schlieffen were Chiefs of the General Staff. Since the Kaisermanöver had been turned into a kind of military performance led by the Kaiser, there was a need for the exercise to be performed under “war-like” conditions. These Truppenübungsplätze were also used as forming up places for new divisions during the war. In addition, there were wartime training centers at Beverloo in Belgium and in Warsaw on the Eastern front. In the summer and autumn of 1917, the training center at Warsaw as well as a field recruit depot on the Russian front was sent westward as replacements due to the collapse of the Russian Army. In addition to these corps training centers, many regiments usually had smaller local training grounds (Standort-Übungsplatz) for company and battalion drill. In fact, the most realistic drill and training were often carried out at these training centers, which really blossomed during the 1890s, rather than during maneuvers.