This week Sabine’s battlefield guide Saturday is taking us to Zillebeke one man caught my attention, Karl Wunder and I wanted to know what happened on the day he died.
IR 126 at klein Zillebeke 06/11/1914
Artillery preparation could not begin until 11:00 a.m. due to dense fog. The positions in front of us were then bombarded by our C.A. and by the 2nd group of the 10th R.A.L.
Other batteries fired on the clearing in the woods to the north and north-east of Camp. Heavy howitzers of the 2nd Bavarian A.C. held the large wood north of the bend in the canal, between the railway and the Verbranden-Molen road, under very scattered fire. A battery of 210 guns fired only at Ieper.
At about 2 p.m. our infantry leaves the trenches. The 3rd battalion leaves with 3 companies in the 1st line, the 2nd battalion with 2 companies. Very quickly, the French positions are shaken up. Anyone who did not want to surrender was finished off with a rifle butt or bayonet. We took 2 officers and 15 men prisoner, who fought fiercely from a shelter. Then the assault slows down in front of the houses near Camp. In addition to the wire-reinforced hedges, French riflemen followed one another in small numbers. The main defensive fire came from the flank. It causes severe losses in our ranks. Rockets explode in the air. They force our reserves to deploy too early. Nevertheless, around 4:00 pm, the French positions on either side of Camp are in our hands.
In spite of the death of our colonel (Paul Schimf) near Camp ( got bullet in the head), we keep chase the fleeing soldiers in the direction of Klein-Zillebeke. Soon we are mixed up with elements of the 82nd brigade and I.R. n° 132. We advance to the height of Klein-Zillebeke. Hastily dispatched French reserves try in vain to stop us. At 5 p.m., the 90th and 268th French I.R. are jostled. They lost 730 prisoners (?) including 12 officers, who fell into the hands of our 11th and 12th companies. These companies also took 2 machine guns from the railway embankment. Our losses amounted to 4 officers killed and 7 wounded. The losses of the troops could not be specified (very high). In spite of the shortage of officers and NCOs, the soldiers of the 1st and 3rd battalions continued their advance from Klein-Zillebeke, through the barracks almost as far as hill 60 and the first houses of Zwarteleen, where the attack was broken. Some groups of the 3rd battalion could still advance to the first houses in Zillebeke, 1.5 km further on. There, they come under flank fire from English machine guns which force them, after a close fight, to withdraw to Zwarteleen. We did not succeed in taking possession on the evening of 6 November, neither hill 60 nor the village of Zwarteleen. The enemy, who had solidly fortified himself there, offered very strong resistance. The forces of our troops, too exhausted, were not sufficient to break it. besides, the enemy artillery, with the devastating effect of its fire, constantly held the line reached by ours. The 82nd brigade remained very late in the north-eastern wood of Klein-Zillebeke.
The 4 officers that died that day:
Komp. Oberst u. Rgt.-Komm. SCHIMPF Paul, von Auendorf, Göppingen 06.11.1914 b. Klein-Zillebeke
Leutnant SCHELLERER Hans, Freiherr von 09.12.1893 Ulm 06.11.1914 b. Klein-Zillebeke 12.
Ltnt.d.Ld. WÖLFFLEN Gottlob Metzingen 06.11.1914 b. Klein-Zillebeke 10. Komp.
Ltnt.d.Res. WUNDER Karl Bischheim, Straßburg 06.11.1914 Klein-Zillebeke 1. Komp.
sources :
Das 8. Württembergische Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 126 Großherzog Friedrich von Baden im Weltkrieg 1914 – 1918 Autor Glück Eugen, Wald Alfred
denkmalproject
Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart M 708 Nr. 3557
amphitrite33.canalblog.com
pictures : Karl wunder Map 1914, Map of klein zillebeke 1917, Paul Schimpf