Langemarck , (RIR 233)

[robert39]

Hello,

I am looking for informations about RIR 233 ( XXVI reserve korps ) that fought near Langemarck , Flanders in early november 1914, I know

that RIR 234 was raised in Kassel and G?ttingen from reservists and " kriegsfreiwilliger " university students.

Was RIR 233 raised close to that region of Germany ? because I would like to find out if there could have been war volunteers from Marburg university in that regiment .

Thank you for your help.

___________

Robert

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hello,

I am looking for informations about RIR 233 ( XXVI reserve korps ) that fought near Langemarck , Flanders in early november 1914, I know

that RIR 234 was raised in Kassel and G?ttingen from reservists and " kriegsfreiwilliger " university students.

Was RIR 233 raised close to that region of Germany ? because I would like to find out if there could have been war volunteers from Marburg university in that regiment .

Thank you for your help.

___________

Robert

Hi,

I have done some research into these units, these being the XXVI rk.

The 233 RIR was one of a batch of volunteer regiments that was formed, trained and shipped to the front within a couple of months . "Trained" being a bit of a joke as they learned little more than how to point and shoot their rifles.

They were decimated at the 1st batle of Ypres, called the slaughter of the innoccents by the germans.

legend has it that the men of these regiments were all young volunteers from schools and university, there were indded many of these volunteers in the units, but also regular volunteers (workers, farmers etc).

I have a number of Iron cross documents to men of the regiment, will hopefully add an article about them to the webpage at some stage soon...

[Chris Boonzaier]

P.S. the 233, 234, 235, 236 were all in the 51st Reserve Division and came from the 11th Korps district.

[Dave Danner]

RIR 233 was raised in Thuringia. The regimental staff, I. Bataillon, and II. Bataillon were raised in Meiningen by the Ersatz-Bataillon of IR 32 and the III. Bataillon was raised in Gotha by the Ersatz-Bataillon of IR 95. These Ersatz units were those of the regiments of Sachsen-Meiningen and Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, but Chris can possibly tell you from the documents if they recruited in a broader swath of the region.

RIR 235 was raised in Koblenz and Bonn. RIR 236 in K?ln-Deutz. These was in the VIII. Korps area.

[robert39]

@ CHRIS,

They say that " the massacre of the innocent " is one of the the most poignant episodes in the history of the whole salient , but surprisingly there is only one thread that was ever started about it on this forum :LANGEMARCK

I am very much looking forward to your article and to view some of your documents . THANK YOU

@ DAVE,

I see that the volunteers from MARBURG university could have been recruited by a number of those regiments , but I wonder if they tried to keep the university STUDENTEN KORPS or classes together within the same regiment ?

Thanks a lot for your help.

Cheers,

____________

Robert