Commander of 26. Division (1. K?niglich W?rttembergische) June 1916

[Andrew G]

Hello all,

I am currently conducting some research for a project on the Battle of Mont Sorrel (Hill 60/62 - Hooge) that took place 2-13 June 1916. I noted that the British official history (author BGen Sir J.E. Edmonds 1932) has identified the commander of the 26 (Wurttemberg) Div as Major General von Pfeil und Klein Ellgutt, but the wikipedia entry for this unit suggests that Duke Wilhelm von Ulrach (later failed King of Lithuania) was the commander at this time: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26th_Division_%28German_Empire%29). Edmond's account also states that the commander of XIII Corps (General Freiherr von Watter) fired General von Pfeil for disagreeing with him over the value of attacking Hill 60. I am wondering who was in charge at this time and whether or not any of this command politics is accuarate?

Edmonds source simply states Wurttemberg Official Account p.54 (possibly history of Div 26 or 27 or Regt 120), whereas the wikipedia entry cites Hermann Cron et al. Ruhmeshalle unserer alten Armee. (Berlin, 1935); and by the same author, Geschichte des deutschen Heeres im Weltkriege 1914-1918. (Berlin, 1937). Unfortuantely I cannot get access to the German official histories at this time.

Thus my questions are:

Who are the German commanders for XIII Corps, 26 and 27 Div in Jun 1916?

Where might I find further biographical information on them?

Many thanks in advance for helping clear any of this up,

Kind regards,

Andrew G

[Dave Danner]

Friedrich Woldemar Franz Graf von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth commanded the 27. Infanterie-Division, not the 26. Infanterie-Division. He commanded it from 25 April 1912 until 14 June 1916. He was replaced by Otto von Moser, who commanded the division until 11 March 1917. He was succeeded by Heinrich von Maur, who commanded the division until war's end.

Wilhelm Herzog von Urach, Graf von W?rttemberg commanded the 26. Infanterie-Division until 5 January 1917 and again from 3 November 1917 until war's end. Eberhard von Hofacker commanded from January to November 1917.

Theodor Freiherr von Watter commanded the XIII. Armeekorps from 10 March 1915 until the end of the war.

The Cron citations in the Wikipedia entry relate to the organization of the division, not its commanders. G?nter Wegner's Stellenbesetzung der deutschen Heere 1815-1939, also in the source list, would have the commanders.

By the way, I wrote the Wikipedia entry for the division (and almost all the other WW1 German division articles), but someone else later added the reference to the Duke of Urach. I generally did not include unit commanders in the articles as it would have been too time-consuming and most names relatively obscure, especially for regular division who commanders stretch back into the 19th century.

Edited December 20, 2007 by Dave Danner

[Andrew G]

Hi Dave,

Many thanks for the quick reply, it's appreciated, as is the work you've done on Wikipedia. I'll have to secure a copy of Wegner's book for my library as well, seems like a source worth owning.

Many thanks again,

Cheers,

Andrew

[Ulsterman]

I have an obscure Die 26 Inf. Div. photo booklet published in @ 1921. It shows Urach as divisional commander until the 5th of Jan. 1917.

From May 29, 1916 until August 16th 1916 the division was part of the 1st Army.

Edited December 20, 2007 by Ulsterman

[Andrew G]

I have an obscure Die 26 Inf. Div. photo booklet published in @ 1921. It shows Urach as divisional commander until the 5th of Jan. 1917.

From May 29, 1916 until August 16th 1916 the division was part of the 1st Army.

Thank you very much for this information Ulsterman. Could you give me the bibliographic citation for this book, i.e .author, publisher, etc? Also is there any chance I might be able to get a scan/ copy of the whole document? I'd be willing to pay for any costs involved, but understand if not if this might damage the publication.

Regardless, thank you for the photo and info,

Andrew

[Ulsterman]

Thank you very much for this information Ulsterman. Could you give me the bibliographic citation for this book, i.e .author, publisher, etc? Also is there any chance I might be able to get a scan/ copy of the whole document? I'd be willing to pay for any costs involved, but understand if not if this might damage the publication.

Regardless, thank you for the photo and info,

Andrew

the entire book?

There's a short pictorial history of each army assignment the Division had.

It appears it was published @ mid 1920s by the typeface etc.

It is entitled:

"Die 26. Infantrie Division (1. Kgl. Wurtt.) im Krieg 1914-1918

Zussammengestellt im Divisionsstab", by Stable & Friedel in Stuttgart. It's paperback and no author is listed although there's almost no text-it's almost 100% photos from peoples' collections (seemingly every Offcr Stllvtr. had a camera by the credits).

I can post some more of the photos here if you'd like from the summer, 1916 section. Feel free to use them as needed as copyright has long since evaporated from the original photographers.

[Dave Danner]

Hi Dave,

Many thanks for the quick reply, it's appreciated, as is the work you've done on Wikipedia. I'll have to secure a copy of Wegner's book for my library as well, seems like a source worth owning.

Many thanks again,

Cheers,

Andrew

Wegner is worth having if you are into German military historical research, but it is also 4 volumes. Volume 1 covers higher commands from the general staff down to all the divisions, as well as the Reichswehr. Volume 2 covers the regular infantry regiments. Volume 3 covers the other regular regiments. Volume 4 is an index.

I think the volumes are available from Helion Books in the UK.

Edited December 20, 2007 by Dave Danner

[Andrew G]

the entire book?

There's a short pictorial history of each army assignment the Division had.

It appears it was published @ mid 1920s by the typeface etc.

It is entitled:

"Die 26. Infantrie Division (1. Kgl. Wurtt.) im Krieg 1914-1918

Zussammengestellt im Divisionsstab", by Stable & Friedel in Stuttgart. It's paperback and no author is listed although there's almost no text-it's almost 100% photos from peoples' collections (seemingly every Offcr Stllvtr. had a camera by the credits).

I can post some more of the photos here if you'd like from the summer, 1916 section. Feel free to use them as needed as copyright has long since evaporated from the original photographers.

Hello Ulstrman,

If you could post the photos that would be fantastic, what I am particularly interested in is any photos of May-June 1916, especially if anyone is identified within them. Ultimately I would be interested in getting some of these photos in a high-res quality so that they could be reprinted. Im building a case study for work, and unfortunately 300dpi + resolution scans are needed for printing. Please go ahead and post more photos, though, I appreciate the offer.

Kind regards,

Andrew.

[Andrew G]

Wegner is worth having if you are into German military historical research, but it is also 4 volumes. Volume 1 covers higher commands from the general staff down to all the divisions, as well as the Reichswehr. Volume 2 covers the regular infantry regiments. Volume 3 covers the other regular regiments. Volume 4 is an index.

I think the volumes are available from Helion Books in the UK.

Thanks Dave, I found them at Helion, though it seems like there's 6 vols instead of 4 or am I confusing the series (still improving my German language and reading skills). I am interested in building a small library of important German Army sources for work and am at the moment am searching out good reference books. We already have plenty of popular and general German accounts, my task is to locate the more detailed stuff such as regimental histories of units which fought against the Canadian Corps as well as general detailed biographies of various commanders, etc. Our first project is to create a decent bibliography on German units that fought at Mont Sorrel.

[Dave Danner]

The Stellenbesetzung has 4 volumes. Wegner is also a co-author of another series of books: Deutschlands Heere bis 1918, which provides a lot of information on regiments, albeit only regular ones.