Division; Approximately 19,500 (on mobilisation in 1914)
Part of
I Royal Bavarian Corps (I. Kgl. Bayer. Armeekorps)
Garrison/HQ
Munich
Engagements
Austro-Prussian War Franco-Prussian War
Battle of Wörth
Battle of Beaumont
Battle of Sedan
First Battle of Orléans
Second Battle of Orléans
Battle of Loigny-Poupry
Siege of Paris
World War I
Battle of the Frontiers
Race to the Sea
Battle of Verdun
Battle of the Somme
German spring offensive
Commanders
Notable commanders
Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen Prince Leopold of Bavaria Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria Otto Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein
Military unit
The 1st Royal Bavarian Division was a unit of the Royal Bavarian Army that served alongside the Prussian Army as part of the Imperial German Army.[1] The division was formed on November 27, 1815, as the Infantry Division of the Munich General Command (Infanterie-Division des Generalkommandos München.).[2] It was called the 1st Army Division between 1822 and 1848, again between 1851 and 1859, and again from 1869 to 1872.[3] It was called the 1st Infantry Division from 1848 to 1851 (as well as during wartime) and was named the Munich General Command from 1859 to 1869.[3] From April 1, 1872, until mobilization for World War I, it was the 1st Division.[3] Within Bavaria, it was not generally referred to as a "Royal Bavarian" division, but outside Bavaria, this designation was used for it, and other Bavarian units, to distinguish them from similarly numbered Prussian units. The division was headquartered in Munich from 1815 to 1919. The division was part of the 1st Royal Bavarian Army Corps.
The division fought against Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the division fought alongside the Prussians. It saw action in battles of Wörth, Beaumont, and Sedan, the 1st and 2nd battles of Orleans, the battle of Loigny-Poupry, and the siege of Paris.[4]
During World War I, the division served on the Western Front. It fought in the Battle of the Frontiers against French forces in the early stages, and then participated in the Race to the Sea. Thereafter, it remained on the northern part of the front facing the British Army through 1915 and early 1916. The Infantry Life Regiment was transferred from the division in 1915 to become part of a provisional German mountain division, the Alpenkorps, sent to the Italian Front. In 1916, the division went into the Battle of Verdun. After Verdun, it went to the Somme in that battle's later stages. 1917 was spent mainly occupying the trench lines. In 1918, the division participated in the German spring offensive. The division was generally rated one of the better German divisions by Allied intelligence.[5]
^From the late 1800s, the Prussian Army was effectively the German Army, as during the period of German unification (1866-1871) the states of the German Empire entered into conventions with Prussia regarding their armies. Only the Bavarian Army remained fully autonomous, while the Saxon Army maintained a lesser degree of autonomy. The armies of the other German states were integrated into the Prussian Army with limited autonomy.
^Günter Wegner, Stellenbesetzung der deutschen Heere 1815-1939. (Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, 1993), Bd. 1, p. 660.
^ abcWegner, p. 660.
^Hermann Cron et al., Ruhmeshalle unserer alten Armee (Berlin, 1935)
^Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions of the German Army which Participated in the War (1914-1918), compiled from records of Intelligence section of the General Staff, American Expeditionary Forces, at General Headquarters, Chaumont, France 1919, (1920)
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Global Information
Kingdom of Bavaria
German Empire
Imperial German Army