XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps

The XIII (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps / XIII AK (German: XIII. (Königlich Württembergisches) Armee-Korps) was a corps of the Imperial German Army. It was, effectively, also the army of the Kingdom of Württemberg, which had been integrated in 1871 into the Prussian Army command structure, as had the armies of most German states. The corps was originally established as the Württemberg Corps Command (Korpskommando) in 1817. It became the XIII Army Corps when it was integrated into the Prussian numbering system on December 18, 1871, shortly after the Franco-Prussian War.[1]

XIII (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps
XIII. (Königlich Württembergisches) Armee-Korps
Flag of the Staff of a Generalkommando (1871–1918)
Active1817 (1817)–1919 (1919)
Country Württemberg /  German Empire
TypeCorps
SizeApproximately 44,000 (on mobilisation in 1914)
Garrison/HQStuttgart
EngagementsAustro-Prussian War
Tauberbischofsheim

Franco-Prussian War

Battle of Wörth
Battle of Sedan
Siege of Paris

World War I

Battle of the Frontiers
Race to the Sea
Battle of Mont Sorrel
Insignia
AbbreviationXIII AK
Württemberg troops attack at Wörth, 1870

Austro-Prussian War

The corps saw action in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, on the losing Austrian side, as the Royal Württemberg Division of the VIII German Federation Army Corps (VIII. deutschen Bundesarmeekorps). It was unable to stop a Prussian advance into north Württemberg at Tauberbischofsheim, but this battle was not important in the war.

Franco-Prussian War

In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the corps served under the headquarters staff of the Württemberg Field Division of the Combined Württemberg-Baden Army Corps. The Württemberg Field Division saw action in the battles of Wörth and Sedan, and in the Siege of Paris.

Peacetime organisation

The corps' two divisions were the 26th and 27th.

The 25 peacetime Corps of the German Army (Guards, I - XXI, I - III Bavarian) had a reasonably standardised organisation. Each consisted of two divisions with usually two infantry brigades, one field artillery brigade and a cavalry brigade each.[2] Each brigade normally consisted of two regiments of the appropriate type, so each Corps normally commanded 8 infantry, 4 field artillery and 4 cavalry regiments. There were exceptions to this rule:

V, VI, VII, IX and XIV Corps each had a 5th infantry brigade (so 10 infantry regiments)
II, XIII, XVIII and XXI Corps had a 9th infantry regiment
I, VI and XVI Corps had a 3rd cavalry brigade (so 6 cavalry regiments)
the Guards Corps had 11 infantry regiments (in 5 brigades) and 8 cavalry regiments (in 4 brigades).[3]

Each Corps also directly controlled a number of other units. This could include one or more

Foot Artillery Regiment
Jäger Battalion
Pioneer Battalion
Train Battalion

In addition, the 126th (8th Württemberg) Infantry "Grand Duke Frederick of Baden" was stationed at Straßburg as part of XV Corps.

World War I

Organisation on mobilisation

On mobilization on August 2, 1914 the Corps was restructured. The 180th Infantry Regiment was assigned to the 26th Reserve Division in XIV Reserve Corps. The 26th Cavalry Brigade was withdrawn to form part of the 7th Cavalry Division[5] and the 27th Cavalry Brigade was broken up and its regiments assigned as reconnaissance units to the divisions. The two divisions received engineer companies and other support units from the Corps headquarters. In summary, XIII Corps mobilised with 24 infantry battalions, 8 machine gun companies (48 machine guns), 8 cavalry squadrons, 24 field artillery batteries (144 guns), 4 heavy artillery batteries (16 guns), 3 pioneer companies and an aviation detachment.

Combat chronicle

On mobilization in 1914, the corps was subordinated to the 5th Army and saw action on the Western Front. It was transferred to the 6th Army during the Race to the Sea. In October 1914, the corps headquarters formed Corps Fabeck, which by the end of the month had become a provisional army group, commanding XV Corps, II Bavarian Corps and Corps Urach. In November, the XIII Army Corps was transferred from the 6th Army to the 9th Army on the Eastern Front. By 1916, the corps had returned to the Western Front and was subordinated to the 4th Army under Army Group Crown Prince Rupprecht. From April 1917 to March 1918, the corps commanded Group Caudry, another provisional command. In September 1918, it took over command of Group Ebene under Army Group Duke Albrecht of Württemberg, and commanded Group Ebene until war's end.[8]

It was still in existence at the end of the war[9] in Armee-Abteilung C, Heeresgruppe Gallwitz on the Western Front.[10]

Württemberg mountain battalion

In 1915, drafts from the Württemberg line regiments were used to form a Württemberg mountain battalion, which became a part of the Alpenkorps division in 1917. This was the unit in which the young Erwin Rommel distinguished himself on the Romanian and Italian fronts, winning the Pour le Mérite (Imperial German equivalent of the Victoria Cross) at the Battle of the Isonzo in 1917.

Commanders

The XIII Corps had the following commanders during its existence:[11][12][13]

DatesRankName
up to 19 October 1871Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
19 October 1871GeneralleutnantWolf Louis Ferdinand von Stülpnagel
24 December 1873General der InfanterieFerdinand Emil Karl von Schwartzkoppen
26 January 1878General der InfanterieHans Ferdinand von Schachtmeyer
15 May 1886General der KavallerieGustav Hermann von Alvensleben
26 October 1890GeneralleutnantWilhelm von Woelckern
22 March 1895General der InfanterieOskar von Lindequist
25 March 1899GeneralleutnantLudwig Freiherr von Falkenhausen
22 March 1902General der InfanterieKonrad von Hugo
4 April 1907General der InfanterieJoseph von Fallois
25 February 1908General der KavallerieAlbrecht, Duke of Württemberg
1 March 1913General der InfanterieMax von Fabeck
9 March 1915General der InfanterieTheodor Freiherr von Watter
17 March 1918General der InfanterieHermann von Staabs[14]
22 May 1918General der InfanterieTheodor Freiherr von Watter

See also

References
  1. Wegner 1993, p. 73.
  2. Haythornthwaite 1996, pp. 193–194
  3. They formed the Guards Cavalry Division, the only peacetime cavalry division in the German Army.
  4. War Office 1918, p. 252
  5. Cron 2002, p. 300
  6. Cron 2002, pp. 315
  7. 4 heavy artillery batteries (16 heavy field howitzers)
  8. XIII. (Königlich Württembergisches) Armeekorps (Chronik 1914/1918)
  9. Cron 2002, pp. 88–89
  10. Ellis & Cox 1993, pp. 186–187
  11. German Administrative History Accessed: 19 May 2012
  12. German War History Accessed: 19 May 2012
  13. The Prussian Machine Archived April 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Accessed: 19 May 2012
  14. Temporary commander, then returned to command XXXIX Reserve Corps. "Hermann von Staabs". The Prussian Machine. Archived from the original on July 29, 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2012.

Bibliography
  • Claus von Bredow, bearb., Historische Rang- und Stammliste des deutschen Heeres (1905)
  • Rommel, E. Infanterie Greift An, Voggenreiter, Potsdam 1937
  • Cron, Hermann (2002). Imperial German Army 1914-18: Organisation, Structure, Orders-of-Battle [first published: 1937]. Helion & Co. ISBN 1-874622-70-1.
  • Ellis, John; Cox, Michael (1993). The World War I Databook. Aurum Press Ltd. ISBN 1-85410-766-6.
  • Haythornthwaite, Philip J. (1996). The World War One Source Book. Arms and Armour. ISBN 1-85409-351-7.
  • Wegner, Günter (1993). Stellenbesetzung der deustchen Heere 1815-1939. Vol. 1. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag.
  • 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. The London Stamp Exchange Ltd (1989). 1920. ISBN 0-948130-87-3.
  • The German Forces in the Field; 7th Revision, 11th November 1918; Compiled by the General Staff, War Office. Imperial War Museum, London and The Battery Press, Inc (1995). 1918. ISBN 1-870423-95-X.
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