HISTORY.
(First Bavarian District.)
1914.
Alsace.
1. The division was sent into the Vosges at the beginning of the campaign (3 brigades, of which one was from Wurtemberg). It fought in the valley of the Fecht in August, 1914. Beginning with October it occupied the region Ste. Marie aux Mines-Col du Bonhomme. October 2 the 1st Bavarian Brigade entrained at Colmar for Belgium and garrisoned Antwerp until December.
2. At the beginning of November the 3d Bavarian Landwehr Division took part in the attacks on the Violu.
1915.
1. From February to April, 1915, the units which at that time made up this division were again separated. The 1st Bavarian Landwehr (mixed) Brigade came back from Belgium in the middle of December and went to Champagne (Souain-Somme-Py) to reinforce the 15th Division; the 2d Mixed Brigade continued to hold the Orbey la Poutroye sector south of Bonhomme (valley of the Weiss). The Wurtemberg Brigade (von Frech) was transferred in April to the 7th Landwehr Division (Wurtemberg) in upper Alsace.
2. In April, 1915, the remaining two brigades were assembled on the Vosges front (Orbey, Valley of the Weiss) and from that time on held this sector without much change.
3. In July some units of the division fought in the region of the Linge.
1916.
1. Vosges sector (valley of the Weiss, Col du Bonhomme). At the end of December, 1916, the 2d Bavarian Landwehr was transferred to the 2d Bavarian Landwehr Division (new).
1917.
1. In 1917 the division extended its sector from the region of Col du Bonhomme to the valley of the Fecht (Munster).
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The division was in line in the region of Orbey (south of Col du Bonhomme) from 1915 on. It is a mediocre division made up of elderly men. The companies have no shock troops. All the important operations are executed by the assault company of the division.
1918.
Alsace.
1. The 6th Bavarian Landwehr Division occupied the sector extending from south of Le Bonhomme to just west of Muenster, all through the year, being still in line when the armistice was signed.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
The division is a fourth-class one, being used only to hold one of the calmest sectors on the western front. All the young men were taken away from the division (except those in machine-gun and assault companies) and exchanged for older ones. In October the father of six children was captured. Morale was low, discipline poor. Several prisoners stated that the men did not hesitate to say, even in front of their officers, that the war had been lost by Germany and that they were thoroughly sick of it.