HISTORY.
(15th Landwehr Regiment: 7th Corps District—Westphalia. 60th Landwehr Regiment: 21st Corps District—Lorraine. 82d Landwehr Regiment: 11th Corps District—Thuringia.)
1915.
Lorraine.
1. The 13th Landwehr Division was formed in Lorraine about the middle of May, 1915. It was made up at this time of the 61st Reserve Brigade (60th Reserve Landsturm Battalions, Cassel and Mayence) and of the 60th Landwehr Brigade (the 60th Landwehr Regiment, and the 61st Landwehr Regiment). These elements were already in line on the Lorraine front before the formation of the division. The 71st Landwehr Regiment had been sent on August 10, 1914 (with the 82d Landwehr Regiment) to Strassburg as a garrison. The 60th Landwehr Regiment, beginning on August 11, was guarding the railroads of Lower Alsace. The 60th Infantry Regiment had been engaged in August in the Vosges.
2. The 13th Landwehr Division occupied the sector between Abaucourt and the Bezange woods from May, 1915, to February, 1917. Except for a few raids, it remained on the defensive during this long period.
3. At the end of June, 1915, the 82d Landwehr Regiment replaced the 60th Reserve Regiment.
In December the 15th Landwehr Regiment, which had formed the garrison of Thionville at the outbreak of the war, and was in the Vosges after a stay near Morhange, replaced the two battalions of Landsturm (which had been formed into the 115th Landsturm Regiment in July) sent to Serbia.
1916.
Lorraine.
1. In 1916 the division held the sector Abaucourt-Bezange wood.
In August the 9th Jager Battalion entrained for Galicia.
2. On September 15, 1916, the staff of the 61st Reserve Brigade and the 71st Landwehr Regiment were transferred to the 215th Division, a new formation. The 13th Landwehr Division then received its definite organization: 15th Landwehr Regiment, 60th Landwehr Regiment, 82d Landwehr Regiment (4 battalions each).
1917.
Lorraine.
1. Relieved on the Lorraine front in the beginning of February, 1917, the 13th Landwehr Division was concentrated in the Chateau Salins front, entrained about the middle of February and sent by way of Metz-Longuyon-Montmedy-Sedan-Laon to the neighborhood of La Fère. It detrained at Versigny. One battalion was taken from each of its regiments to form the 328th Landwehr Regiment, destined to be a part of the 25th Landwehr Division.
2. Until March 18 the 13th Landwehr Division did work along the line Moy-La Fère-Fresne, where the German withdrawal was stopped.
Forêt de St. Gobain.
3. On March 19, placed on the east bank of the Ailette, it covered the retreat of the 45th Reserve Division, and at the beginning of April occupied the sector Fresnes-Prémontré, where it was relieved about the 1st of May.
Oise La Fère.
4. After a fortnight’s rest in the forest of St. Gobain, it went back into line on the front south of Alaincourt north of Deuillet (May 16). It occupied the sector of the left bank of the Oise until the offensive of March, 1918.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The 13th Landwehr Division is apparently considered by the German High Command as fit only to occupy a quiet sector (February, 1918).
Shock troops have been formed from its regiments, but the men appear to have been trained for patrol work rather than for making genuine assaults.
1918.
Picardy.
1. The division was relieved about March 24. It passed the night at Versigny, and on the 25th reached Laon, passing by Crepy and Aulnois.
Laon.
2. On the 26th the division came into line south of Laon, relieving the 75th Reserve Division. It was engaged about Chevregny, Chavignon, and Urcil until May 27.
3. It did not advance in the Aisne offensive. The attacking divisions passed through, and it was withdrawn and transported to Lorraine at the beginning of June.
Battle of St. Mihiel.
It entered the line in the Woevre in the Combres Les Eparges sector about the 1st of June and continued to hold the front until the armistice. In the American attack on the St. Mihiel salient the division lost about 800 men, principally prisoners. It was pushed back to Champlon and Marcheville, which sector it held until November 11.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
The division was rated as a fourth-class division. It was an inferior sector-holding unit of mediocre morale.