HISTORY.
(7TH CORPS DISTRICT—WESTPHALIA.)
1914.
Belgium.
1. The 14th Reserve Division belongs, like the 13th Reserve Division, to the 7th Reserve Corps. It was formed from the Reserve Brigade at the Senne Camp and from one brigade, surplus, of the 14th active division (28th Brigade). One regiment of this brigade, the 39th Fusiliers, from Dusseldorf, appeared in front of Liege on August 8, while the rest of the division was being assembled at Dueren.
Maubeuge.
2. Entering into Belgium by way of Verviers, on August 16, the 14th Reserve Division then formed a part of the 2d German Army. It was in front of Namur on August 21, with the reserve corps of the Guard and the 11th Corps. After Namur was taken it went to invest Maubeuge with the 13th Division.
Aisne.
3. Set free on September 7 by the fall of this place, it left on the 10th to strengthen the Aisne front. About the 13th of September it occupied the heights around Cerny-en-Laonnois.
1915.
Aisne.
1. The division held the sector between Cerny and Craonne (north of Paissy) until the beginning of November, 1915. In March it gave the 39th Fusiliers to the 50th Division, a new formation.
2. About November 2 it was transferred to the Charleroi area where it rested and had further training.
3. At the end of December it was sent north of Verdun, near Romagne sous les Cotes.
1916.
Verdun.
1. In January and until February 20, 1916, it was employed in works preparatory to the attack (Damvillers area).
2. On February 23 it was in line on the right bank of the Meuse. It took part, from the very beginning, in the German offensive against Verdun, attacked Samogneux, Poivre Hill, and the Hill of Talou and Vacherauville. (On the 3d of April, the 11th Company of the 16th Reserve Infantry Regiment had already received more than 118 men as replacements. On May 14, at least 153 had been sent to the 8th Company of the 53d Infantry Reserve Regiment.)
3. Until the end of December the 14th Reserve Division occupied this sector (of the Meuse (Champneuville) at Poivre Hill). On December 15, it underwent the French counteroffensive, to the west of Douaumont, which caused it to suffer very heavy losses. Then it took over the sector of Hill 344 for one week.
4. The division was relieved from December 22–25, concentrated in the Damvillers area and transferred to Champagne where it was reorganized.
1917.
Champagne.
1. On January 1, 1917, it went into line north of Prunay and remained in this sector (quiet) until October 22–25.
2. In May the division sent some of its elements as reenforcements to units attacked at Cornillet and at Monthaut.
Foret de Coucy.
3. It entrained on October 26 at Chatelet and was transferred to the area of Cerny-en-Laonnois. On the 28th it was interpolated between two divisions (the 10th Division and the 27th Division) on the front Bassoles-Fresnes, in the upper Coucy wood, which it occupied until the middle of February, 1918.
RECRUITING.
The 14th Reserve Division is recruited from Westphalia. As it suffered very little in 1917, the division probably did not receive in the course of that year the heterogeneous replacements which were sent—perhaps intentionally—to the other Westphalian divisions.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The 14th Reserve Division did not participate in any important action in the course of the year 1917. It was thoroughly reorganized during its long stay in Champagne. It is composed for the most part of young men (20 to 30 years of age) and has suffered but few losses (a slight proportion of the 1918 class).
Its valor has not been put to any serious test since Verdun. It appears capable of serious effort.
1918.
Laon.
1. The division was withdrawn from line in the St. Gobain region and went to rest in the neighborhood of Laon. It was trained in open warfare during the weeks that followed.
2. On March 16 some equipment belonging to the 53d Reserve Regiment was found west of Laon, near Champs, but it is unlikely that the division was in line there; it was not identified in any other way. It was identified in line in that region, however, on the 6th of April. It was withdrawn on May 29.
Aisne.
3. The division went immediately to the Aisne battle front, where it was identified by prisoners in the Vierzy sector (south of Soissons) on May 31. It was withdrawn about the 10th of June and rested for a month in the region of Fere en Tardenois.
4. On July 8 it relieved the 47th Reserve Division near Chavigny (south of Soissons). The 47th Reserve Division relieved part of the 14th Reserve Division on the 12th, and the 14th Reserve seems to have come back in its entirety on the 16th. During this fighting, the division lost more than 1,500 prisoners. It was withdrawn on July 20, and went to rest and refit in the neighborhood of Mulhouse.
Nesle.
5. The division entrained on the 22d of August at Birnsweiler and traveled via Saarbruecken-Trier-Herbesthal-Liége-Namur-Charleroi-Condé, detraining at Tincourt the night of August 23–24. On the 26th it reinforced the front near Thilloy (southwest of Nesle). It was withdrawn on September 9, after losing some 1,300 prisoners, and went to rest in Alsace in the neighborhood of Oltingen.
Champagne.
6. On October 9, it reinforced the front near Orfeuil (southwest of Vouziers).
7. On October 28, the division was moved eastward to Boult, so as to help to hinder the American advance. It was still in line on November 11.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
After the division’s participation in the battle of the Aisne, Lieut. Gen. Loeb, its commander, was awarded the order Pour le Mérite. Again, the German communiqué of September 2 spoke highly of the fighting of the 56th Reserve Regiment. A captured regimental order mentions the fact that there had been many cases of the grippe. The division suffered such severe losses that most of the men from the 47th Reserve Division, dissolved in July, were sent to it. Nevertheless, the battalions were reduced to three companies in August. Despite its subsequent heavy losses (the 159th Regiment was reduced to 600 men, and the other regiment to about the same size), the division is still considered as being first class.