HISTORY.
(12th Corps District—Saxony.)
1914.
Belgium-Ardennes-Champagne.
1. The 23d Reserve Division, forming on mobilization the 12th Reserve Corps, with the 24th Reserve Division, was a part in 1914 of the 3d German Army (Von Hausen). It detrained on August 12–13 at Wengerohr (Coblentz-Treves line), remained for a few days on the frontier north of Luxemburg, and entered Belgium on the 19th. It crossed the Meuse at Antree, below Dinant (Aug, 23), and entered France on the 27th by way of Phillipville (Marienburg and Couvin). It went across Champagne by Chateau Porcien, Tagnon, and Le Chatelet (Sept. 1), went to the east of Rheims, crossed the Marne east of Epernay, and reached the railroad from Sezanne to Vitry le Francois between Vassimont and Sommesous on September 8.
Marne.
2. Engaged in the battle of the Marne, on the extreme right of the 3d Army, the 23d Reserve Division suffered heavy losses (Sept. 8–9).
Champagne.
3. It retired, by way of Mourmelon, to the region of Moronvilliers Auberive and took up its position there (end of September).
1915.
Champagne.
1. The 23d Reserve Division occupied the Champagne front (Auberive sector) until the month of July, 1916.
2. On September 25 it received the French offensive, which caused it very heavy losses. At this time the 103d Reserve Infantry Regiment was detached from the 23d Reserve Division and assigned to the Liebert Division. In October it rejoined the 23d Reserve Division after being reorganized. Its losses in the Champagne battle had been 140 killed, 751 wounded, and 1,369 missing. On October 2 at least 115 men had been sent to the 8th Company of the 103d Infantry Regiment as replacements.
1916.
1. The 23d Reserve Division was relieved from the sector of Auberive-St. Souplet sector between July 15 and 20, 1916, and transferred to the north of Peronne.
Somme.
2. It was engaged in the battle of the Somme (north of Hem to the Monacu Farm) until August 12–14. The 100th Reserve Grenadier Regiment lost 1,700 men there (letter). The 7th Company of the 103d Infantry Regiment received at least 113 men as replacements between August 1 and 17.
Artois.
3. After a rest in the vicinity of Douai, the division was sent south of Lens (Angres-Souchez from the beginning of September to Oct. 20). Its composition was modified by the substitution of the 392d Infantry Regiment, formed by men taken from various Saxon regiments, for the 103d Reserve Infantry Regiment.
Somme.
4. About the middle of October it was again on the Somme (north of Gueudecourt). It remained there for five weeks and suffered very little.
Artois.
5. Relieved from the Somme on December 3 and 4 the 23d Reserve Division remained at rest for a few days near Cambrai, and then took over the sector east of Arras (between Roclincourt and Beaurains). The 101st Reserve Infantry Regiment was transferred to a new Saxon Division, the 119th, and the 23d Reserve Division was reduced to three regiments.
1917.
1. The division occupied the Artois front during the winter of 1916–17.
2. It was withdrawn at the end of March to go to Belgium.
Flanders.
3. Sent to rest in the Bruges area for a fortnight; it then went in line for a month north of Ypres (calm sector).
4. It was in reserve in June and then went to the front on July 10 between the railroad from Ypres to Staden and the Ypres-Roulers Railroad. In the course of its relief (July 31) it suffered heavily from the bombardment which preceded the British attack.
5. Retained in Flanders, it took part on September 22 in the fighting in the Passchendaele sector and underwent the British attack of September 26, which caused it heavy losses. (The 2d Company of the 100th Reserve Infantry Regiment was reduced to 25 men.)
Russia.
6. After five days in line the 23d Reserve Division was relieved and transferred to Russia, where it arrived on October 8.
7. It appeared in the Vilna area between October 10 and 17. In the middle of November it was identified near Postavy, where it still was at the end of January, 1918.
RECRUITING.
The 23d Reserve Division is purely Saxon.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The 23d Reserve Division was not seriously engaged during the first half of 1917, but has suffered heavily since that time.
After the losses which it suffered in July, 1917, it received mediocre replacements (elderly men and returned convalescents.)
If one adds to that the heavy losses which it suffered at Passchendaele in September, and in its four months’ stay on the Eastern Front, one may rest assured that the morale and general quality of the division had diminished in value for more than a year. (British Summary of Information, Feb., 1918.)
1918.
Artois.
1. In March the division was transferred to the Western Front. It entrained near Dvinsk on March 16 and traveled via Vilna-Koenigsberg-Marienburg-Schneidemuhl-Berlin-Hanover-Menden-Krefeld-Aix la Chapelle-Hasselt-Louvain-Brussels-Courtrai-Lille, and detrained at Libercourt (16 km. south of Lille) on March 22. It left for the front on March 26.
It came into line in the Oppy sector on March 28. In the attack on this day all three regiments of the division suffered heavy casualties. The division continued in line in the vicinity until about June 25.
Flanders.
2. When relieved in the Arras sector the division marched north and relieved the 15th Reserve Division near Calonne sur la Lys about June 27. In later August the division extended its sector to the south to include the front southwest of Vielle Chapelle, southeast of Merville and east of Laventie.
The division held this front through August and September. On September 30 the resting regiment of the division—the 100th Reserve Regiment—was sent up to reenforce the Ypres front. It was engaged for two weeks in the vicinity of Ledeghem. In October the division was engaged in the Little area until about the 20th. It was taken out of line north of Tournai and sent to relieve the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division on the night of October 22–23 at Octeghem. It remained in line until a few days before the armistice. The last identification was at Audenarde on November 2.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
The division was rated as third class. Its record of more than eight months’ constant service in line in fairly active sectors indicated considerable power of resistance.