HISTORY.
(7th Corps District—Westphalia.)
1916.
Aisne.
1. The 25th Landwehr Division was organized in part from the former 25th Mixed Landwehr Brigade, independent (13th and 16th Landwehr Regiments), which entered Belgium on August 20, 1914, and went immediately after the battle of the Marne to the Laon area, where it occupied the Craonne-La Ville aux Bois sector from the end of September, 1914, until almost the end of 1916.
2. In October, 1916, the 25th Landwehr Brigade was transformed into the 25th Landwehr Division by the addition of a third regiment, the Schuster Regiment, which had existed for only a short time.
3. The division was then sent to the west and sent into line between Vailly and Chavonne (October).
1917.
Chemin des Dames.
1. At the beginning of February, 1917, the 186th Infantry Regiment was added as a third regiment to the 25th Landwehr Division. The division was still occupying the sector east of Vailly when the French offensive was launched on April 16. The division suffered heavy losses, retiring to the Chemin des Dames by way of Ostel, Aizy, Jouy (Apr. 16–22).
Upper Alsace.
2. Relieved north of the Aisne about April 25, the 25th Landwehr Division was transferred to Upper Alsace. At the beginning of May it went into line near the Swiss frontier (Hirtzbach, Largitzen, Bisel). It did not leave this sector since that time.
3. In May the 186th Infantry Regiment was replaced by a new regiment, the 328th Landwehr Regiment, formed by taking one battalion of each of the three regiments of the 13th Landwehr Division.
RECRUITING.
The division has a marked sectional quality; the infantry and field artillery come entirely from Westphalia.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
This is purely a sector division. The 25th Landwehr Division has been in line near the Swiss frontier for more than a year.
Since its arrival in Upper Alsace (May, 1917) the division has possessed an assault detachment supposed to carry out raids (June, 1918).
1918.
Alsace.
1. The division remained in the Hirzbach-Swiss frontier sector all through the year until the signing of the armistice.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
The 25th Landwehr Division is rated as a fourth-class division, as being fit to hold only a quiet sector. On the 11th of November, soon after the hour fixed for the suspension of hostilities, a number of men came over to the French lines to fraternize; they were taken prisoners. It seems that there had been a great deal of revolutionary agitation in the division. On October 8 a doctor had had his epaulettes cut to pieces; on the 9th the Soldiers’ Council had come together and had elected representatives; on the 10th the company commander (of at least one company) had read the program for the organization of the Soldiers’ Council. Prisoners state that the causes of this state of mind were the recent defeats suffered by the German forces, the weariness caused by four years of war, and the Kiel disturbances. From the 10th of November on none of the advanced posts had been occupied, and the men refused to do any work, the war having come to an end, to their mind.