HISTORY.
(38th Landwehr Division: 10th Corps District—Hanover.)
1914.
The grouping of the 38th Landwehr Brigade (77th and 78th Landwehr Regiments) and of a mixed regiment, 79th Reserve Infantry Regiment, formed the 38th Landwehr Division in April, 1917.
1. The 38th Landwehr Brigade remained independent until it was assigned to the 38th Landwehr Division.
Flanders.
2. Arriving at Liége on October 21, 1914, the 38th Brigade remained there about two months. Transferred to Flanders on October 27, it held the sector north of the Passchendaele Canal (Nieuport) until the beginning of November.
3. After occupying the front of Ypres near Becelaere, the brigade came into line before Passchendaele at the end of December.
1915.
Flanders.
1. In April, 1915, the 38th Landwehr Brigade took part in the second battle of Ypres near Zonnebeke.
2. On May 18 it was transferred from Roulers to La Bassée (Festubert) to reenforce the 7th Army Corps.
3. After a rest at Lille it went into line south of the Lys (Frelinghien-Houplines) at the end of August.
1916.
Artois.
1. Relieved from the north of Armentieres in March, 1916, the 38th Landwehr Brigade was sent south of Arras (sector Wailly-Blaireville).
Flanders.
2. In the middle of September it returned to the Armentieres front (from the Armentières-Lille railroad to Aubers). It occupied this sector for a year and a half.
1917.
1. In 1917 sector south of Armentières.
In April, 1917, the 38th Landwehr Brigade was transformed into the 38th Landwehr Division by the addition of a third regiment, the 79th Reserve-85th Landwehr, a composite regiment (1st and 2d Battalions of the 85th Landwehr Regiment, four companies of the 79th Reserve Regiment, the eight others having entered into the composition of the 440th Reserve Regiment of the 183d Division).
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The 38th Landwehr Division, formed of fairly old men, constitutes an organization of the third class. It held an honorable position in the battles of Ypres in 1914 and 1915, but, as a rule, its rôle was limited to occupying calm sectors. (Belgian Summary of Information, February, 1918.)
1918.
Flanders.
1. The 38th Landwehr Division was relieved on January 16 in the sector south of Armentieres by the 187th Division and went to rest in the region east of Bruges.
2. After a week’s rest it relieved the 8th Bavarian Reserve Division north of Dixmude on January 22. It was relieved by the 214th Division on February 20.
3. On March 3 it relieved the 2d Naval Division east of Ramscappelle (north of Bruges) in the sector just north of the one it previously occupied.
4. About the 10th of May the division side slipped toward the south, and in so doing relieved the 19th Reserve Division.
5. About the middle of October it side slipped southward. It was still in line on the 11th of November, although it was forced with the rest of the German line in Flanders, to withdraw considerably.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
The 38th Landwehr is rated as a fourth-class division. It could be and was used only to hold a quiet sector. Most of the men were nearly 40 years of age, and so it was found necessary to have a divisional “Stosstrupp” for purposes of patrolling.
On November 1 the Franco-American forces in Belgium started an offensive in conjunction with the British 2d Army farther to the south. On the same day, according to the Belgium communique, “The Belgian Army carried out successful minor operations along the drainage canal,” and the German communique said, “The 57th (13th Reserve Division) and the 79th Reserve (38th Landwehr Division) Infantry Regiments distinguished themselves in the course of this fighting.”