HISTORY.
(2d Corps District—Pomerania.)
1914.
1. The 45th Reserve Division (forming the 23d Reserve Corps with the 46th Reserve Division) belongs to the series of divisions formed between August and October, 1914. It received its training at the Jueterbog Camp, entrained on October 12, and detrained at Alost in Belgium.
Yser.
2. On October 21, 1914, the 45th Reserve Division was engaged in the battle of the Yser in the vicinity of Noordschoote-Steenstraat, and suffered serious losses in the course of the battles, which were prolonged until November (from Oct. 15 to Nov. 11 52 officers and 1,669 men in the 212th Reserve Infantry Regiment, according to the Official List of Casualties).
3. In December elements of the division were in line in the vicinity of Bixschoote.
1915.
Flanders.
1. The division remained in Belgium and in the vicinity of Armentières during the entire year of 1915 and the first half of 1916.
2. On April 22, 1915, it attacked in the Steenstraat sector and occupied the village of Lizerne, which counter attacks obliged it to abandon.
1916.
Flanders.
1. The 45th Reserve Division continued to occupy the zone north of Ypres (Steenstraat-Boesinghe) until March 3, 1916. The 209th and 212th Reserve Infantry Regiments were temporarily detached (from the end of January to the beginning of March) and assigned to the 26th Division in the Becelaere sector.
Messines.
2. On March 12 the division took over the sector of Messines, south of Ypres. Until the month of September it did not take part in any important action.
Somme.
3. At the beginning of September it was withdrawn from Flanders, sent to the Somme, and engaged in the sector of Thiepval-Martinpuich (Sept. 9 to 24). On September 15 it withstood the British attack between Courcelette and Thiepval, where it lost very heavily.
Oise.
4. After a short rest in the vicinity of Bapaume the division was sent to the Noyon area. It transferred the 209th Reserve Infantry Regiment to the 207th Division, a new formation. At the beginning of October it went into line on the left bank of the Oise at Tracy le Val. In the interval, in order to fill up its regiments, it had to borrow from the Landsturm battalions of the 2d Corps District (men of the Landsturm 2d Btn., trained and untrained from the classes 1892 to 1894).
1917.
1. January 22, 1917, the 45th Reserve Division left the sector of Tracy le Val for the Sissonne Camp, and received training there for three weeks. Its regiments had been practically re-formed. Between September 24, 1916, and February 21, 1917, the 210th Reserve Infantry Regiment had received 79 noncommissioned officers and 1,522 men.
2. On February 12 it went into the sector Osly-Courtil-Chevillecourt, west of Soissons. In March it retired in the direction of Coucy le Château; it was put in reserve (Mar. 20 to Apr. 10) in the area north of Laon.
Aisne-Chemin des Dames.
3. On April 10, in anticipation of the French attack, the elements of the division were concentrated near Filain. On the 7th the 210th Reserve Infantry Regiment was in action south of the Ailette Canal (east of Vauxaillon). The other regiments were sent west of the Oise-Aisne Canal toward Braye en Laonnois. All the units underwent the attack of April 16, and were relieved between April 20 and 22, having suffered very heavy losses.
4. Concentrated and reorganized north of Laon (Crecy sur Serre), the division again went into action near the Oise-Aisne Canal (Froidmont Farm-Malval Farm, on May 3). Its losses were again very severe during the new French attack of May 5. It was withdrawn from the front on the 6th.
Verdun.
5. Transferred to the vicinity of Conflans and reorganized, the division went into line on the Côtes de Meuse (Calonne les Éparges) on May 27.
6. After three months in the sector on the Côtes, the 45th Reserve Division entrained at Conflans (Sept. 26) for Flanders.
Flanders.
7. On September 22 it went into position in the Zonnebeke sector as a counterattacking division. Elements of the division were engaged on October 1 (Polygon wood), on the 4th (Zonnebeke), and from the 9th to the 12th as reinforcements on the Passchendaele front. After the British attack of October 12 the division, very much exhausted by these battles, was relieved.
Verdun.
Transferred to the rear of the Côtes de Meuse, sent into line on the heights northeast of St. Mihiel in November; it was sent to the vicinity of Bohain in December.
RECRUITING.
Mixed at the time of its formation (1 Hanseatic Regiment), the 45th Reserve Division was recruited almost entirely from Pomerania, in theory at least, after its reduction to three regiments. Like the other units recruited from this province (4th Division), at the end of 1915 and several times since then, it has received a relatively large proportion of elderly men (1892 to 1894 classes, trained and untrained).
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The 45th Reserve Division fought well on the Somme. It put up a vigorous defense on the Aisne in the course of its two engagements of April 16 and May 6, 1917.
The Pomeranians, who formed the greater part of its effectives, have a military reputation to sustain. However, according to the statements of prisoners, when the 212th Reserve Infantry Regiment came from the Verdun front to Flanders it refused to attack on September 30, 1917. (British Summary of Information, Oct. 4.)
1918.
St. Quentin.
1. Toward the end of January the division relieved the 36th Division near Faye (north of St. Quentin), the latter division side slipping toward the south. It remained here and took part in the initial attack of the Somme offensive; it was withdrawn about the 24th of March. It was not entirely withdrawn on that date, however, for besides still having some elements in line, the rest of the division was in close support as a “follow up” division. In this fighting it lost heavily.
Montdidier.
2. A few days later it went to rest in the Montdidier area. Early in April it entered line near Assainvillers (east of Montdidier), where it was identified on the 6th, and was relieved by the 206th Division on the 18th, going to rest and refit in the region of Vouziers.
Aisne.
3. On the 1st of June the division was in reserve northeast of Fère en Tardenois, and on the 3d it reinforced the front near Chaudun (southwest of Soissons); it was relieved by the 23d Division and went to rest near Oulchy le Château (west of Fère en Tardenois).
Marne.
4. The allied counteroffensive having started on July 18, the division was hurried into line near Montron (east of La Ferté Milon) to meet it. Here it was heavily engaged and suffered severe losses. It was relieved by the 26th Division on July 27.
5. It did not have an opportunity to rest, however, for it relieved the 201st Division north of Fère en Tardenois two days later. It was relieved on August 3, and went to rest in the Maubeuge region. It was identified here on the 23d, but a few days afterwards, the Germans fearing an American attack in Alsace, it was dispatched to the vicinity of Muelheim, where it arrived prior to September 3.
Champagne-Argonne.
6. The division entrained on the 24th for Flanders, but was ordered to detrain when it reached St. Morel (south of Vouziers) on the 26th and remained there until midnight. Then the 212th Reserve Regiment entered line in the Aire valley near Baulny, while the remainder of the division moved farther to the west and entered line to the north of Fontaine en Dormois (northeast of Suippes). On October 8 these elements came to the east and the division was in line as a whole northwest of Châtel Chéhéry. It was withdrawn on the 25th and went to rest in Lorraine in the vicinity of Conflans (southwest of Briey).
7. On the 4th of November it came back into line near Woël (northeast of St. Mihiel); it was still here on the 11th.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
The 45th Reserve has been considered a second-class division. Heavily engaged on the Somme (three times), on the Aisne, against the Allied counteroffensive, and in the battle of the Meuse-Argonne, it has done a great deal of heavy fighting during 1918, without, however, ever particularly distinguishing itself. It suffered exceedingly heavy losses. Early in September, the 212th Regiment received as a draft the 397th Regiment of the disbanded 222d Division. About the 16th of October it received a very large draft of replacements among which were a considerable number of elements of decidedly Bolshevistic tendencies. Men deserted to the rear, to the enemy, and quite a few were punished for insubordination to officers, and some for refusing to fight. The morale of the whole division was very low.