HISTORY.
(18th Corps District—Hesse—Nassau and the Grand Duchy of Hesse.)
1914.
The 48th Reserve Division (belonging to the 24th Reserve Corps with the 47th Reserve Division) was formed between August and October, 1914, and trained at the Oberhofen Camp.
Artois.
1. Concentrated near Metz in the middle of October, the 48th Reserve Division was transferred on the 25th to the area between Armentières and La Bassée (Fromelles), while the 47th Reserve Division was sent to the Woevre.
2. On November 1 the division held the line at Neuve Chapelle. Some elements were sent farther north, west of Wytschaete, in the middle of November.
Russia.
3. At the end of November the 48th Reserve Division left the Western Front for Russia.
Poland.
4. On December 3 it was identified in Poland in the vicinity of Kalisch. It then made a part of the X Army and fought west of the Rawka, near Warsaw, at the end of December.
1915.
1. The 48th Reserve Division was engaged in Poland (Rawka) until January 28, 1915.
Carpathians.
2. On February 2 elements of the division fought in the Carpathians, southeast of Beskides. It was then assigned to the German Army of the South (Von Linsingen) and was opposed to the Russians in the vicinity of the Uzsok Ridge (February-May).
Galicia.
3. Taking part in the spring and summer offensive of 1915, it marched to Halicz in May; crossed the Dniester in the middle of June; advanced to Brzezany-Tarnopol and was on the Zlota-Lipa at the end of July. One of its regiments, the 224th Reserve Infantry Regiment, was renewed several times; the list of losses from August to October show casualties of 70 officers and 4,712 men, 3,100 of whom were reported as missing. The greater part of these were Alsace-Lorrainers who had succeeded in deserting.
4. When the offensive was resumed in October and November the 48th Reserve Division formed a part of the Bothmer Army and progressed from the Zlota-Lipa as far as the Stripa.
1916.
1. The 48th Reserve Division was retained at the Stripa, west of Tarnapol, during the winter and spring of 1916; it was still in this sector at the time of the Russian attack (Broussilow offensive, June to September).
Roumania.
2. In the beginning of October the division went into action with the Falkenheim Army against Roumania, and fought in the vicinity of Hermannstadt, then at Préoéal in November.
Galicia.
3. It then left the Transylvanian front and went to eastern Galicia, where it was a part of the Bothmer Army. It took up its position between Brzezan, and the Dniester.
1917.
1. At the beginning of 1917 the 224th Reserve Infantry Regiment left the division and was transferred to the 215th Division, in process of reorganization.
France.
2. The 48th Reserve Division was relieved from its sector in May, 1917, and transferred to the Western Front (Itinerary: Lemberg-Jaroslav-Cracow-Oppeln-Breslau-Leipzig-Erfurt-Gotha-Eisenach-Frankfort-Worms-Sarrebruecken-Thionville-Montmedy-Dun sur Meuse). It rested in the vicinity of Stenay from May 27 to June 28.
Verdun.
3. It was first behind the Verdun front, on the left bank of the Meuse. Toward the end of June it sustained the artillery preparation for the French offensive of July 17, and sent some of its elements in as reenforcements (Hill 304-Morthomme) on the day of the attack.
4. Sent to rest and reorganized in the Stenay area at the end of July. By an important draft of men of the 1918 class, it went back into the same sector (Hill 304-Corbeaux wood) on August 20, at the time of the new French attack, and lost heavily reenforcing and relieving units of the 6th Reserve Division.
5. Withdrawn from the front on August 24, it was employed on various works until September 3 and then sent into the area of Damvillers.
6. On September 12 it went into line north of Hill 344, which it left at the end of the month to go to rest in the vicinity of Morhange.
Lorraine-Alsace.
7. After holding the lines in Lorraine (middle of October to the middle of November) northeast of Arracourt, the 48th Reserve Division was sent to Alsace and went to rest for two months in the vicinity of Enisheim.
RECRUITING.
Mixed upon formation (1 Thuringian Regiment), the division became, in theory, a Hessian Division. The Alsace-Lorrainers were very numerous during its stay on the Russian front, whence the desertions en masse from the 224th Infantry Regiment in the summer of 1915.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
At the end of June, 1917, the 48th Reserve Division, coming from the Russian front, went into line at Hill 304, after a month’s rest near Stenay. But as the men were not accustomed to the activity of the western front and were unable to sustain artillery fire for a long time, they could only be kept in this sector for a few days.
During the French attack of August 20 the 48th Reserve Division played only a passive rôle.
The 48th Reserve Division must be classed among the mediocre divisions (December, 1917).
1918.
1. About March 1 the division was relieved by the 22d Reserve Division and went into reserve in Alsace. It left that sector about April 1 and came into line on the 14th southwest of Vieux Berquin. It was engaged in that locality until its relief on the night of May 26–27 by the 32d Division.
Vieux Berquin.
2. The division rested in the Lille area until June 28, when it returned to its former sector at Vieux Berquin. Its stay here was short. On July 3 it was relieved by the 39th Division and entrained at Laventie the next day for Douai.
Scarpe.
3. On the night of July 6–7 the division relieved the 187th Division southwest of Gavrelle. Throughout August and September the division held this sector. It was relieved north of the Scarpe on the night of October 5–6 and moved south.
4. The division was used to reenforce the Cambrai-St. Quentin front near Cambrai on October 7. Thereafter almost until the day of the armistice the division was engaged in opposing the British advance. The direction of its retreat was through Awoingt (10th), Saulzoir (13th), Montrecourt (14th), north of Haussy (17th), Vendegies (24th), Maresches (Nov. 1), Jenlain (4th). The division received drafts from the dissolved 118th Reserve Regiment (25th Reserve Division) in late October. It was withdrawn from line about November 5.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
The division was rated as second class. In 1918 it was engaged entirely in defensive sectors and performed with credit.