HISTORY.
(241st and 242d Reserve Infantry Regiments: 12th Corps District—Saxony. 243d Reserve Infantry Regiment: 19th Corps District—Saxony.)
1914.
Flanders-Ypres.
1. The 53d Reserve Division (of the 27th Reserve Corps with the 54th Reserve Division), formed between August and October, 1914, were sent to Belgium, and detrained on August 14 at Ath. It was engaged, with the divisions of the same series, in the battle of Ypres, against the British Army. Beginning on October 21, it fought on the front Poelcappelle-Becelaere; southeast of Gheluvelt on October 29, and near the Ypres-Menin road at the time of the great attack of November 11. It suffered very heavy losses—the 25th Reserve Chasseurs Battalion, already reduced to 225 men on October 31, had only 73 on November 4 (notebook). On November 25 the 6th Company of the 241st Reserve Infantry Regiment had only 7 of the men left who constituted it upon its departure from Saxony (letter).
1915.
Flanders.
1. The division remained in line north of Ypres during the winter of 1914–15, alternating with the 54th Reserve Division in the sector Broodseinde-Polygon wood.
2. It took part in the second battle of Ypres, near Frezenberg and Gravenstafel, where it again lost heavily.
3. In June it occupied the sector of Wytchaete-St. Éloi and returned northeast of Ypres (Verlorenhoek) in the middle of July.
Champagne and Flanders.
4. At the beginning of October the 105th Reserve Brigade was sent to Champagne to reenforce the lines near Tahure. The 106th Reserve Brigade took over the sector of the Lys.
5. In November the division was regrouped and sent to rest in the vicinity of Ingelmunster (north of Courtrai). It remained behind the front during the winter of 1915–16 in the vicinity of Roulers.
1916.
La Bassee.
1. At the end of March, 1916, the 53d Reserve Division left Flanders and went into line on both banks of the La Bassee Canal.
Somme.
2. Sent to the Somme at the end of August, it was engaged southeast of Maurepas (Le Forest) at the time of the French attack of September 3, which ended in the capture of Le Forest and of Clery. It suffered heavy losses in counterattacking and in withstanding the new French offensive of September 13. Between September 6 and 12 the 241st Reserve Infantry Regiment listed 12 officers and 1,502 men as casualties. On September 3 the 244th Reserve Infantry Regiment had lost 400 prisoners.
Loos.
3. Relieved on September 14, it was transferred to the Loos front (between Hulluch and the Lens-Béthune railroad), from September 21 to October 5.
Champagne.
4. On October 9 it was in Champagne, where it occupied the sector of Prosnes, east of Rheims.
Galicia.
5. Withdrawn from the Champagne front, the 53d Reserve Division entrained for the Eastern Front on November 17. (Itinerary: Bétheniville-Rethel-Sedan-Trèves-Coblenz-Ems-Cologne-Halle-Cottbus-Liegnitz-Breslau-Cracow-Tarnow-Jaroslaw-Przemysl-Lemberg-Rohatyn.) It detrained at Pukow (south of Lemberg) on the 26th.
6. It was sent into reserve behind the line of the Narajowka in December. In the autumn of 1916 the 244th Reserve Infantry Regiment was transferred to the 215th Division; later it was transferred to the 96th Division (Saxon).
1917.
1. At the beginning of January, 1917, the 53d Reserve Division went into line at the junction of the Narajowka and the Dniester, and remained in this sector until the middle of June without any important engagement.
2. Relieved and sent to rest in June, it took part in the German counteroffensive begun on July 20 and advanced north of the Dniester. It was identified on August 3 east of Krjivtche.
3. The division was withdrawn from the front at the end of November and entrained for Belgium in the middle of December.
RECRUITING.
The 53d Reserve Division is purely Saxon.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The 53d Reserve Division spent a year on the Eastern Front (November, 1916, to November, 1917). It is of mediocre quality.
1918.
1. The division was relieved in the Houthulst forest on February 12 and went to rest in the Bruges area.
Battle of Picardy.
2. On March 1–2 it relieved the 27th Division northeast of Flesquieres. It took part in the initial attack on March 21, was withdrawn on the 22d and went to rest near Bourlon wood. The division was in General Headquarters reserve and on March 27 marched via Havrincourt-Ruyaulcourt-Moislains-Bouchavesnes, crossing the Somme at Clery, and continued to march via Raincourt to Rosieres en Santerre. The 241st Reserve Regiment went into line near Moreuil on the night of April 1–2 and relieved the 426th Regiment (88th Division); the 242d Reserve Regiment went into line on the night of April 3–4, relieving the 100th Body Grenadier Regiment (23d Division). On the morning of April 4 the division attacked in the vicinity of Arriese Cour wood. The division at this date was operating under the 18th German Army. About the middle of April it was withdrawn from the Moreuil sector.
Verdun.
3. About May 1 the division was resting in rear of the Verdun front. It relieved the 84th Division west of Bethincourt in the first week of May. It held that quiet sector until the 11th of June, when a tired division took its place and the 53d Reserve Division returned to an active front.
Soissons.
4. The division detrained near Laon on June 14–15, and the next night relieved the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division north of Le Port. Here it participated in heavy fighting in July and August until its relief about August 10. In this engagement the 243d Reserve Regiment was reduced to three companies per battalion as a result of heavy losses.
5. The division was taken to the region in rear of the Argonne front and the process of dissolution begun. Before its completion the American offensive in the Argonne began and elements of the division were used on the United States front between September 29 and October 15.
According to the available evidence, the 242d Reserve Regiment was drafted to the 24th and 58th Divisions, the 241st Regiment to the 23d Division, and the 243d Reserve Regiment to the 40th and 58th Divisions.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
The division was rated as third class. It participated in the spring Somme offensive, but thereafter did not play an important part in the fighting. The low effective strength was directly responsible for the dissolution of the division.