HISTORY.
(270th Regiment: 3d Corps District—Brandenburg. 271st and 272d Regiments: 6th Corps District—Silesia.)
1915.
1. Formed during November, 1914-January, 1915, with three field battalions of the 3d Corps District and six of the 6th Corps District (Nos. 25–30) it was trained at the Jueterbog cantonment. The 82d Reserve Division (which with the 81st Reserve Division formed the 41st Reserve Corps) entrained on January 21 for the Somme. It included an additional regiment—the 60th Infantry—which the 21st Corps had left in France before leaving for Russia.
Somme.
2. It was engaged in February and March, 1915, to the north of Chaulnes.
3. About March 28 it was transferred to the Eastern Front minus the 60th Infantry, which joined the 121st Division.
Galicia-Russia.
4. In May, 1915, the 82d Reserve Division as well as the 81st Reserve Division took part in the German offensive along the San, which resulted in the breaking up of the Russian front in Galicia. It was identified in region of Jaslo (May 9) to the south of Radymno (May 12–21) and at Medyka (June 4). Its pursuit of the Russians brought it together with the 41st Reserve Corps to the Bug, in the vicinity of Grubeszow (July) and to the northeast of Pinsk (September-October). During that offensive the division suffered heavy losses.
Pinsk.
5. The Russian retreat being halted, the 82d Reserve Division took its position in the Pinsk region (Nobel Lake, October-December).
1916.
Pinsk-Nobel Lake.
1. The division remained the entire year in the Nobel Lake sector and up to November, 1917. A soldier of the 270th Regiment wrote on November 8, 1917: “I have not loaded my gun since the middle of March.”
1917.
Russia-France.
1. In November, 1917, the 82d Reserve Division was relieved by some Landsturm units and re-formed (elimination of soldiers from Alsace and Lorraine, etc.).
2. At the beginning of December the division was transported to the Western Front.
3. The division entrained at Ivanovo on December 4 (Itinerary: Brest-Litowsk-Varsovie-Kalisz-Glogau-Cottbus-Halle-Frankfort-Mainz-Kreuznach-Sarrebrueck-Metz-Conflans) and detrained at Mars la Tour about December 10.
RECRUITING.
In theory Brandenburg and Silesia. Very mixed personnel, seemingly including men from Pomerania and the eastern Provinces of the Empire.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
In January, 1918, the 82d Reserve Division took part in maneuvers in the vicinity of Thuméréville (northwest of Conflans). After these maneuvers Lieut. Gen. Fuchs is said to have said that the division could be put in class 3 of the combat units (Kampf Truppen, 3) a classification which is just above that of labor troops. (Interrogation of prisoner, Mar. 4, 1918. See Bull. Rens. Second Army (French), No. 744.)
The make-up of the division is heterogeneous and of mediocre quality and includes returned wounded men, Landsturm, former railway guards, dismounted troopers, and few recruits of the 1918 class. (Interrogation, Jan. 22, 1918.)
After a two-year stay in the Pinsk sector the 82d Reserve Division lacked training when it returned on the Western Front (December, 1917).
1918.
Cantigny.
1. The division was relieved on April 20 in the Woevre and marched by Conflans-Briey-Mairy to Landres, where it entrained. It moved via Longuyon-Mezieres-Hirson and arrived at Wassigny, where it detrained on May 5. On May 16 the division relieved the 30th Division west of Cantigny. It was thrown out of the city by the American attack at the end of the month. The division was withdrawn about July 22.
Third Battle of the Somme.
2. To reenforce the Somme battle front the division came into line on August 9 between Hangest and Arvillers. It was withdrawn on the 18th northwest of Roye, but a week later returned to its former sector. The division fell back on the Canal du Nord on August 27, and on September 2 took up a position between the Chaulnes-Ham railroad and a point north of Moyencourt. It again retreated on the night of September 4–5 and occupied a position at Etreillers-Roupy before the Siegfried-Stellung.
The division was constantly engaged, resisting strongly, but being gradually forced back. On the 28th it retired to the line of the St. Quentin Canal. On October 8, a surprise attack threw it back to Fontaine Notre Dame. Here it resisted fiercely. It was relieved about October 10 and went to the Guise area.
In this fighting the division lost 2,000 men. Its combatant strength was estimated to be about 1,200 men on October 7.
3. On October 14 the division reenforced the line east of Bernot and fought for three days. It returned to the Guise area, but intervened again west of Pleine-Selve on October 25. Until the armistice it was engaged south of Guise, east of La Capelle, and at Liessies.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
The division was rated as third class. After August it was almost constantly in line in the St. Quentin area until its effectives were almost completely consumed.