HISTORY.
(15th Reserve: Eighth District—Westphalia. 77th and 91st Reserve: Tenth District—Hanover.)
1914.
Belgium.
1. At the beginning of the war the 2d Reserve Guard Division was grouped with the 19th Reserve Division in the 10th Reserve Corps. This corps formed a part of the Second German Army (Von Bülow).
The division entrained at Zulpich August 10, entered Belgium the 14th, passed the Meuse near Liege the 17th, surrounded Namur on the north, crossed the Sambre to the west of Charleroi on the 22d, fought at Marbaix the 23d, and the 29th and 30th at Ribemont and St. Quentin.
Marne-Champagne.
2. The 2d Reserve Guard Division was engaged in the battle of the Marne between Sezanne and Montmirail (Sept. 6–7). It retreated through Epernay and fought on the Rheims front. It held its position on this front (Courcy sector) up to the month of February, 1915.
1915.
Artois.
1. Toward the middle of February, 1915, the two brigades of the 2d Reserve Guard Division were separated. The 26th Brigade went into the line between Thiescourt and the Oise and the 38th Brigade went to the forest of the Argonne.
2. Regrouped in Alsace in the vicinity of Schlestadt toward the end of April, the 2d Reserve Guard Division was transported about May 20 to the district of La Bassee. It was engaged in the Cuinchy-Givenchy sector (June-July).
3. About the 1st of August the division was sent to rest east of Cambrai.
4. In September it occupied the sector of Vingles-Hulluch to the south of the La Bassee Canal. September 25–26 it took part in the third battle of the Artois and suffered great losses. Portions of the 2d Reserve Guard Division participated in the attack near Loos October 8.
5. The division remained in the district of La Bassee up to April, 1916.
1916.
Somme.
1. The 2d Reserve Guard Division was relieved about April 7 of the Cuinchy-Canal sector of La Bassee. After a rest in Belgium in the vicinity of Tournai, the division was placed in the Gommecourt sector (Somme), end of May.
2. The Franco-British offensive found it in this sector July 1. It was severely engaged from July to November, 1916, sometimes in the vicinity of Pozieres, Thiepval, Bazentin-le-Petit (from July to September), sometimes farther north, and suffered serious losses (51 per cent of its personnel).
3. The 2d Reserve Guard Division was maintained in the Gommecourt-Hebuterne sector during the entire winter of 1916–17. At the end of 1916 it ceded the 55th Reserve Infantry to the 220th Division (organization).
1917.
Hindenburg Line.
1. The middle of March, 1917, the 2d Reserve Guard Division participated in the retreat of the German Army; it went back through Bucquoy, Lagnicourt, Beaumetz-les-Cambrai toward the Hindenburg line. It established itself on this line between Queant and Boursies until the end of May.
Flanders.
2. At the beginning of June the division remained at rest several days in the vicinity of Cambrai, and was then transported to the Thielt, (Pitthem-Eeghem) district (end of June). At the beginning of July it approached the front toward Staden.
3. On July 31, certain elements of the division, being surprised and later reassembled on the western border of the Houthulst forest, counter attacked in the direction of Bixschoote and suffered rather heavy losses.
4. The 2d Reserve Guard Division remained in this sector eight days. It was relieved August 8–9 and sent to rest in the district of Gand (Lakeren-Ostnieuwekerke) till the beginning of September.
5. About the 10th of September it was sent into the line on the front west of Passchendaele (southeast of St. Julien). It was withdrawn from this position toward the end of the month in order to go in again, almost immediately, to the southeast of Armentieres.
6. It remained there until the end of November, after which it reappeared on the front west and north of Passchendaele in December.
7. It was relieved February 1, 1918, and went into the district of Roulers.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The 2d Reserve Guard Division was always considered as being an excellent division because it had always fought well, though it showed only mediocre fighting qualities to the north of Ypres in 1917.
The 31st of July it counterattacked without energy and without success in the direction of Bixschoote. During the approach, a great number of men remained in the rear.
Following this, its attitude was passive.
1918.
Flanders.
1. The division remained in the Passchendaele sector until withdrawn about January 9.
2. It came back into line, relieving the 199th Division, during the night of January 23–24, north of Passchendaele. It was relieved by the 239th Division February 1.
3. February 7 it relieved the 239th Division; relieved by 41st Division March 3. It then was trained for a fortnight.
Cambrai.
4. March 21 the division reinforced the Cambrai front near St. Leger, fighting, with heavy losses, until the 26th.
Arras.
5. It came back into line west of Neuville-Vitasse about April 3, relieving the 236th Division. April 29 the division was relieved by the extension of the fronts of the neighboring divisions.
6. It went to the Douai area and rested there until coming into line in the Gavrelle sector during the night of June 7–8; it relieved the 187th Division. It was relieved by the 187th Division June 20 and went to be reconstituted in the Tournai area, receiving a draft from the 427th Infantry Regiment and another of over 500 men from Germany.
7. The division relieved the 5th Bavarian Reserve Division, near Bucquoy, August 7. During the heavy fighting that followed it lost 2,400 in prisoners alone. It was withdrawn August 25.
8. September 2 it reinforced the front near the Arras-Cambrai road, whence it was withdrawn about the middle of the month.
La Bassée.
9. It then relieved the 9th Reserve Division near Neuve-Chapelle September 26.
Flanders.
10. October 5 prisoners belonging to the division were identified near Ledeghem. It remained there, being identified by prisoners November 11.
VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.
The general commanding the 2d Guard Reserve Division was decorated in February and again in May. The last decoration was Pour le Mérite, and was accompanied by promotion. August 15 Gen. Petersdorff reprimanded the division because, as he said, “within 14 days, 1 noncommissioned officer and 10 other ranks have been missing from the division * * *.” It is considered as a second-class division.