4. After a fortnight’s rest in the Guise region, it occupied (from the beginning of June to Aug. 6–8), the St. Quentin sector (south of Fayet).
Flanders.
5. On August 7 the division entrained for Flanders, at Fresnoy le Grand. Disembarking near Courtrai, it was first in reserve near Passchendaele. A few of the elements of the division engaged in battle at Langemarck on the 17th of August. It was in line in the St. Julien sector (northeast of Ypres) on August 20, and relieved on August 24, after suffering heavy losses.
St. Quentin.
6. In rest at Origny, from August 29 to September 9, the division then occupied the sector southwest of St. Quentin (Sept. 9 to Nov. 11–12).
It left at this latter date to occupy the front south of Passchendaele until the middle of February, 1918, being relieved several times in the interval.
RECRUITING.
Silesia, especially Upper Silesia. In 1916, following the losses suffered at Verdun, a great number of the replacement troops consisted of men from the 3d and 4th Corps Districts (Brandenburg and Prussian Saxony) and of the 1916 class, and of returned convalescents of the 9th and 10th Corps Districts (Schleswig-Holstein and Hanover). This measure was not only dictated by necessity, but contributed to counterbalance the original Polish element.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
At Ypres (August, 1917), a certain number of men of the 51st Reserve Infantry Regiment refused to go into the trenches; according to prisoners, desertions to the rear were frequent, especially among the younger men.