France.
4. On September 25 it was again transferred to France. Itinerary: Vilna-Posen-Leipzig-Frankfort on the Main-Saarebruecken-Luxemburg-Sedan.
5. Arriving from Russia on October 1, it went into line about the 28th, in the sector northeast of Rheims. After a rest in January, it returned there in February, 1918.
RECRUITING.
The 21st Division is recruited in Hesse-Nassau, Hesse-Homburg, and Frankfort. They have borrowed very few from other districts, except from the 8th (Rhine Province), its neighbor.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The 21st Division showed itself, in the course of our attack of April 16, 1916, as a good division, which put up a serious resistance.
The 81st Infantry Regiment, however, was criticised for its conduct on April 4. (Order of the 42d Brigade, of Apr. 9.) (See Appendix to the British Summary of Information of May 12, 1917.)
On the Russian front, according to the statement of a deserter (Nov. 7, 1917), the attempts at fraternization and exchange of the Russians were badly received by order of the German commanders.