The 23d Reserve Division was not seriously engaged during the first half of 1917, but has suffered heavily since that time.
After the losses which it suffered in July, 1917, it received mediocre replacements (elderly men and returned convalescents.)
If one adds to that the heavy losses which it suffered at Passchendaele in September, and in its four months’ stay on the Eastern Front, one may rest assured that the morale and general quality of the division had diminished in value for more than a year. (British Summary of Information, Feb., 1918.)
1918.
Artois.
1. In March the division was transferred to the Western Front. It entrained near Dvinsk on March 16 and traveled via Vilna-Koenigsberg-Marienburg-Schneidemuhl-Berlin-Hanover-Menden-Krefeld-Aix la Chapelle-Hasselt-Louvain-Brussels-Courtrai-Lille, and detrained at Libercourt (16 km. south of Lille) on March 22. It left for the front on March 26.
It came into line in the Oppy sector on March 28. In the attack on this day all three regiments of the division suffered heavy casualties. The division continued in line in the vicinity until about June 25.
Flanders.
2. When relieved in the Arras sector the division marched north and relieved the 15th Reserve Division near Calonne sur la Lys about June 27. In later August the division extended its sector to the south to include the front southwest of Vielle Chapelle, southeast of Merville and east of Laventie.
The division held this front through August and September. On September 30 the resting regiment of the division—the 100th Reserve Regiment—was sent up to reenforce the Ypres front. It was engaged for two weeks in the vicinity of Ledeghem. In October the division was engaged in the Little area until about the 20th. It was taken out of line north of Tournai and sent to relieve the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division on the night of October 22–23 at Octeghem. It remained in line until a few days before the armistice. The last identification was at Audenarde on November 2.