3. At the end of September it was sent to Libau, where important forces were being concentrated for the occupation of the islands in the Baltic. On October 12 the 131st Infantry Regiment landed on the Oesel Island, which it occupied until November 1. The 138th Infantry Regiment remained at Moon until October 25. At the beginning of November the 42d Division was transferred to the vicinity of Kovel. At the end of November it took over a calm sector in the vicinity of Kachovka.
France.
4. Entraining at Kovel on December 23, it arrived in France on December 28. (Itinerary: Warsaw-Thorn-Posen-Leipzig-Dortmund-Cologne-Herbestal-Brussels. It detrained at Ascq on the 28th.)
5. After a stay in the vicinity of Lille, it relieved the 4th Division east of Armentières on January 23, 1918.
RECRUITING.
As the regional system of recruiting could not furnish dependable elements, the 42d Division is principally recruited from Westphalia and the Rhine Province. The Alsace-Lorrainers were fairly numerous, however, during the stay of the division on the Russian front.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The 42d Division occupied the Eastern Front from February, 1915, until the end of December, 1917.
In the offensive operations in which the 42d Division took part in 1917 the successes appear to have been fairly easy. The greater part of the time it has not had to sustain any serious action and its losses have been comparatively slight.