Lorraine-Alsace.
7. After holding the lines in Lorraine (middle of October to the middle of November) northeast of Arracourt, the 48th Reserve Division was sent to Alsace and went to rest for two months in the vicinity of Enisheim.
RECRUITING.
Mixed upon formation (1 Thuringian Regiment), the division became, in theory, a Hessian Division. The Alsace-Lorrainers were very numerous during its stay on the Russian front, whence the desertions en masse from the 224th Infantry Regiment in the summer of 1915.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
At the end of June, 1917, the 48th Reserve Division, coming from the Russian front, went into line at Hill 304, after a month’s rest near Stenay. But as the men were not accustomed to the activity of the western front and were unable to sustain artillery fire for a long time, they could only be kept in this sector for a few days.
During the French attack of August 20 the 48th Reserve Division played only a passive rôle.
The 48th Reserve Division must be classed among the mediocre divisions (December, 1917).
1918.
1. About March 1 the division was relieved by the 22d Reserve Division and went into reserve in Alsace. It left that sector about April 1 and came into line on the 14th southwest of Vieux Berquin. It was engaged in that locality until its relief on the night of May 26–27 by the 32d Division.