HISTORY.
(First Bavarian District—Southwest of Bavaria, Bavarian Swabia.)
1914.
Lorraine.
1. At the beginning of August the 2d Bavarian Division which, with the 1st Bavarian Division, formed the 1st Bavarian Corps, was a part of the army of the Crown Prince of Bavaria (6th Army). The 3d Brigade, covering troops, detrained at Reding near Saarburg, the 3d of August. On the 9th the division was at its full strength. It proceeded to the frontier, reached Badonviller, and retired as far as Gosselming (west of Saarburg) the 17th of August, gave battle there on the 20th, and recrossed the frontier. It advanced as far as Xaffévillers (Sept. 7), whence it retired to Morhange (Sept. 10). On September 15 the division entrained at Metz. It detrained near Namur, gained Peronne by stages, and was engaged at Foucaucourt the 24th.
Somme.
2. Together with the 1st Bavarian Corps it was attached to the 2d Army (Von Bülow), operating on the Somme in the district of Peronne. It took part in the fiercely contested battles which took place there but a short time after the stabilization of the front and suffered serious losses. At the beginning of the campaign, October 30, the 12th Infantry had 50 officers and 1,910 men who were unable to take part in action (lists of losses).
3. The division was maintained in this district up to the month of October, 1915, first to the south of the Somme, later, at the beginning of November, 1914, between Dompierre and Maricourt.