4. The division left Artois at the beginning of September, was sent to rest at Courtrai until the 17th, went to Iseghem by railroad, then marched to Roulers. Until September 20 it remained in reserve as a counterattacking division. Between the 20th and 26th, it was in a violent battle east of Ypres, toward the Polygon wood and between this wood and Zonnebeke to oppose the British advance. Before going into line, on September 20, the 2d Battalion of the 459th Infantry Regiment, had lost more than 200 men from artillery fire; on the 22d, the 8th Company had only 15 men left.
5. Withdrawn from the Flanders front, during the night of September 28–29, the 236th Division was sent to rest in the vicinity of Douai.
Artois.
6. On October 6 it went into line north of the Scarpe, between the Roeux and the Gavrelle; it enlarged its sector toward the north at the beginning of November. It was filled up by replacements taken from the Russian front; 400 men coming from the 32d Landwehr Regiment (197th Division) arrived in November.
RECRUITING.
The 236th Division was recruited from Westphalia and the Rhine Province.
VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.
The 236th Division had serious losses while fighting at Ypres and its morale was weakened in consequence. It may be considered a mediocre division (February, 1918).
According to a deserter’s statement (Jan. 23, 1918), the 236th Division was a shock division in 1917.