22 April 1915: German 4th Army Order of Battle at Ypres.

Battle Studies

The Second Battle of Ypres 1915

22 April 1915

Prelude to the Battle

Order of Battle of the German 4th Army

Army Commander: General-Oberst Herzog Albrecht von Württemberg (General Duke Albrecht of Württemberg) (1865-1939)
(4th Army Commander from 2.8.14)

Chief of Staff: Major-General Ilse

Army Headquarters: Tielt

The front line held by the German 4th Army in Flanders on 22 April 1915 covered the area from the Flanders coast near Nieuport in the north to the Ypres-Comines canal on its southern left wing.

To the north and south of Ypres there was a point in the German line where it turned almost at 90 degrees to the east, forming a salient called the Ypres Salient by the Allies; at the neck of the salient the northern point of the German front line was about 8 kilometres away from Ypres and the southern point was about 4 kilometres from Ypres.

On the morning of 22 April the units (from north to south of the German line) in the front line at the Ypres Salient were:

XXIII. Reserve Corps

Corps Commander: General von Kathen (1)

45. Reserve Division

Commander: Generalleutnant Schöpflin

89. Reserve Brigade: 209. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 212. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
90. Reserve Brigade: 210. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 211. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
17. Reserve Jäger Battalion

46. Reserve Division

Commander: Generalleutnant von Hahn

91. Reserve Brigade: 213. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 214. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
92. Reserve Brigade: 215. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 216. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
18. Reserve Jäger Battalion

XXVI. Reserve Corps

Corps Commander: General von Hügel

52. Reserve Division

Commander: Generalleutnant Waldorf

103. Reserve Brigade: 237. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 238. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
104. Reserve Brigade: 239. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 240. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
24. Reserve Jäger Battalion

51. Reserve Division

Commander: Generalmajor von Kleist

101. Reserve Brigade: 233. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 234. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
102. Reserve Brigade: 235. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 236. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
23. Reserve Jäger Battalion
2. Reserve Ersatz Brigade: 3. Reserve-Ersatz-Regiment and 4. Reserve-Ersatz-Regiment

Corps Reserve

102. Reserve Brigade: 235. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 236. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
37. Landwehr Brigade: 73. Landwehr Regiment and 74. Landwehr Regiment

For the attack on the French front line the XXVI. Reserve Corps consisted of the following total number of units, these being its regular and some additional reinforcement units:

38 infantry and Jäger battalions
6 cavalry squadrons
21 field artillery batteries
16 heavy artillery batteries
8 pioneer companies
1 air reconnaissance unit
1 balloon detachment
1 armoured train.

XXVII. Reserve Corps

Corps Commander: General von Carlowitz

38. Landwehr Brigade

77. Landwehr Regiment and 78. Landwehr Regiment

53. Reserve Division (Saxon)

105. Reserve Brigade: 241. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 242. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
106. Reserve Brigade: 243. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 244. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
25. Reserve Jäger Battalion

54. Reserve Division (Württemberg)

107. Reserve Brigade: 245. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 246. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
108. Reserve Brigade: 247. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment and 248. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
26. Reserve Jäger Battalion (2)

XV. Corps

Corps Commander: General von Deimling

39. Infanterie Division

61. Brigade: 126. Infanterie-Regiment and 132. Infanterie-Regiment
82. Brigade: 171. Infanterie-Regiment and 172. Infanterie-Regiment

30. Infanterie Division

60. Brigade: 99. Infanterie-Regiment and 143. Infanterie-Regiment
85. Brigade: 105. Infanterie-Regiment and 136. Infanterie-Regiment

Heavy Artillery

XXIII. Reserve Corps, XXVI. Reserve Corps and XXVII. Reserve Corps:

Dicke Bertha - Big Bertha, the 42cm heavy howitzer Heavy howitzers

one 42cm (17 inch) 'Dicke Bertha' - 'Big Bertha'
twenty 8 inch
seventy-two 5.9 inch

Field guns

four 5.2 inch
sixteen 4 inch
thirty-four old or captured weapons

XV. Corps

Heavy howitzers:

four 8 inch
twelve 5.9 inch

Field guns:

four 5.2 inch
two 4 inch
fourteen old or captured guns

Acknowledgements

(1) The General's name listed in the German Order of Battle in British Military Operations gives the name as Rathen. However, the first letter of his name is actually a K in the German Gothic script typeface in Die Schlachten und Gefechte des Grossen Krieges, thus his name is spelled Kathen.

(2) British Military Operations lists this unit as 28. Reserve Jäger Battalion. However, in the Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions and on Karte 2 of Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918: Sommer und Herbst 1915, 8. Band the unit is given as the 26. Reserve Jäger Battalion.

British Military Operations: France and Belgium 1915

Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions

Die Schlachten und Gefechte des Grossen Krieges 1914-1918

Geschichte des Reserve-Infanterie-Regiments Nr. 238