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Imperial German Army

The Imperial German Army was the combined air and land forces of the German Empire that existed from 1871 to 1919, being formed in the aftermath of the unification of Germany. The imperial army had a strength of 500,000 troops in 1871, but it would rise to a strength of 13,500,000 troops during World War I in 1914-18. The Imperial German Army was deployed to regions across the world, including Namibia and Cameroon in Africa, China, and New Guinea, being sent on expeditions to add more lands to the empire. In 1914, it began its most famous war with its invasion of Belgium and France in Western Europe and Poland and the Russian Empire in Eastern Europe, leading to the start of the First World War. The war saw the Germans have many successes, especialy on the Eastern Front, but the Germans would be held back on the Western Front and eventually repelled by the British Army, French Army, and US Army, and the 11 November 1918 armistice ended the war. The Imperial German Army ended with the German Empire, as the Reichswehr became the military of the Weimar Republic after the end of the empire.

Order of battle[]

Imperial German Army order of battle, World War I
Army Units
Imperial German army 1st Army Imperial German corps II Corps (Pomerania, Province of Posen, and West Prussia)

Imperial German corps III Corps (Brandenburg)

Imperial German corps IV Corps (Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt)

Imperial German corps IX Corps (Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Lubeck, Hamburg, and Bremen)

Imperial German corps III Reserve Corps

Imperial German corps IV Reserve Corps

Imperial German army 2nd Army Imperial German corps VII Corps (Province of Westphalia, Principality of Lippe, Schaumburg-Lippe)

Imperial German corps X Corps (Hanover, Oldenburg, and Duchy of Brunswick)

Imperial German corps VII Reserve Corps

Imperial German corps X Reserve Corps

Imperial German corps Guards Corps
Imperial German corps Guards Reserve Corps

Imperial German army 3rd Army Imperial German corps XI Corps (Hesse-Nassau, Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Waldeck-Pyrmont)

Imperial German corps XII (1st Royal Saxon) Corps (Eastern Saxony)

Imperial German corps XIX Corps (Western Saxony: Leipzig, Chemnitz, and Zwickau)

Imperial German corps XII (Royal Saxon) Reserve Corps

Imperial German army 4th Army Imperial German corps VI Corps (Silesia)

Imperial German corps VIII Corps (Rhine Province, Principality of Birkenfeld)

Imperial German corps XVIII Corps (Grand Duchy of Hesse)

Imperial German corps VIII Reserve Corps


Imperial German corps XVIII Reserve Corps

Imperial German corps XXII Reserve Corps

Imperial German army 5th Army Imperial German corps V Corps (Province of Posen and Province of Silesia)

Imperial German corps VI Corps
Imperial German corps XIII Corps (Württemberg)

Imperial German corps V Reserve Corps


Imperial German corps VI Reserve Corps

Imperial German army 6th Army Imperial German corps XXI Corps
Flag of Bavaria 3 I Royal Bavarian Corps
Flag of Bavaria 3 II Royal Bavarian Corps
Flag of Bavaria 3 III Royal Bavarian Corps
Flag of Bavaria 3 I Royal Bavarian Reserve Corps
Imperial German army 7th Army Imperial German corps XIV Corps (Grand Duchy of Baden)

Imperial German corps XV Corps (Alsace)

Imperial German corps XIV Reserve Corps (Baden-Wurttemberg)

Imperial German army 8th Army Imperial German corps I Corps (East Prussia)

Imperial German corps XVII Corps (West Prussia)

Imperial German corps XX Corps (southern East Prussia)

Imperial German corps I Reserve Corps


Imperial German division 3rd Reserve Division (Pomerania)
Imperial German division 1st Cavalry Division

Imperial German army 9th Army Imperial German corps XI Corps
Imperial German corps XVII Corps
Imperial German corps XX Corps
Imperial German corps Guards Reserve Corps
Imperial German corps Landwehr Corps
Imperial German army 10th Army Imperial German corps XXI Corps (Koblenz, Trier, and Alsace-Lorraine)

Imperial German corps XXXIX Reserve Corps


Imperial German corps XXXVIII Reserve Corps

Imperial German army 11th Army Imperial German corps XXXXI Reserve Corps
Imperial German corps Guards Corps
Imperial German corps X Corps
Imperial German corps VI Corps
Imperial German army 12th Army Imperial German corps XVII Reserve Corps
Imperial German army 14th Army Austro-Hungarian Army I Corps
Flag of Bavaria 3 III Royal Bavarian Corps
Imperial German corps 51st Corps
Austro-Hungarian Army XV Corps
Imperial German army 17th Army Flag of Bavaria 3 I Royal Bavarian Reserve Corps
Flag of Bavaria 3 II Royal Bavarian Corps
Imperial German corps XVIII Corps
Imperial German corps XIV Reserve Corps
Imperial German army 18th Army Flag of Bavaria 3 I Royal Bavarian Corps
Imperial German corps XXVI Reserve Corps


Imperial German corps XVIII Reserve Corps


Imperial German corps XIV Corps

Imperial German army 19th Army Imperial German corps XIX Corps
Imperial German corps 66th Corps
Imperial German corps XV Corps
Imperial German army Army of the Bug Imperial German corps VI Corps
Imperial German corps XXXX Reserve Corps

Imperial German corps XXXXI Reserve Corps

Imperial German army Army of the Niemen Imperial German corps XXXIX Reserve Corps
Imperial German army North Army Imperial German corps IX Reserve Corps
Imperial German army South Army
Imperial German army Army Department A Imperial German corps Ersatzkorps

Imperial German corps I Royal Bavarian Reserve Corps Imperial German corps XV Royal Bavarian Reserve Corps

Imperial German army Army Department B
Imperial German army Army Department C Imperial German corps V Corps

Imperial German corps I Royal Bavarian Corps

Imperial German army Army Department D Imperial German corps XX Corps
General command(purely command posts, military units assigned to them as needed)
Divisions created from 1915 onward
  • Imperial German division 50th Division (Westphalia)
  • Imperial German division 52nd Division (Baden)
  • Imperial German division 54th Division
  • Imperial German division 56th Division (Ducal Hesse and Hesse-Nassau)
  • Imperial German division 58th Division (Saxony)
  • Imperial German division 83rd Division
    • Imperial German Army 165th Infantry Brigade
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 329 (Posen and Lower Silesia)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 330 (Westphalia)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 346 (from 1918)
      • Imperial German Army Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 255 (from 1918)
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 4 (from 1918)
    • Imperial German Army 166th Infantry Brigade
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 331 (Posen and Lower Silesia)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 332
    • Imperial German Army Fußartillerie-Regiment Nr. 249
  • Imperial German division 84th Division
    • Imperial German Army 167th Infantry Brigade
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 333
    • Imperial German Army 168th Infantry Brigade
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 334
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 335 (Posen)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 336 (Posen)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 423 (Lower Silesia) (from 1917)
  • Imperial German division 87th Division
    • Imperial German Army 173rd Infantry Brigade
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 345 (Posen)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 346
    • Imperial German Army 179th Infantry Brigade
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 347 (Pomerania)
      • Imperial German Army Landsturm-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 8
      • Imperial German Army Reserve-Ersatz-Regiment Nr. 3 (Schleswig-Holstein) (from 1918)
  • Imperial German division 88th Division
    • 1915
      • Imperial German Army 21st Landwehr Brigade
        • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 10
        • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 38
      • Imperial German Army 1st Landwehr Ersatz Brigade
        • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Ersatz-Regiment Nr. 4
        • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Ersatz-Regiment Nr. 5
        • Imperial German Army Ersatz-Regiment Nr. 6
        • Imperial German Army Ersatz-Regiment Nr. 8
        • Imperial German Army Ersatz-Regiment Nr. 7
        • Imperial German Army Ersatz-Regiment Nr. 9
    • 1916-1918
      • Imperial German Army 175th Landwehr Brigade
        • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 349
        • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 350
      • Imperial German Army 176th Infantry Brigade
        • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 351
        • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 352 (Silesia)
        • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 425 (1917)
        • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 426 (Hanseatic cities) (1918)
      • Imperial German Army 177th Infantry Brigade
        • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 353 (Silesia)
        • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 354
  • Imperial German division 89th Division
    • Imperial German Army 21st Landwehr Brigade
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 10
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 38
    • Imperial German Army 178th Infantry Brigade
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 333 (Silesia)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 375 (West Prussia)
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 8 (Brandenburg)
  • Imperial German division 91st Division
    • Imperial German Army 175th Landwehr Brigade
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 33
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 349 (Rhine)
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie Regiment Nr. 350
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 37 (Posen) (from 1917)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 437 (Thuringia) (from 1917)
  • Imperial German division 92nd Division
    • Imperial German Army 28th Landwehr Brigade
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 39 (Westphalia)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 419 (1917)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 432 (1917)
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 2 (1918)
      • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 32 (Thuringia) (1918)
  • Imperial German division 93rd Division
    • Imperial German Army 215th Infantry Brigade (166th Infantry Brigade from 1917)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 342
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 433 (Hesse and East Prussia)
      • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 434 (Prussian Saxony)
  • Imperial German division 94th Division
    • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 334
    • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 423
    • Imperial German Army Landsturm-Regiment Nr. 45 (Silesia, Brandenburg, and Lorraine)
    • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 365
    • Imperial German Army Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 439
    • Imperial German Army Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 24

Gallery[]

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