39th Bavarian Reserve Division (German Empire)

The 39th Royal Bavarian Reserve Division (39. Kgl. Bayerische Reserve-Division) was a reserve infantry division of the Imperial German Army in World War I. It was raised to division status on October 2, 1914 from an ad hoc unit, "Brigade von Rekowski", and named "Division von Rekowski" ("Rekowski's Division"). On December 8, 1914 it was renamed the 39th Reserve Division. It was heavily made up of Bavarian units and on December 26, 1916 it was again renamed the 39th Royal Bavarian Reserve Division. It spent the war in positional warfare in the Alsace-Lorraine region. It was dissolved in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after the Armistice.

Order of Battle on November 20, 1914 (Division von Rekowski):

  • 1. bayerische Ersatz-Brigade:
    • Kgl. Bayerisches Ersatz-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 1
    • Kgl. Bayerisches Ersatz-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 3
  • 9. bayerische Ersatz-Infanterie-Brigade:
    • Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 80
    • Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 81
  • 3.Eskadron/Reserve-Husaren-Regiment Nr. 9
  • Kgl. Bayerische Feldartillerie-Ersatz-Abteilung Nr. 10
  • 2.Batterie/Kgl. Bayerisches Feldartillerie-Ersatz-Abteilung Nr. 4
  • 1.Batterie/Kgl. Bayerisches Feldartillerie-Ersatz-Abteilung Nr. 8
  • 2.Ersatz-Kompanie/Kgl. Bayerisches 1. Pionier-Bataillon
  • 1.Ersatz-Kompanie/Kgl. Bayerisches 3. Pionier-Bataillon

Order of Battle on February 20, 1918:

  • Kgl. Bayerische 1. Ersatz-Brigade:
    • Kgl. Bayerisches 1. Ersatz-Regiment
    • Kgl. Bayerisches 2. Ersatz-Regiment
    • Kgl. Bayerisches 3. Ersatz-Regiment
  • 1.Eskadron/Kgl. Bayerisches 2. Chevaulegers-Regiment
  • Kgl. Bayerischer Artillerie-Kommandeur 21:
    • Kgl. Bayerisches 10. Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment
  • Stab Kgl. Bayerisches Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 23:
    • Kgl. Bayerische 21. Reserve-Pionier-Kompanie
    • Kgl. Bayerische 239. Minenwerfer-Kompanie
    • Kgl. Bayerischer 439. Divisions-Nachrichten-Kommandeur

Famous quotes containing the words reserve and/or division:

    I do not know what right I have to so much happiness, but rather hold it in reserve till the time of my desert.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Major [William] McKinley visited me. He is on a stumping tour.... I criticized the bloody-shirt course of the canvass. It seems to me to be bad “politics,” and of no use.... It is a stale issue. An increasing number of people are interested in good relations with the South.... Two ways are open to succeed in the South: 1. A division of the white voters. 2. Education of the ignorant. Bloody-shirt utterances prevent division.
    Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)