52nd Reserve Division (German Empire) - Combat Chronicle

Combat Chronicle

The 52nd Reserve Division fought on the Western Front, entering the line in mid-October. As part of the so-called Race to the Sea, it fought in the Battle of the Yser and the First Battle of Ypres in October–November 1914. It remained in positional warfare and fighting along the Yser until September 1916. It saw action in the Battle of the Somme that month, and then went into the line in the Champagne region until April 1917. In May 1917, it fought in the Second Battle of the Aisne, also called the Third Battle of Champagne, and in the Autumn of 1917 fought in the Battle of Passchendaele. The division then returned to the line in the Champagne, remaining there until April 1918. At the end of April it went into action in the fighting at Kemmel, Belgium, and then remained in the Flanders region until the end of the war. In 1918, Allied intelligence rated the division as a second class division, noting that although trained as an assault division, it was not so used in most of the German offensives that year.