85th Landwehr Division (German Empire) - Combat Chronicle

Combat Chronicle

The 85th Landwehr Division served on the Eastern Front. It occupied the line by Mława from November 1914 to July 1915 and then participated in the Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive, breaking through at Przasnysz and fighting on the Narew, and then participating in follow-on fighting for the next several months. In September 1915, it was in the Lithuanian swamps. It was engaged in positional warfare in the Vishnev sector on the Berezina, Olshanka and Krevljanka Rivers from September 1915 to October 1917. It moved with the line northwards in a series of fights until the armistice on the Eastern Front. The division fought in Estonia in February/March 1918, and then served as occupation troops in Estonia and Russia until the end of World War I in November 1918. Elements of the division were being transferred to Belgium at the time of the Armistice on the Western Front, and other elements remained in Lithuania and White Russia as security forces for several months after the end of World War I, finally departing in February 1919. Allied intelligence rated the division as fourth class.