243rd Infantry Division (8th Ersatz Division) (Royal Wurttenburg)

This Army unit was formed in August 1914.

The 243rd Division was formed in 1914 to support the German war effort.  The Division was formed from the renaming of the 8th Ersatz Division on 1st April 1917.  

The Division fought in the Second battle of the Aisne, the positional battles around Reims and Verdun, and in the German spring Offensive.

As the 8th Ersatz Division in fought in the Battle of the Frontiers and the Battle of the Somme.





29th Mixed Ersatz Brigade

29th Ersatz Infantry Battalion
30th Ersatz Infantry Battalion
31st Ersatz Infantry Battalion 
32nd Ersatz Infantry Battalion
80th Ersatz Infantry Battalion
86th Ersatz Infantry Battalion

41st Mixed Ersatz Brigade

41st Ersatz Infantry Battalion
42nd Ersatz Infantry Battalion
49th Ersatz Infantry Battalion

51st Mixed Ersatz Brigade

51st Ersatz Infantry Battalion
52nd Ersatz Infantry Battalion
53rd Ersatz Infantry Battalion
54th Ersatz Infantry Battalion

23rd Field Artillery Regiment Detachment
27th Field Artillery Regiment Detachment
29th Field Artillery Regiment Detachment
44th Field Artillery Regiment Detachment
65th Field Artillery Regiment Detachment 

In February 1917 it was reorganised as a triangular Division.

51st Mixed Ersatz Brigade

51st (Royal Wurttenburg) Ersatz Infantry Battalion
52nd (Royal Wurttenburg) Ersatz Infantry Battalion
122nd (4th Royal Wurttenburg) Fusiliers
19th Ullan Regiment, 3rd Squadron
65th Field Artillery Regiment Detachment 
92nd Field Artillery Regiment
508th Assault Battalion

In April 1917 it was redesignated as the 243rd Infantry Division

247th Infantry Brigade
478th Infantry Regiment
479th Infantry Regiment
122nd (4th Royal Wurttenburg) Fusiliers
19th Ullan Regiment, 3rd Squadron
82nd Foot Artillery Regiment Detachment 
238th Field Artillery Regiment
243rd Assault Battalion


 

242nd Infantry Division (Royal Wurttenburg)

This Army unit was part of a new wave of divisions formed in January 1917

The 242nd Division was formed in 1917 to support the German war effort.

242nd Infantry Brigade

127th Infantry Regiment 
475th Infantry Regiment 
476th Infantry Regiment 
281st Field Artillery Regiment

204th Infantry Division (3rd Royal Wurttenburg)

This Army unit was part of a new wave of divisions formed in July 1916

The 204th Division was formed in 1916 to support the German war effort.

407th (Wurttenburg) Brigade
413th Infantry Regiment
414th Infantry Regiment
408th (Royal Saxon) Brigade
415th Infantry Regiment
416th Infantry Regiment
407th Field Artillery Detachment
408th Field Artillery Detachment

27th (2nd Royal Wurttenburg) Infantry Division

This peacetime army unit was formed in 1817 as the 2nd Wurttemberger Infantry Division.  The division was placed on the Prussian establishment in 1871.

Its home station was Wurttemberg, part of the XIII Corps District.

Together with the 26th Division it formed the XIII Army Corps

53rd (3rd Wurttenburg) Infantry Brigade
123rd Grenadier Regiment (King Karl) (5th Württemberger), formed on 17th October 1799, garrisoned in Ulm
124th Infantry Regiment (King Wilhelm I) (6th Württemberger), formed on 1st June 1673, garrisoned in Weingarten
54th (4th Wurttenburg) Infantry Brigade	Transferred to the 242nd Infantry Division as the 242nd Infantry Brigade on 1st February 1917.
120th Infantry Regiment (Kaiser Wilhelm, King of Prussia (2nd Württemberger), formed on 1st June 1673, garrisoned in Ulm
127th (9th Württemberger) Infantry Regiment, formed on 1st April 1897, garrisoned in Ulm
19th (1st Wurttenburg) Ulhan Regiment 27th (2nd Wurttenburg) Field Artillery Brigade 2nd and 3rd Companies 13th Pioneer Battalion	13th (1st Wurttenburg)Field Artillery Regiment 49th (3rd Wurttenburg) Field Artillery Regiment

The 27th Division started the war in Lorraine as part of the 5th Army.  In October the XIII Army Corps was broken up.

The 27th Division was placed in the Argonne, in positions it occupied until the end of 1915.  The 26th Division rejoined at the end of December 1915, and the XIII Corps was reformed.

In January 1916 the division saw action at Ypres, and in July was placed in the Somme sector.  In 1917 the division moved from the Somme to Cambrai.

It suffered serious loses, and replacements came from the break up of the 627th Infantry Regiment in May 1917.  

At the start of 1918 it held the line at Cambrai, and ended the war on the Meuse sector.

26th (1st Royal Wurttenburg) Infantry Division

This peacetime army unit was formed in 1817 as the 1st Wurttemberger Infantry Division.  The division was placed on the Prussian establishment in 1871.

Its home station was Wurttemberg, part of the XIII Corps District.

Together with the 27th Division it formed the XIII Army Corps

51st (1st Royal Wurttenburg) Infantry Brigade
119th Grenadier-Regiment Queen Olga (1st Württemberger), formed on 1st June 1673, garrisoned in Stuttgart
125th Infantry Regiment Kaiser Friedrich, King of Prussia (7th Württemberger), formed in 1809, garrisoned in Stuttgart
52nd (2nd Royal Wurttenburg) Infantry Brigade
121st Infantry Regiment Alt-Württemberg (3rd Württemberger), formed on 18th March 1716, garrisoned in Ludwigsburg
122nd Füsilier Regiment Kaiser Franz Josef or Austria, King of Hungary (4th Württemberger), formed on 10th November 1806, garrisoned in Heilbronn
20th (2nd Wurttenburg) Ulhan Regiment 26th (1st Royal Wurttenburg) Field Artillery Brigade 1st Company, 13th Pioneer Battalion	29th (2nd Wurttenburg) Field Artillery Regiment 65th (4th Wurttenburg) Field Artillery Regiment

The Division saw service in the Argonne sector with the 5th Army in 1914, and in October 1914 it was separated from the 27th Division and moved to Flanders.

At the end of November 1914 the Division was transferred to the Russian front, and together with the 25th Reserve Division combined to form a reconstituted XIII Corps.

In December and January it fought in Poland as part of the Fabeck Corps.

In March 1915 the Division saw action on the Narew before being transfered to the Serbian front.  In November 1915 it was returned to the Western front.

In January 1916 the Division saw action at Ypres where it suffered heavily, before being moved to the Somme and the Flanders sector, where it suffered badly defending the area from the British offensive.

It served on the Somme until March 1917, when it was moved to the Artois sector.  In August it returned to Flanders, and was rested in Lorraine prior to movement to the Italian front.

In Italy it saw action as part of the 4th Army, taking part in the German offensive of October 1917.  It returned to March 1918 it returned to France where it served in the Cambrai and Rhiems sectors until the end of the war.