VI Corps (German Empire)

The VI Army Corps / VI AK (German: VI. Armee-Korps) was a corps level command of the Prussian and then the Imperial German Armies from the 19th Century to World War I.

For the equivalent formation in World War II, see VI Army Corps (Wehrmacht).
VI Army Corps
VI. Armee-Korps
Flag of the Staff of a Generalkommando (1871–1918)
Active1815 (1815)–1919 (1919)
Country Prussia /  German Empire
TypeCorps
SizeApproximately 44,000 (on mobilisation in 1914)
Garrison/HQBreslau
EngagementsAustro-Prussian War
Battle of Königgrätz

Franco-Prussian War

Siege of Paris
Battle of Chevilly

World War I

Battle of the Frontiers
Insignia
AbbreviationVI AK

VI AK originated in 1815 as the General Command for the Province of Silesia, with headquarters in Breslau.[1]

The Corps served in the Austro-Prussian War. During the Franco-Prussian War it was assigned to the 3rd Army.

In peacetime the Corps was assigned to the VIII Army Inspectorate but joined the 4th Army at the start of the First World War.[2] It was still in existence at the end of the war.[3] The Corps was disbanded with the demobilisation of the German Army after World War I.

Austro-Prussian War

VI Corps fought in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, seeing action in the Battle of Königgrätz.

Franco-Prussian War

During the Franco-Prussian War, the Corps was initially held back in Silesia against the possibility of intervention by Austria-Hungary. It only moved up to join the 3rd Army in August 1870. It then participated in the Siege of Paris and the Battle of Chevilly.

Peacetime organisation

The 25 peacetime Corps of the German Army (Guards, I - XXI, I - III Bavarian) had a reasonably standardised organisation. Each consisted of two divisions with usually two infantry brigades, one field artillery brigade and a cavalry brigade each.[4] Each brigade normally consisted of two regiments of the appropriate type, so each Corps normally commanded 8 infantry, 4 field artillery and 4 cavalry regiments. There were exceptions to this rule:

V, VI, VII, IX and XIV Corps each had a 5th infantry brigade (so 10 infantry regiments)
II, XIII, XVIII and XXI Corps had a 9th infantry regiment
I, VI and XVI Corps had a 3rd cavalry brigade (so 6 cavalry regiments)
the Guards Corps had 11 infantry regiments (in 5 brigades) and 8 cavalry regiments (in 4 brigades).[5]

Each Corps also directly controlled a number of other units. This could include one or more

Foot Artillery Regiment
Jäger Battalion
Pioneer Battalion
Train Battalion

World War I

Organisation on mobilisation

On mobilization, on 2 August 1914, the Corps was restructured. The 11th and 12th Cavalry Brigades were withdrawn to form part of the 5th Cavalry Division[7] and the 44th Cavalry Brigade was broken up and its regiments assigned to the divisions as reconnaissance units. The 23rd Infantry Brigade was assigned to the 11th Reserve Division with VI Reserve Corps. Divisions received engineer companies and other support units from the Corps headquarters. In summary, VI Corps mobilised with 25 infantry battalions, 9 machine gun companies (54 machine guns), 8 cavalry squadrons, 24 field artillery batteries (144 guns), 4 heavy artillery batteries (16 guns), 3 pioneer companies and an aviation detachment.

Combat chronicle

On mobilisation, VI Corps was assigned to the 4th Army forming part of centre of the forces for the Schlieffen Plan offensive in August 1914 on the Western Front.

It was still in existence at the end of the war.[11]

Commanders

The VI Corps had the following commanders during its existence:[12][13][14]

FromRankName
15 April 1815Friedrich Heinrich von Hünerbein
11 February 1819Wieprecht Graf von Zieten
29 November 1839GeneralleutnantFriedrich Wilhelm, Count Brandenburg
10 September 1849Karl Friedrich von Lindheim
10 May 1862General der KavallerieLouis Wilhelm Franz von Mutius
30 October 1866General der KavallerieWilhelm von Tümpling
27 November 1883GeneralleutnantKarl Otto von Wichmann
23 November 1886GeneralleutnantOktavio von Boehn
12 January 1889General der ArtillerieEduard von Lewinski
21 February 1895General der InfanterieErbprinz Bernhard von Sachsen-Meiningen
29 May 1903GeneralleutnantRemus von Woyrsch
2 February 1911General der InfanterieKurt von Pritzelwitz
7 November 1915General der KavallerieGeorg von der Marwitz
17 December 1916General der InfanterieJulius Riemann
23 November 1917GeneralleutnantKonstanz von Heineccius
15 December 1918General der InfanterieKurt von dem Borne
25 June 1919GeneralleutnantFriedrich von Friedeburg

See also

Footnotes
a.^ This might be a typographical error in the source, as II Btn is also listed (alongside I Btn) as 5th Army Artillery

References
  1. German Administrative History Accessed: 31 May 2012
  2. Cron 2002, p. 393
  3. Cron 2002, pp. 88–89
  4. Haythornthwaite 1996, pp. 193–194
  5. They formed the Guards Cavalry Division, the only peacetime cavalry division in the German Army.
  6. War Office 1918, p. 245
  7. Cron 2002, p. 299
  8. Cron 2002, pp. 311–312
  9. With a machine gun company.
  10. 4 heavy artillery batteries (16 heavy field howitzers)
  11. Cron 2002, pp. 88–89
  12. German Administrative History Accessed: 31 May 2012
  13. German War History Accessed: 31 May 2012
  14. The Prussian Machine Accessed: 31 May 2012

Bibliography
  • Cron, Hermann (2002). Imperial German Army 1914-18: Organisation, Structure, Orders-of-Battle [first published: 1937]. Helion & Co. ISBN 1-874622-70-1.
  • Ellis, John; Cox, Michael (1993). The World War I Databook. Aurum Press Ltd. ISBN 1-85410-766-6.
  • Haythornthwaite, Philip J. (1996). The World War One Source Book. Arms and Armour. ISBN 1-85409-351-7.
  • Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions of the German Army which Participated in the War (1914–1918), compiled from records of Intelligence section of the General Staff, American Expeditionary Forces, at General Headquarters, Chaumont, France 1919. The London Stamp Exchange Ltd (1989). 1920. ISBN 0-948130-87-3.
  • The German Forces in the Field; 7th Revision, 11th November 1918; Compiled by the General Staff, War Office. Imperial War Museum, London and The Battery Press, Inc (1995). 1918. ISBN 1-870423-95-X.

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