The 113th Infantry Division (113. Infanterie-Division) was a formation of the Imperial GermanArmy in World War I. The division was formed on March 25, 1915, and organized over the next several weeks.[1] It was part of a wave of new infantry divisions formed in the spring of 1915. The division was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I.
The division was formed primarily from the excess infantry regiments of regular infantry divisions which were being triangularized. The division's 225th Infantry Brigade staff was formerly the staff of the 44th Reserve Infantry Brigade of the 22nd Reserve Division, which came to the new division along with the 32nd Reserve Infantry Regiment. The 36th Füsilier Regiment was formerly part of the 8th Infantry Division. The 48th Infantry Regiment came from the 5th Infantry Division. The 32nd Reserve Infantry Regiment was raised in the Thuringian states, primarily the Reuss principalities. The 36th Füsiliers was a "Magdeburg" regiment, raised in the Prussian Province of Saxony. The 48th Infantry was a Brandenburg regiment. The 48th Infantry was replaced by the 66th Infantry, another Magdeburg regiment, making the division primarily Prussian Saxon and Thuringian in character. Cavalry support came in the form of cuirassiers from the Rhineland. The artillery and combat engineer units were newly formed.
The 113th Infantry Division was formed as a triangular division. The order of battle of the division on March 25, 1915, was as follows:[3]
225. Infanterie-Brigade
Thüringisches Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 32
Füsilier-Regiment General-Feldmarschall Graf Blumenthal (1. Magdeburgisches) Nr. 36
Infanterie-Regiment von Stülpnagel (5. Brandenburgisches) Nr. 48
3.Eskadron/Kürassier-Regiment Graf Geßler (Rheinisches) Nr. 8
4.Eskadron/Kürassier-Regiment Graf Geßler (Rheinisches) Nr. 8
Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 225
Fußartillerie-Batterie Nr. 113
Pionier-Kompanie Nr. 225
Late-war order of battle
The division underwent relatively few organizational changes over the course of the war. In March 1917, the 48th Infantry Regiment was sent to the 228th Infantry Division and the division received the 66th Infantry Regiment from the 52nd Infantry Division. Cavalry was reduced, artillery and signals commands were formed, and combat engineer support was expanded to a full pioneer battalion. The order of battle on March 12, 1918, was as follows:[4]
225.Infanterie-Brigade
Thüringisches Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 32
Füsilier-Regiment General-Feldmarschall Graf Blumenthal (1. Magdeburgisches) Nr. 36
3. Magdeburgisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 66
Maschinengewehr-Scharfschützen-Abteilung Nr. 34
3.Eskadron/Kürassier-Regiment Graf Geßler (Rheinisches) Nr. 8
Hermann Cron et al., Ruhmeshalle unserer alten Armee (Berlin, 1935)
Hermann Cron, Geschichte des deutschen Heeres im Weltkriege 1914-1918 (Berlin, 1937)
Günter Wegner, Stellenbesetzung der deutschen Heere 1825-1939. (Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, 1993), Bd. 1
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 (1920)
^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 (1920), pp. 603-605.
^Hermann Cron et al., Ruhmeshalle unserer alten Armee (Berlin, 1935).