II Royal Bavarian Corps


The II Royal Bavarian Army Corps / II Bavarian AK was a corps level command of the Royal Bavarian Army, part of the German Army, before and during World War I.
As part of the 1868 army reform, the II Royal Bavarian Army Corps of the Bavarian Army was set up in 1869 in Würzburg as the Generalkommando for the northern part of the Kingdom. With the formation of the III Royal Bavarian Corps in 1900 it was made responsible for Lower Franconia, parts of Upper Franconia and the Palatinate. Like all Bavarian formations, it was assigned to the IV Army Inspectorate which became the 6th Army at the start of the First World War. The Corps was disbanded at the end of the War.

Franco-Prussian War

The II Royal Bavarian Corps participated in the Franco-Prussian War as part of the 3rd Army. It saw action in the battles of Weissenburg, Wörth and Sedan, and in the Siege of Paris.

Peacetime organisation

The 25 peacetime Corps of the German Army had a reasonably standardised organisation. Each consisted of two divisions with usually two infantry brigades, one field artillery brigade and a cavalry brigade each. 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:
Each Corps also directly controlled a number of other units. This could include one or more
CorpsDivisionBrigadeUnitsGarrison
II Royal Bavarian Corps3rd Royal Bavarian Division5th Bavarian Infantry Brigade22nd Royal Bavarian Infantry "Prince William of Hohenzollern"Zweibrücken, II Bn. Saargemünd
23rd Royal Bavarian InfantryLandau, II Bn. Germersheim, III Bn. Lechfeld---
6th Bavarian Infantry Brigade17th Royal Bavarian Infantry "Orff"Germersheim--
18th Royal Bavarian Infantry "Prince Ludwig Ferdinand"Landau---
3rd Bavarian Field Artillery Brigade5th Royal Bavarian Field Artillery "King Alfons XIII of Spain"Landau--
12th Royal Bavarian Field ArtilleryLandau---
3rd Bavarian Cavalry Brigade3rd Royal Bavarian Chevau-légers "Duke Charles Theodore"Dieuze--
5th Royal Bavarian Chevau-légers "Archduke Albrecht of Austria"Saargemünd---
4th Royal Bavarian Division7th Bavarian Infantry Brigade5th Royal Bavarian Infantry "Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hessen"Bamberg-
9th Royal Bavarian Infantry "Wrede"Würzburg---
8th Bavarian Infantry Brigade4th Royal Bavarian Infantry "King William of Württemberg"Metz--
8th Royal Bavarian Infantry "Grand Duke Frederick II of Baden"Metz---
4th Bavarian Field Artillery Brigade2nd Royal Bavarian Field Artillery "Horn"Würzburg--
11th Royal Bavarian Field ArtilleryWürzburg---
4th Bavarian Cavalry Brigade1st Royal Bavarian Uhlans "Emperor William II, King of Prussia"Bamberg--
2nd Royal Bavarian Uhlans "King"Ansbach---
Corps Troops2nd Royal Bavarian Jäger BattalionAschaffenburg-
1st Royal Bavarian Machine Gun AbteilungLandau---
2nd Royal Bavarian Foot ArtilleryMetz---
2nd Royal Bavarian Pioneer BattalionSpeyer---
3rd Royal Bavarian Pioneer BattalionMunich---
2nd Royal Bavarian Train AbteilungWürzburg, Germersheim---
Landau Defence Command
Landau-

World War I

Organisation on mobilisation

On mobilization on 2 August 1914 the Corps was restructured. 4th Cavalry Brigade was withdrawn to form part of the Bavarian Cavalry Division and the 3rd Cavalry Brigade was broken up and its regiments assigned to the divisions as reconnaissance units. Divisions received engineer companies and other support units from the Corps headquarters.
The 8th Bavarian Infantry Brigade remained in Metz as part of the 33rd Reserve Division on mobilisation. It was replaced in 4th Bavarian Division by the 5th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Brigade.
In summary, II Bavarian Corps mobilised with 25 infantry battalions, 8 machine gun companies, 8 cavalry squadrons, 24 field artillery batteries, 4 heavy artillery batteries, 3 pioneer companies and an aviation detachment.
CorpsDivisionBrigadeUnits
II Royal Bavarian Corps3rd Royal Bavarian Division5th Bavarian Infantry Brigade22nd Bavarian Infantry Regiment
23rd Bavarian Infantry Regiment---
6th Bavarian Infantry Brigade17th Bavarian Infantry Regiment--
18th Bavarian Infantry Regiment---
3rd Bavarian Field Artillery Brigade5th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment--
12th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment---
3rd Chevauleger Regiment--
1st Company, 2nd Bavarian Pioneer Battalion---
3rd Company, 2nd Bavarian Pioneer Battalion---
3rd Bavarian Divisional Pontoon Train---
1st Bavarian Medical Company---
3rd Bavarian Medical Company---
4th Royal Bavarian Division7th Bavarian Infantry Brigade5th Bavarian Infantry Regiment-
9th Bavarian Infantry Regiment---
2nd Bavarian Jäger Battalion---
5th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Brigade5th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment--
8th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment---
4th Bavarian Field Artillery Brigade2nd Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment--
11th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment---
5th Chevauleger Regiment--
2nd Company, 2nd Bavarian Pioneer Battalion---
4th Bavarian Divisional Pontoon Train---
2nd Bavarian Medical Company---
Corps TroopsI Battalion, 1st Bavarian Foot Artillery Regiment-
2nd Bavarian Aviation Detachment---
2nd Bavarian Corps Pontoon Train---
2nd Bavarian Telephone Detachment---
2nd Bavarian Pioneer Searchlight Section---
Munition Trains and Columns corresponding to II Corps---

Combat chronicle

On mobilisation, II Royal Bavarian Corps was assigned to the predominantly Bavarian 6th Army forming part of the left wing of the forces for the Schlieffen Plan offensive in August 1914. It was still in existence at the end of the war in the 17th Army, Heeresgruppe Kronprinz Rupprecht on the Western Front.

Commanders

The II Royal Bavarian Corps had the following commanders during its existence:
DatesRankName
8 January 1869General der InfanterieJakob Freiherr von Hartmann
24 April 1873GeneralleutnantJoseph von Maillinger
5 July 1875General der InfanterieCarl von Orff
9 May 1890General der InfanterieOtto von Parseval
18 April 1895General der KavallerieEmil Ritter von Xylander
23 March 1905General der InfanterieTheophil Freiherr Reichlin von Meldegg
18 November 1908General der InfanterieAlfred Graf Eckbrett von Dürckheim-Montmartin
22 April 1912General der InfanterieKarl Ritter von Martini
5 November 1914GeneralleutnantOtto von Stetten
19 April 1918General der InfanterieKonrad Krafft von Dellmensingen
20 December 1918GeneralleutnantOtto Ritter von Rauchenberger
10 June 1919General der ArtillerieHermann Ritter von Burkhardt