XIX (2nd Royal Saxon) Corps


The XIX Army Corps / XIX AK was a Saxon corps level command of the German Army, before and during World War I.
As the German Army expanded in the latter part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century, the XIX Army Corps was set up on 1 April 1899 in Leipzig as the Generalkommando for the western part of the Kingdom of Saxony. It took over command of 24th Division from XII Corps and the newly formed 40th Division.
It was assigned to the II Army Inspectorate which formed the predominantly Saxon 3rd Army at the start of the First World War. It was still in existence at the end of the war in the 19th Army, Heeresgruppe Herzog Albrecht von Württemberg on the Western Front.

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
XIX Corps24th Division47th Infantry Brigade139th InfantryDöbeln
179th InfantryWurzen, Leisnig---
48th Infantry Brigade106th Infantry "King George"Leipzig--
107th Infantry "Prince John George"Leipzig---
24th Field Artillery Brigade77th Field ArtilleryLeipzig--
78th Field ArtilleryWurzen---
24th Cavalry Brigade19th Hussars "Queen Carola"Grimma--
18th UhlansLeipzig---
40th Division88th Infantry Brigade104th Infantry "Crown Prince"Chemnitz-
181st InfantryChemnitz, III Bn Glauchau---
89th Infantry Brigade133rd InfantryZwickau--
134th InfantryPlauen---
40th Field Artillery Brigade32nd Field ArtilleryRiesa--
68th Field ArtilleryRiesa---
40th Cavalry BrigadeCarabiniers Borna--
21st UhlansChemnitz---
Corps Troops8th Machine Gun AbteilungLeipzig-
22nd Pioneer BattalionRiesa---
19th Train BattalionLeipzig---
Chemnitz Defence Command
Chemnitz-

World War I

Organisation on mobilisation

On mobilization on 2 August 1914 the Corps was restructured. 40th Cavalry Brigade was withdrawn to form part of the 8th Cavalry Division and the 24th Cavalry Brigade was broken up and its regiments assigned to the divisions as reconnaissance units.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. In summary, XIX Corps mobilised with 25 infantry battalions, 9 machine gun companies, 8 cavalry squadrons, 24 field artillery batteries, 4 heavy artillery batteries, 3 pioneer companies and an aviation detachment.
CorpsDivisionBrigadeUnits
XIX Corps24th Division47th Infantry Brigade139th Infantry Regiment
179th Infantry Regiment---
13th Jäger Battalion---
48th Infantry Brigade106th Infantry Regiment--
107th Infantry Regiment---
24th Field Artillery Brigade77th Field Artillery Regiment--
78th Field Artillery Regiment---
18th Uhlan Regiment--
1st Company, 22nd Pioneer Battalion---
24th Divisional Pontoon Train---
1st Medical Company---
3rd Medical Company---
40th Division88th Infantry Brigade104th Infantry Regiment-
181st Infantry Regiment---
89th Infantry Brigade133rd Infantry Regiment--
134th Infantry Regiment---
40th Field Artillery Brigade32nd Field Artillery Regiment--
68th Field Artillery Regiment---
19th Hussar Regiment--
2nd Company, 22nd Pioneer Battalion---
3rd Company, 22nd Pioneer Battalion---
40th Divisional Pontoon Train---
2nd Medical Company---
Corps TroopsII Battalion, 19th Foot Artillery Regiment-
24th Aviation Detachment---
19th Corps Pontoon Train---
19th Telephone Detachment---
22nd Pioneer Searchlight Section---
Munition Trains and Columns corresponding to II Corps---

Combat chronicle

On mobilisation, XIX Corps was assigned to the predominantly Saxon 3rd Army forming part of the right wing of the forces for the Schlieffen Plan offensive in August 1914 on the Western Front. It spent the entire war on the Western Front. It was still in existence at the end of the war in the 19th Army, Heeresgruppe Herzog Albrecht von Württemberg.

Commanders

The XIX Corps had the following commanders during its existence:
DatesRankName
25 March 1899 to 21 April 1904General der InfanterieHeinrich Leo von Treitschke
22 April 1904 to 26 November 1907General der InfanterieAlexander Graf Vitzthum von Eckstädt
27 November 1907 to 27 November 1913General der ArtillerieHans von Kirchbach
30 November 1913 to 20 July 1917General der KavallerieMaximilian von Laffert
8 August 1917 to 8 August 1918General der InfanterieAdolph von Carlowitz
9 August 1918 to end of the warGeneralleutnantKarl Lucius