The 80th Reserve Division (80. Reserve-Division) was a unit of the Imperial German

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

 Army

German Army (German Empire)

The German Army was the name given the combined land forces of the German Empire, also known as the National Army , Imperial Army or Imperial German Army. The term "Deutsches Heer" is also used for the modern German Army, the land component of the German Bundeswehr...

 in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. The division was formed at the end of December 1914 and organized over the next month, arriving in the line in early February 1915. It was part of the second large wave of new divisions formed at the outset of World War I, which were numbered the 75th through 82nd Reserve Divisions. The division was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I. The division was mixed in recruitment. The 264th Reserve Infantry Regiment was from Thuringia, and was described as a Saxe-Altenburg

Saxe-Altenburg

Saxe-Altenburg was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia.-History:The duchy originated from the medieval Burgraviate of Altenburg in the Imperial Pleissnerland , a possession of the Wettin Margraves of Meissen since 1243...

 regiment. The 265th Reserve Infantry Regiment was from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1348, when Albert II of Mecklenburg and his younger brother John were raised to Dukes of Mecklenburg by King Charles IV...

. The 266th was also formed in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, but reportedly included recruits from Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a duchy and later grand duchy in northern Germany, consisting of the eastern fifth of the historic Mecklenburg region, roughly corresponding with the present-day Mecklenburg-Strelitz district , and the western exclave of the former Bishopric of Ratzeburg in modern...

, Pomerania and other areas. The 34th Reserve Infantry Regiment, which replaced the 265th in 1915, was from West Prussia.

Combat chronicle

The 80th Reserve Division initially fought on the Eastern Front

Eastern Front (World War I)

The Eastern Front was a theatre of war during World War I in Central and, primarily, Eastern Europe. The term is in contrast to the Western Front. Despite the geographical separation, the events in the two theatres strongly influenced each other...

, seeing its first action in the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes

Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes

The Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes, also known as the Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes, was the northern part of the Central Powers' offensive on the Eastern Front in the winter of 1915...

. In 1915, it fought in the siege of Kovno and the battles on the Neman River

Neman River

Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches...

 and at Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

. From October 1915 to December 1916, the division was engaged in positional warfare, and fought in battles along Lake Narač

Lake Narac

Lake Narach is a lake in North-West Belarus . The lake is located in the northern part of the country, in the basin of the Vilija river. It is the largest lake in Belarus .Narach is a part of Narach lake group...

, after which it was transferred to the Western Front

Western Front (World War I)

Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...

. It was in reserve and then engaged in positional warfare in Flanders and the Artois until April 1917, when it fought in the Battle of Arras. Later in 1917, it fought in the Battle of Passchendaele and resisted the French offensive at Verdun. The division participated in the German 1918 Spring Offensive

Spring Offensive

The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...

, fighting in the First Battle of the Somme (1918), also called the Second Battle of the Somme (to distinguish it from the 1916 battle). It later resisted various Allied counteroffensives, including the Oise-Aisne Offensive and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive

Meuse-Argonne Offensive

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, or Maas-Argonne Offensive, also called the Battle of the Argonne Forest, was a part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire western front.-Overview:...

. Allied intelligence rated the division as third class.

Order of battle on formation

The 80th Reserve Division, like the other divisions of its wave and unlike earlier German divisions, was organized from the outset as a triangular division

Triangular division

A triangular division is a designation given to the way divisions are organized. In a triangular organization, the division's main body is composed of three regimental maneuver elements. These regiments may be controlled by a brigade headquarters or directly subordinated to the division commander...

. The order of battle of the division on December 29, 1914 was as follows:

• 80.Reserve-Infanterie-Brigade
  • Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 264
  • Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 265
  • Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 266
  • Reserve-Radfahrer-Kompanie Nr. 80
• Reserve-Kavallerie-Abteilung Nr. 80
• 80.Reserve-Feldartillerie-Brigade
  • Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 65
  • Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 66
• Reserve-Pionier-Kompanie Nr. 82
• Reserve-Pionier-Kompanie Nr. 83

Order of battle on March 29, 1918

The most significant wartime structural change in the divisions of this wave was the reduction from two field artillery regiments to one. Over the course of the war, other changes took place, including the formation of artillery and signals commands and the enlargement of combat engineer support to a full pioneer battalion. The order of battle on March 29, 1918 was as follows:

• 80.Reserve-Infanterie-Brigade
  • Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 34
  • Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 264
  • Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 266
• 4.Eskadron/Husaren-Regiment Kaiser Franz Josef von Österreich, König von Ungarn (Schleswig-Holsteinisches) Nr. 16
• Artillerie-Kommandeur 80
  • Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 66
  • III.Bataillon/Fußartillerie-Regiment Nr. 27 (from August 10, 1918)
• Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 380
  • Reserve-Pionier-Kompanie Nr. 82
  • Reserve-Pionier-Kompanie Nr. 83
  • Minenwerfer-Kompanie Nr. 280
• Divisions-Nachrichten-Kommandeur 480