VI Corps (German Empire)

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)
Active	1815 (1815)–1919 (1919)
Country	Prussia /   German Empire
Type	Corps
Size	Approximately 44,000 (on mobilisation in 1914)
Garrison/HQ	Breslau/Schweidnitzer Straße 24
Shoulder strap piping	Yellow
Engagements	Austro-Prussian War Battle of Königgrätz Franco-Prussian War Siege of Paris Battle of Chevilly World War I Battle of the Frontiers
Insignia
Abbreviation	VI AK

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.

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

Peacetime organization of the Corps ^[6]

Corps	Division	Brigade	Units	Garrison
VI Corps	11th Division	21st Infantry Brigade	10th (1st Silesian) Grenadiers "King Frederick William II"	Schweidnitz
			38th (Silesian) Fusiliers "General Field Marshal Count Moltke"	Glatz
		22nd Infantry Brigade	11th (2nd Silesian) Grenadiers "King Frederick III"	Breslau
			51st (4th Lower Silesian) Infantry	Breslau
		11th Field Artillery Brigade	6th (1st Silesian) Field Artillery "von Peucker"	Breslau
			42nd (2nd Silesian) Field Artillery	Schweidnitz
		11th Cavalry Brigade	1st (Silesian) Life Cuirassiers "Great Elector"	Breslau
			8th (2nd Silesian) Dragoons "King Frederick III"	Öls, Kreuzburg, Bernstadt an der Weide, Namslau
	12th Division	23rd Infantry Brigade	22nd (1st Upper Silesian) Infantry "Keith"	Gleiwitz, III Bn at Kattowitz
			156th (3rd Silesian) Infantry	Beuthen, III Bn at Tarnowitz
		24th Infantry Brigade	23rd (2nd Upper Silesian) Infantry "von Winterfeldt"	Neiße
			62nd (3rd Upper Silesian) Infantry	Cosel, III Bn at Ratibor
		78th Infantry Brigade	63rd (4th Upper Silesian) Infantry	Oppeln, III Bn at Lublinitz
			157th (4th Silesian) Infantry	Brieg
		12th Field Artillery Brigade	21st (1st Upper Silesian) Field Artillery "von Clausewitz"	Neiße, Grottkau
			57th (2nd Upper Silesian) Field Artillery	Neustadt/Oberschlesien, Gleiwitz
		12th Cavalry Brigade	4th (1st Silesian) Hussars "von Schill"	Ohlau
			6th (2nd Silesian) Hussars "Count Götzen"	Leobschütz, Ratibor
		44th Cavalry Brigade	2nd (Silesian) Uhlans of Katzler	Gleiwitz, Pless
			11th Jäger zu Pferde	Tarnowitz, Lublinitz
	Corps Troops		6th (2nd Silesian) Jäger Battalion	Öls
			1st Machine Gun Abteilung	Breslau
			6th (Silesian) Foot Artillery "von Dieskau"	Neiße, Glogau
			6th (Silesian) Pioneer Battalion	Neiße
			6th (Silesian) Train Battalion	Breslau
	Breslau Defence Command (Landwehr-Inspektion)			Breslau

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.

Initial wartime organization of the Corps ^[8]

Corps	Division	Brigade	Units
VI Corps	11th Division	21st Infantry Brigade	10th Grenadier Regiment
			38th Fusilier Regiment
		22nd Infantry Brigade	11th Infantry Regiment
			51st Infantry Regiment
			6th Jäger Battalion [9]
		11th Field Artillery Brigade	6th Field Artillery Regiment
			42nd Field Artillery Regiment
			11th Jäger zu Pferde
			1st Company, 6th Pioneer Battalion
			11th Divisional Pontoon Train
			1st Medical Company
			3rd Medical Company
	12th Division	24th Infantry Brigade	23rd Infantry Regiment
			62nd Infantry Regiment
		78th Infantry Brigade	63rd Infantry Regiment
			157th Infantry Regiment
		12th Field Artillery Brigade	21st Field Artillery Regiment
			57th Field Artillery Regiment
			2nd Uhlan Regiment
			2nd Company, 6th Pioneer Battalion
			3rd Company, 6th Pioneer Battalion
			12th Divisional Pontoon Train
			2nd Medical Company
	Corps Troops		II Battalion, 6th Foot Artillery Regiment [10] a
			13th Aviation Detachment
			6th Corps Pontoon Train
			6th Telephone Detachment
			6th Pioneer Searchlight Section
			Munition Trains and Columns corresponding to II Corps

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]}

From	Rank	Name
15 April 1815		Friedrich Heinrich von Hünerbein
11 February 1819		Wieprecht Graf von Zieten
29 November 1839	Generalleutnant	Friedrich Wilhelm, Count Brandenburg
10 September 1849		Karl Friedrich von Lindheim
10 May 1862	General der Kavallerie	Louis Wilhelm Franz von Mutius
30 October 1866	General der Kavallerie	Wilhelm von Tümpling
27 November 1883	Generalleutnant	Karl Otto von Wichmann
23 November 1886	Generalleutnant	Oktavio von Boehn
12 January 1889	General der Artillerie	Eduard von Lewinski
21 February 1895	General der Infanterie	Erbprinz Bernhard von Sachsen-Meiningen
29 May 1903	Generalleutnant	Remus von Woyrsch
2 February 1911	General der Infanterie	Kurt von Pritzelwitz
7 November 1915	General der Kavallerie	Georg von der Marwitz
17 December 1916	General der Infanterie	Julius Riemann
23 November 1917	Generalleutnant	Konstanz von Heineccius
15 December 1918	General der Infanterie	Kurt von dem Borne
25 June 1919	Generalleutnant	Friedrich von Friedeburg

See also

• Germany portal

• Franco-Prussian War order of battle
• German Army order of battle (1914)
• List of Imperial German infantry regiments
• List of Imperial German artillery regiments
• List of Imperial German cavalry regiments

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.