50th Infantry Division (German Empire)

50th Infantry Division (German Empire)

The 50th Infantry Division (50.Infanterie-Division) was a division of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The division was formed on March 10, 1915 from units taken from other divisions or newly raised. Its infantry core was from Westphalia: the 39th Lower Rhine Fusilier Regiment, taken from the 14th Reserve Division (German Empire), the 53rd Westphalian Infantry Regiment, taken from the 14th Infantry Division, and the 158th Lorraine Infantry Regiment, taken from the 13th Infantry Division.

The division saw extensive action in the Battle of Verdun in 1916, especially in the fight for Fort Vaux. The division also was heavily engaged in the Second Battle of the Aisne, also called the Third Battle of Champagne and referred to in German sources as the Dual Battle of Aisne-Champagne (Doppelschlacht Aisne-Champagne). In 1918, it was involved in the German Spring Offensive, called the Great Battle in France (Große Schlacht in Frankreich) or the Kaiser Battle (Kaiserschlacht) It was rated by Allied intelligence in 1917 and 1918 as a first class assault division.

Read more about 50th Infantry Division (German Empire):  Order of Battle On March 10, 1915, Late World War I Organization

Famous quotes containing the word division:

    Major [William] McKinley visited me. He is on a stumping tour.... I criticized the bloody-shirt course of the canvass. It seems to me to be bad “politics,” and of no use.... It is a stale issue. An increasing number of people are interested in good relations with the South.... Two ways are open to succeed in the South: 1. A division of the white voters. 2. Education of the ignorant. Bloody-shirt utterances prevent division.
    Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)