243rd Infantry Division (German Empire)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=243rd Infantry Division ("243. Infanterie-Division")
dates=1917-1919
country=Württemberg/Germany
branch=Army
type=Infantry
size=Approx. 15,000
battles=Second Battle of the Aisne, Spring Offensive, Hundred Days Offensive

The 243rd Infantry Division ("243. Infanterie-Division") was a division of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The division was established on April 1 1917 by the renaming of the 8th Ersatz Division. The 8th Ersatz Division had been officially redesignated a Royal Württemberg infantry division two months earlier and the 243rd Infantry Division retained the ties to that kingdom. [ [http://www.1914-18.info/erster-weltkrieg.php?u=440 243.Infanterie-Division (Chronik 1917/1918)] ] [Hermann Cron et al., "Ruhmeshalle unserer alten Armee" (Berlin, 1935)]

The division fought in the Second Battle of the Aisne, also called the Third Battle of Champagne, in the Spring of 1917. It spent the rest 0f 1917 and the first part of 1918 in positional warfare near Reims and in fighting around Verdun. In 1918, the division participated in the German Spring Offensive, in the Somme region. The division was on the defensive thereafter, including during the Allied Hundred Days Offensive. [ [http://www.1914-18.info/erster-weltkrieg.php?u=440 243.Infanterie-Division (Chronik 1917/1918)] ] [Hermann Cron et al., "Ruhmeshalle unserer alten Armee" (Berlin, 1935)] The division was demobilized in 1919. In 1917, Allied intelligence rated the division a good division, but of mediocre combat value, and by 1918 it was rated a third class division. ["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," (1920), pp.741-743]

The organization of the division on March 24 1918 was as follows: [Hermann Cron et al., "Ruhmeshalle unserer alten Armee" (Berlin, 1935)]

*247. Infanterie-Brigade:
**Füsilier-Regiment Kaiser Franz Josef von Österreich, König von Ungarn (4. Württembergisches) Nr. 122
**Württembergisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 478 (former Ersatz-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 51)
**Württembergisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 479 (former Ersatz-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 52)
**Maschinengewehr-Scharfschützen-Abteilung Nr. 77
*3.Eskadron/Ulanen-Regiment König Karl (1. Württembergisches) Nr. 19
*Artillerie-Kommandeur 135:
**Württembergisches Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 238
**Fußartillerie-Bataillon Nr. 82
*Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 243
*Divisions-Nachrichten-Kommandeur 243

References

* [http://www.1914-18.info/erster-weltkrieg.php?u=440 243. Infanterie-Division (Chronik 1917/1918) - Der erste Weltkrieg]
* Hermann Cron et al., "Ruhmeshalle unserer alten Armee" (Berlin, 1935)
* Hermann Cron, "Geschichte des deutschen Heeres im Weltkriege 1914-1918" (Berlin, 1937)
* "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," (1920)

Notes