The Guards Cavalry Rifle Division was formed in March 1918 at the
Zossen Military Training Area in
Brandenburg, from the
Guards Cavalry Division, which had come home from the
Eastern Front, and from elements of other divisions. The Division's commander was Lieutenant General
Heinrich von Hofmann, and its first general staff officer was Captain
Waldemar Pabst. Major
Willy Rohr and his
5th Assault Battalion were ordered to
Maubeuge from the
German spring offensive to train the division for the
Western Front. As part of this training, a large-scale exercise was planned for the whole division. Among those observing this exercise were Emperor
Charles I of Austria,
Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia,
Paul von Hindenburg, and
Erich Ludendorff of the
Supreme Army Command; Generals
Friedrich Sixt von Armin,
Fritz von Loßberg, and
Oskar von Hutier. To conclude the exercise, Hindenburg inspected the division on 23 May. The division was posted to the Western Front in
Champagne region at the end of May 1918. From 15 July, it fought in the
Second Battle of the Marne, and between 17 August and 4 September it took part in the defensive battle between the
River Oise and the
River Aisne. In October 1918, the division covered the retreat of the
1st Army.
American Expeditionary Forces intelligence officers rated the division as second-class (of four classes) and reported that it was one of the General Headquarters attack divisions, held under the direct control of the Supreme Army Command. After the failure of the July 1918 offensive east of
Rheims, the division was always on the defensive. The
Volksmarinedivision (People's Navy Division), which was occupying the
Berlin Palace and the
Neuer Marstall (New Stables), had mutinied, demanding its overdue wages and seeking to stop a plan to downsize it. Under the command of General
Arnold Lequis, the Guards Cavalry Rifle Division and other regular troops were ordered to drive the
Volksmarinedivision out of its positions, but failed. Soon after this, the Division became well-known and indeed infamous for its part in suppressing the
Spartacist uprising and for the murders of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg in January 1919. In April 1919, the Guards Cavalry Rifle Division, together with the Marine Division under Major General
Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, formed the Guards Cavalry Rifle Corps, also commanded by Hofmann. In May 1919, it was part of the force led by Major General
Heinrich Deetjen which crushed the
Bavarian Soviet Republic. Formally, the unit remained a regular unit of the German Army until it was incorporated into the Provisional
Reichswehr of the
Weimar Republic in July 1919, but due to the heavy recruitment of volunteers and the incorporation of numerous volunteer units from demobilized troops, it quickly took on the character of a
Freikorps (Volunteer Corps). ==Units==