Organisation on mobilisation On mobilization on 2 August 1914 the Corps was extensively restructured. The
Guards Cavalry Division (less the 4th Guards Cavalry Brigade) was assigned to the
I Cavalry Corps (
Höhere Kavallerie-Kommando 1); the 4th Guards Cavalry Brigade was broken up and its regiments assigned to the divisions as reconnaissance units. The
Lehr Infantry Battalion was expanded to form the
Lehr Infantry Regiment. It formed 6th Guards Infantry Brigade (with the Guards
Füsilier Regiment) and together with the
5th Guards Infantry Brigade formed the
3rd Guards Division of the
Guards Reserve Corps. Divisions received engineer companies and other support units from the Corps headquarters. In summary, the Guards Corps mobilised with 26 infantry battalions, 10 machine gun companies (60 machine guns), eight cavalry squadrons, 24 field artillery batteries (144 guns), four heavy artillery batteries (16 guns), three pioneer companies and an aviation detachment.
Combat chronicle On mobilisation, the Guards Corps was assigned to the
2nd Army as part of the right wing of the forces that invaded
France and
Belgium as part of the
Schlieffen Plan offensive in August 1914. (1857–1936) Soon into the war, at the
First Battle of the Marne, the Prussian Guards were bitterly defeated in an attempt to take French positions. In early July 1915 it participated in the "Battle of the Guards" near Krasnostav, acting against parts of the
Russian Guard corps. It participated in the Battle of Lublin-Kholm in July 1915 In 1917, the corps was stationed on the
Aisne River as part of
1st Army, and played an important role in the German defense against the
French offensive in that sector. It was still in existence at the end of the war in the
4th Army,
Heeresgruppe Kronprinz Rupprecht, on the
Western Front. == Commanders ==