1914 On mobilisation, VI Reserve Corps was assigned to the
5th Army forming part of the centre of the forces for the
Schlieffen Plan offensive in August 1914. With the mobilisation at the
outbreak of World War I, General of the Infantry was appointed Commanding General of the Silesian VI Reserve Corps by a cabinet order (''''). The large unit was transferred to the
Western Front and placed under the command of the
5th Army. Colonel von Rath served as Chief of Staff, the 11th Reserve Division was under Major General Surén, and the 12th Reserve Division was led by Lieutenant General .
August 22 On 22 August 1914, the corps fought in the (part of the
Battle of the Ardennes). Opposite the French
5th Army Corps under General
Brochin, the VI Reserve Corps – on the left with the 12th Reserve Division via
Laix – also attacked
Longuyon and
Pierrepont and reached the Frants–
Cutry–
Doncourt–
Baslieux line. On the right, the 11th Reserve Division advanced via
Cutry–
Chenières to the Grandville-
Ugny line. The 12th Reserve Division was attacked on its left flank from
Joppécourt, but withstood the enemy pressure at Doncourt until help arrived from the 10th Reserve Division.
August 23 On 23 August, the troops reached the
Beuveille-
Arrancy line and surrounded the fortress of Longwy, which was defended by a French brigade led by General Darche. The 11th Reserve Division had arrived from Dorbey in front of Longwy and was preparing to attack the town. The 12th Reserve Division captured Doncourt and Beuveille.
August 24 On 24 August, the corps fought with the 12th Reserve Division for Arrancy and was pushed back towards the
St. Laurent–
Pillon line.
August 25 On 25 August, further territorial gains were made on the heights south of the
Othain stream and between St. Laurent and
Sorbey. After the battle, the corps went into trench warfare on the Othain section, while the
Armee-Abteilung Strantz established itself on the left wing the following year.
1916 During the
Battle of Verdun in 1916, the corps initially provided only artillery support and did not begin its attack on the western bank of the
Meuse until 6 March. On 7 March, the 12th and
22nd Reserve Divisions succeeded in capturing the villages of
Regnéville and
Forges and the strategically important hilltop positions of Côte de l'Oie () and
Côte de Poivre (). On 14 March 1916, the Silesian VI Reserve Corps succeeded in capturing one of the peaks of
Le Mort Homme and, on 30 March, the village of
Malancourt. The VI Reserve Corps was soon withdrawn from the front and transferred to
Bapaume as a reserve, from where it was immediately deployed again at the beginning of July in the
Battle of the Somme to repel English attacks.
1917 In the spring of 1917, the corps, as the
Gruppe Souchez, covered the
Liévin–
Angres–
Givenchy line in the
Lens area with the 11th Reserve Division and the . At the start of the
Battle of Arras, the General Command was replaced by the
VIII Reserve Corps. During the
German spring offensive in March 1918, the
Korps Borne was assigned to the
17th Army. In July 1918, it reinforced the front of the
7th Army in the area southwest of
Reims and launched a brief attack near
Chambrecy. After the French counteroffensive from the Forêt de la Montagne, the corps was forced to retreat.
Grenzschutz Ost (1919) In January 1919, the VI Reserve Corps, designed to protect the border of
East Prussia, was subordinated to the
Armeeoberkommando Nord (AOK) of the
Grenzschutz Ost in
Königsberg, later
Bartenstein, under the command of Commanding General
Ferdinand von Quast. In December 1918, the
8th Army had withdrawn from the
Eastern Front and was only partially present in the
Livonian Governorate. Thus, there was no effective military protection between the advancing Soviet
Red Army and East Prussia. With the consent of the
Entente, the AOK North was to lead and supply the various volunteer units and to hold back the Red Army. At the beginning of February 1919, the VI Reserve Corps took over command in
Courland. The commanding general, Major General
Rüdiger von der Goltz, was in charge of the
Gouvernement Libau, the
Baltische Landeswehr, the
Eiserne Division, the arriving
1st Guards Reserve Division, and various smaller
Freikorps. At the beginning of March, a major offensive took place as far as
Jelgava. The recapture of Riga on May 22, 1919, was officially carried out without the command of the corps, as the German troops had not received permission to proceed further. In September 1919, the majority of the
Freikorps that had not yet been repatriated transferred to the
West Russian Volunteer Army. They thus left the VI Reserve Corps and the German state. On October 13, 1919, Lieutenant General
von Eberhardt replaced von der Goltz, who, because of his arbitrary policy in the Baltic States, was no longer acceptable to either the victorious powers or the German
Weimar Republic. After the military defeat of the West Russian Volunteer Army by the
Lithuanian Army at the
Battle of Radviliškis, the German
Freikorps returned to the corps on November 10, which organized their evacuation to East Prussia by December 1919. == Commanders ==