1. Formed in April, 1915. Its three regiments were obtained from divisions belonging to the 5th Army—the 46th from the 10th Division, the 58th from the 9th Division, and the 46th Reserve from the 10th Reserve Division. Assembled in annexed Lorraine, it was sent to Galicia for the April German offensive. The division took part in the battle of Gorlice at the end of the month.

2. In July it was in Poland, west of the Wieprz, and at the end of October in the region of Baranovitchi.

1916.

Baranovitchi.

1. In January, 1916, the division held a sector to the east of Baranovitchi (Russia).

Narotch Lake.

2. About March 28 it went to Narotch Lake and opposed the Russian offensive.

3. Sorely tried on March 30, it was relieved on April 7.

Smorgoni.

4. In May it was found at the west of Smorgoni.

Galicia.

5. It was transferred to Galicia at the end of June at the time of the Russian offensive. Engaged on July 27, it suffered heavy losses. The 1st Battalion of the 58th was almost entirely captured and the division retired 15 km. (letter). On August 7 new losses at Tlumacz. The division was placed in reserve behind Stanislau until the beginning of September. On September 6 it reappeared on the front in the region of Halicz.

1917.

Galicia.

1. The division stayed near Halicz until March 9, 1917. It was then sent to the vicinity of Brzezany, where it was almost immediately put in reserve.

2. At the beginning of May it was sent to the Western Front. (Itinerary: Brzezany (May 3)-Lemberg-Breslau-Liegnitz-Dresden-Leipzig-Cassel-Frankfort-Aix la Chapelle-LiÉge-Brussels-Roulers (May 8).)

Flanders.

3. Ypres sector; went into line at the beginning of June and was relieved on July 18.

4. Bixschoote sector; went into line at the beginning of August. The division met the attack in Flanders, in which it suffered serious losses on August 16. The 9th Company of the 58th Infantry was reduced to 38 men (notebook). On the 9th and 10th of October there were new engagements.

5. Relieved from the front on October 15 the division rested in the vicinity of Gand.

Cambrai.

6. After a month’s rest the 119th Division went into line on the Cambrai front to participate in the counterattacks which followed the surprise attack of November 20. It fought here from the 23d to the 27th, not without some losses.

7. Relieved after December 6, the division was reorganized in the vicinity of Solesmes.

RECRUITING.

This division recruited from the 5th Corps District. A document dated November 23, 1917, described the division as composed of “regiments of Lower Silesia and Posen.” In order to overcome the majority of Poles, the division received recruits from the 3d and 6th Corps Districts (Brandenburg and Silesia), which were fruitful sources of recruiting.

Twenty-one per cent of the prisoners taken from the 119th Division in August, 1917, belonged to the 1917 class. The 1918 class was meagerly represented. The 46th Reserve Regiment had a large proportion of Poles. The soldiers from Alsace-Lorraine remained on the Eastern Front when the division left Galicia (May, 1917).

1918.

1. About the end of January the division was relieved near Pronville by the 20th Division. It replaced the 3d Guard Division astride the Bapaume-Cambrai road about February 12. The date of its relief in this sector is not known. A captured diary shows that the division was training in the Helesmes area (north of Denain) until the middle of March. On the 16th it marched to Noyelles sur Selle, and on the following day reached Cambrai, where it remained until March 20.

Battle of Picardy.

2. The division came into line near Inchy on the 21st and took part in the initial attack. It was withdrawn on the 23d and rested two days. It reappeared in line on the 25th and fought southeast of Hebuterne until relieved by the 5th Bavarian Reserve Division on April 7–8. The division lost heavily in this fighting.

Battle of the Lys.

3. Withdrawn from the Somme, the division reentered the Lys battle line on April 26 near Locon. It was engaged there until early in May (6th), when it was withdrawn near Hinges and rested in the area Lille-Tournai until June 11. On that date it marched to Orchies, was railed to Le Forest, and from there came into line via Noyelles, relieving the 12th Reserve Division on the night of June 13–14. While at rest the division received a number of drafts, mostly of the 1919 class.

4. The division held the Mericourt sector until the night of July 12–13, when it was relieved by the 52d Division and took over the billets of the 52d Division in the Orchies area.

5. The division rested until August 1, when it moved to Ham via Douai-Cambrai-Caudry-Bohain-St. Quentin. Then it rested until August 8, when it was alarmed and rushed up in busses to the Le Quesnel sector.

Battle of the Somme.

6. On August 9 the division was engaged south of the Somme. In the fighting it lost about 900 prisoners before its relief on August 17. On August 27–28 it returned to line in the Misery-Licourt sector and remained in line until September 24, when it was withdrawn from west of Bellenglise. After a week’s rest the division reentered line at Estrees; was engaged for 17 days in the Beaurevoir-Le Cateau area. Since August 8 it has lost nearly 3,000 prisoners.

Ypres.

7. The division rested at Ghent until October 27, when it relieved the 3d Landwehr Division south of Machelen. It retreated via Olsene to Nazareth, in which area it was withdrawn about November 9.

VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.

The division was rated as second class. It was used as an attack division in the March and April offensives. While on the defensive in August and September on the Somme it was decimated.