1914.

Alsace and the Vosges.

1. Upon mobilization, the 39th Division and the 30th Division formed the 5th Army Corps (Strassburg).

At the beginning of the campaign the 39th Division was a part of the 7th Army (Von Herringen). In the first days of August it fought in the pass of the Bonhomme. On the 9th it went into Cernay and Mulhouse and was transferred to Dabo (Vosges) on August 19. On August 20 it took part in the battle of Albreschwiller and crossed the frontier on the 31st. It advanced to a point between the Meurthe and the Mortagne and then retreated fighting.

Champagne.

2. Entraining on September 9, it was transferred to the northwest of Rheims, where it fought between Craonne and Ailles until October.

Flanders.

3. At the end of October it became a part of the 6th Army (Crown Prince of Bavaria), of which the 15th Army Corps formed the right wing (north of Lille) until the summer of 1915.

1915.

Flanders.

1. Before our attacks of 1915 it was attached to the 4th Army (Duke of Wurttemberg), south of Ypres. At this time the 15th Army Corps became the left wing of the 4th Army. In April the 39th Division gave the 171st Infantry Regiment to the 115th Division, a new formation.

2. The 39th Division was retained in the vicinity of Ypres until the month of February, 1916. One of its regiments, the 172d Infantry Regiment, suffered heavy losses there on September 25 (its 8th Company received at least 111 men as replacements between September 28 and October 16).

1916.

Verdun.

1. At the beginning of 1916 various elements of the 15th Army Corps were transferred to the vicinity of Verdun and concentrated on the right bank of the Meuse, in the area Piennes-Etain-Ornel-Senon.

2. At the beginning of the German offensive on February 24, the 39th Division suffered relatively few losses, the battle being less intense in the Woevre. But little by little all its units were engaged. On March 8, the 132d Infantry Regiment took part in the attacks upon Douaumont, and on the 18th upon the Caillette wood. Its losses were enormous. On July 11 the 126th Infantry Regiment was in action with two regiments of the 30th Division. Almost all its battalions went successively to the active sectors in the vicinity of Vaux (Aug. 18). At Verdun the division lost 69 per cent of its infantry.

Somme.

3. On October 20 the 39th Division was relieved from the Verdun front and transferred to the Somme. On the 29th it occupied the sector of Sailly Saillisel. In the attack of Sailly Saillisel by the French troops the three regiments of the division were all put into line simultaneously and acted especially with the assault troops. In these battles the losses of the division were very great (an average of 80 men per company). In the 126th Infantry Regiment, the 4th Company received at least 82 men as replacements between November 16 and 23; the 3d Company, 106 men.

4. Withdrawn from the Somme, about November 11, the 39th Division was again sent to Verdun. Between December 8 and December 12 it went into the sector between the Louvemont road and the Chaufour wood and there sustained our attack of December 15. It was relieved on the 20th, very much exhausted, and went for reorganization near Vouziers.

1917.

Argonne.

1. About January 10, 1917, the division went into line in the sector of Ville sur Tourbe (Argonne). It was withdrawn at the beginning of March. In the course of this month, it was engaged in Champagne, in the attack of March 27 at Cernay en Dormois. It remained in the sector of Massiges until the beginning of May.

Champagne.

2. It then went to the vicinity of Rheims (Loivre-Berry au Bac sector) from May 11 to the beginning of July.

Artois.

3. Sent to rest near Asfeld, it then went into line west of Fontaine les Croisilles (middle of July). Withdrawn from the Arras front, it occupied the Loos sector in September.

Flanders.

4. At the end of October, it went to Flanders, Passchendaele sector, then Becelaere sector.

Artois.

5. At the end of November, it was again in Artois, north of La Bassee Canal, a position which it was still occupying February, 1918.

RECRUITING.

The 171st and 172d Infantry Regiments are recruited in the Rhine District, in the widest sense of the word (Grand Duchy of Baden, Rhenish Hesse, Rhine Province), and from Westphalia.

The 126th Infantry Regiment, in Alsace since 1871, represents the participation of Wurttemberg in the guard of the Reichsland. Besides its maintenance by the younger recruiting classes, at the end of 1916 it took some of the best elements from the 123d, 125th, and 126th Landwehr Regiments (young Landsturm classes, then having at least 20 to 22 months of service).

VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.

In spite of its relatively high losses, the 39th Division did well on the Somme (October to November, 1916). During its second engagement at Verdun, the Division was much less brilliant. Its resistance was weak (December, 1916).

1918.

La Bassee.

1. During the night of February 25–26 the 39th Division was relieved by the 44th Reserve Division and went to rest near Sequedin (west of Lille), where it is presumed to have been trained in open warfare.

Picardy.

2. About the middle of March, when the Germans were concentrating their reserves on the Cambrai-St. Quentin front, the 39th Division left the Lille area for the Cambrai front. On the 21st of March, when the initial attack was delivered, the 39th Division was in reserve to the 20th Division and only came into action on the evening of that day, at Beaumetz (west of Cambrai). Encountering fighting of the severest kind, the division had to be withdrawn to reserve by the evening of the 23d.

3. The division reappeared in line on the 28th and continued to make slow progress until it reached the area south of Hebuterne (west of Bapaume). It was relieved on the 6th of April by the 26th Division and went to rest in the Cambrai area.

Lys.

4. It left this area about the 12th and marched by stages to the Lys battle front, arriving on the 17th in the Estaires area (west of Lille). The German attacks in this area had been successfully held up by the British by this time and the division was not immediately required. On the 30th it came into line northwest of Merville (west of Lille) and relieved the 12th Reserve Division. The division was not heavily engaged in this sector; it was relieved by the 44th Reserve Division on May 26 and went to rest in the vicinity of Lille.

5. On the 3d of July it relieved the 48th Reserve Division in the Vieux Berquin sector (east of Hazebrouck), and was relieved by the 187th Division during the night of July 13–14. It went to the Haubourdin area (southwest of Lille) and there received training as an assault division.

Arras.

6. During the night of August 2–3 it relieved the 185th Division south of Neuville-Vitasse (south of Arras). In the heavy fighting that followed the division lost over 1,300 prisoners and was driven back as far as Cherisy, where it was withdrawn on the 30th and went to rest near Aniches (east of Douai).

Cambrai.

7. On September 18 the division reenforced the front near Ecourt-St. Quentin (northwest of Cambrai). It was driven back as far as Palluel, where it was relieved by the 58th Division on the 28th.

Ypres.

9. The division entrained at Roulers and detrained at Menin, entering line east of Gheluvelt (north of Menin) all on the same day. About the 25th of October it was withdrawn from line near Vichte (east of Courtrai) to which point it had been driven back. It rested then for about a week in the region of Audenarde.

10. During the night of October 31-November 1 the division relieved the 23d Reserve Division in the Nukerke sector (south of Audenarde); it was identified in line there on the 9th and was probably still there on the 11th.

VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.

The 39th is rated as a second-class division. With the exception of a statement in the German communique of October 2, that the 132d Regiment had displayed “unusual fighting ability” in the operations north of Menin, there is nothing to show that the division had distinguished itself in any way in the fighting during 1918.