(19th Corps District—Saxony.)

1915.

The 58th Division was formed on March 7, 1915, at Roulers, of surplus regiments taken from old divisions—the 106th and 107th Infantry Regiments, Saxon, came from the 24th Division; the 120th Reserve Infantry Regiment (Wurttemberg), from the 26th Reserve Division. At the end of 1916 the last-named regiment was replaced by the 103d Reserve Regiment (Saxon). The provincial homogeneity is thus realized.

1. The division remained at Roulers until the beginning of May.

Artois.

2. On May 12, 1915, the 58th Division took part in the battle of Artois (Carency, May 12–15) and suffered heavy losses. On May 12 and 14 the 1st Battalion of the 106th Infantry Regiment had casualties of 22 officers and 642 men. (Official List of Casualties.) The casualties of the division amounted to 116 officers and 4,194 men.

3. At the beginning of June the division fought at Neuville St. Vaast (Le Labyrinthe.)

4. It was at rest in the middle of June in the vicinity of Douai.

Russia.

5. On July 21 the division was transferred to Russia. (Itinerary: Roubaix-Sedan-Longwy-Thionville-TrÈves-Coblentz-Cassel-Berlin-Marienburg-Koenigsberg-Loetzen.)

6. It took part in the offensive against the Russians in August and September (Narew, Bobr, Bielostok, Vilna) as far as Lake Narotch.

France.

7. Brought back to France between October 16 and 22 (Itinerary: Vilna-Kovno-Koenigsberg-Berlin-Hanover-Cassel-Frankfort-Mayence-Coblentz-TrÈves-Sarrebreucken), it took over a sector in Lorraine (Leintrey-DomÈvre) in November and December.

1916.

1. In January and February, 1916, the 58th Division was at rest in the vicinity of Sarreburg.

Lorraine.

2. About February 25 it returned to the sector of Leintrey-Embermenil and remained there until the middle of March. It celebrated its first anniversary there—150 days of fighting, 1,200 kilometers on foot, 4,400 by railroad (notebook).

Verdun.

3. Brought back to Verdun at this time, it took part in the attack of Caillette wood, near Douaumont, on April 2.

Champagne.

4. The division was withdrawn from the Verdun front about April 7 and sent to rest in the vicinity of Rethel. On April 30 it went to Champagne, where it occupied the sector east of Rheims (BÉtheny-Cernay, La Pompelle).

Somme.

5. In September the division was engaged on the Somme (Barleux). The 2d Company of the 20th Reserve Infantry Regiment, 177 strong, was destroyed, with the exception of 22 prisoners.

6. After occupying a calm sector on the Yser from September 29 to October 23, it again fought on the Somme (Courcelette-Grandcourt) in November.

7. On December 20 the division was withdrawn and reorganized—the 120th Reserve Infantry Regiment left the division for the 204th Division, a new formation, and went to Belgium.

Verdun.

1. In January and February, 1917, the 58th Division became exclusively Saxon (106th, 107th, 103d Reserve Infantry Regiments). It went to the Verdun front and remained to the end of March, 1917.

Champagne.

2. The latter part of March it went into line at Auberive, and suffered heavy losses in the attack of April 16–17. Because of these losses, the 8th Company of the 103d Infantry Regiment required a minimum reenforcement of 70 men.

Russia-Lake Narotch.

3. Relieved about April 20, the 58th Division entrained on the 24th for Russia. (Itinerary: Coblentz-Giessen-Halle-Lissa-Lodz-Warsaw-Brest-Litowsk (Apr. 28).) It held the sector south of Lake Narotch from the beginning of May until the beginning of October.

Belgium.

4. On October 6 it was brought back to France. (Itinerary: Vilna-Koenigsberg-Luebeck-Hamburg-Crefeld-Aix la Chapelle-LiÉge-Ghent-Bruges-Thourout (Oct. 11).)

Houthulst Wood.

5. On October 17 it took over the sector south of Houthulst wood and received the attack of October 22; it was relieved on the 24th.

6. On October 31 it again occupied the sector which it left at the end of November.

7. It spent December at rest in the vicinity of Bruges.

RECRUITING.

Mixed at the beginning (Saxon and Wurttemberg), like the 54th Reserve Division, the division became homogeneous by exchanging its Wurttemberg troops for Saxon units.

VALUE—1917 ESTIMATE.

When the 58th Division was on the Russian front, a division school was formed in the month of June, 1917, with the purpose of teaching men the method of attack.

The division school was dissolved a few days before the departure for Russia. As soon as they arrived on the Western Front it was made an assault detachment of the division.

On the Flanders front the 58th Division did not show any high combat value. Rather frequent cases of abandoning the front line have been proved (October, 1917).

1918.

Ypres.

1. About April 3 the division extended its left flank and relieved the 38th Division. At that time the division was holding two divisional sectors. About May 19, it was relieved by the 49th Reserve Division and moved to the Locre sector where it relieved the 31st Division a day later. This sector was held by the division until the night of June 13–14 when it was relieved by the 52d Reserve Division.

2. It rested in the Courtrai area until July 7 when it returned to line west of Dranoutre in relief of the 121st Division. The 52d Reserve Division again relieved it on August 9.

Scarpe-Somme.

3. The division entrained at Menin on August 25 and detrained at Sancourt on the evening of the 26th coming into line on August 28 near Hardecourt and Bullecourt. It sideslipped south about the 1st of September and replaced the 52d Division which had been withdrawn. About September 10 the division was withdrawn from the battle front after suffering heavy losses. About this time the regiments of the division were reduced to two battalions of three companies each.

4. On September 27, the division relieved the 39th Division north of Ecourt-St. Quentin. It retreated by Arleux to a point west of Valenciennes where it was relieved about October 22. Two days later it came into line farther south at Ghent and fought until November 7. The final identifications were at Hecq (Nov. 4), north of Berlaimont (Nov. 5) and north of Pont-sur-Sambre (Nov. 6).

VALUE—1918 ESTIMATE.

The division was rated as second class. It was used as a strong defensive division exclusively on the British front during 1918.