Imperial German Army in World War I

The Imperial German Army in World War I was the largest armed force in Germany. The German Army was a highly organized and complexly structured armed force made up of various types of troops and units. At the beginning of the war, the army was strongly influenced by the traditions of the 19th century, with its organization and structure based on the experiences of the Unification Wars and the Prussian military system. It consisted of active troops, the reserve, the Landwehr and the Landsturm. These different parts of the army were organized along territorial lines, with each German state providing its own contingents. The troops were divided into armies, army corps, divisions, brigades and regiments, with leadership being largely determined by the Oberste Heeresleitung under the direction of the Kaiser and later prominent generals such as Hindenburg and Ludendorff.
With the beginning of the war and the transition from wars of movement to positional warfare, there were extensive organizational changes. The original structure, which was designed for rapid offensives as in the Schlieffen Plan, proved to be inadequate for the challenges of trench warfare. To meet the new requirements, additional units were set up, including specialized shock troops trained for rapid attacks on enemy positions. The air force, which was initially only used for reconnaissance, also became increasingly important and was used for bombing and air combat. Overall, the German army was subject to constant change during the First World War. The initial focus on rapid movement operations was replaced by the requirements of positional warfare, which necessitated far-reaching organizational and tactical adjustments. Despite its high level of professionalism and adaptability, however, the army was unable to compensate for the enormous material and personnel losses and the superiority of the Allies at the end of the war.

Command, control and organization

As German Emperor and King of Prussia, Wilhelm II was the commander-in-chief of the German armed forces. He determined their structure, declared war, made peace and concluded treaties. The Emperor based his decisions on three military advisors: the heads of the Military Cabinet, the War Ministry and the General Staff. The importance of these three bodies increased so much over the course of the war that the Kaiser's position was ultimately only nominal and Hindenburg had so much power in the final years of the war that, as Chief of the General Staff, he became de facto Commander-in-Chief. The Military Cabinet had the task of controlling all appointments – with the exception of those within the General Staff – promotions, retirements, honors and awards. The War Ministry was responsible for the administration of the army, including finance, recruitment, supply, discipline, justice, pensions and barracks. The General Staff dealt with operations and intelligence as well as the training of staff officers for the entire army.
The post of Chief of the General Staff was a permanent position, and at the outbreak of war its holder automatically became Chief of the General Staff of the Army. In 1914, Colonel General Helmuth von Moltke, son of the German commander in the Franco-Prussian War, held this post. After the failure of the offensive in the west, he was replaced by Lieutenant General Erich von Falkenhayn, whose only major contribution to the war was the bloody Battle of Verdun. In August 1916, he was replaced by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the victor of Tannenberg. In peacetime, all three control divisions of the army were roughly equally important, with the War Ministry perhaps holding the leading position. With the start of operations in 1914, however, the administrative duties of the Military Cabinet and the War Ministry became a routine matter, while the General Staff, which directed the operations of the field army, rose to a position of leadership from which it could dictate the course of the war. In this way, Hindenburg dominated the German war effort, and the Kaiser also ultimately acted according to his wishes.
In the pre-war period, the three bodies mentioned above had exclusively administrative and organizational tasks. Command of the troops lay with the commanders of the army corps, who had the right to appeal directly to the Emperor and thus break the normal chain of command. The army corps districts were the basic organizational units of the army in peacetime, and their commanders were responsible for all matters concerning the troops and facilities in their area. In wartime, these commanders led entire army corps into the field, and the depots left behind formed the basic framework on which the expansion of the army was based.

Army inspection

To ensure the effectiveness and operational readiness of the armed forces, there were two different inspection systems for the army. The inspectors general and their staffs had the task of maintaining the technical performance of the army. Each branch of the armed forces had its own inspection. The inspections of cavalry, foot artillery, pioneers, military intelligence and training were almost autonomous, while the inspections of field artillery, hunters and riflemen. Platoon and Landwehr only existed within the framework of the army corps.
Responsibility for the machine-gun troops, the military bands, the military prisons, the veterinary service and the chaplaincy service was exercised directly by the War Office, which appointed its own inspectors, as it did in a number of other limited technical and professional areas. The inspection of infantry was carried out by the Army Inspectors, who were distinguished by being an important element in the higher command structure of the Army. In the event of war, each army inspectorate became an army command, and its commander had a permanent staff large enough to fulfill this task. The pre-war army comprised eight army inspectorates, which are listed below with their subordinate army corps and the locations of their staffs:

Inspection	Location	Corps
1	Danzig	I, XVII, XX
2	Berlin	Garde, XII, XIX
3	Hannover	VII, IX, X
4	München	III, I, II, III. Bayrisches Armeekorps
5	Karlsruhe	VIII, XIV, XV
6	Stuttgart	IV, XI, XIII
7	Saarbrücken	XVI, XVIII, XXI
8	Berlin	II, V, VI

General staff

The Great General Staff, created in 1871, was responsible for the ongoing examination, preparation and control of mobilization and military operations. At the beginning of the war, it became the General Staff of the Field Army under the Supreme Army Command. At this time, there were 113 general staff officers in the various departments. The General Staff was divided into three different groups. The command departments of the General Staff, the Quartermaster General with the subordinate departments, the Supreme Arms Authorities and the heads of the technical departments as well as the branch offices of the OHL. As a result of the expansion of the areas of responsibility of industrialized warfare, there were many overlaps with the War Ministry as well as other military agencies and Reich authorities within the departments and divisions.

Field army

Upon mobilization, each of the eight army inspectorates was transformed into an army. Each army was divided into up to six army corps. The corps controlled by the inspectorates in peacetime were not necessarily those placed under their command at mobilization. The armies originally formed on 2 August 1914 were as follows:
In addition to field armies, there were improvised, independent large formations called Armee Abteilung. They consisted of levies from other units, often Landwehr troops and a small amount of heavy artillery. They were not subordinate to an army high command, but were independent "small armies" which, like normal armies, received decrees and orders from the Supreme Army Command and the War Ministry. They therefore sooner or later received a regular supreme command themselves and could also be upgraded to a fully-fledged army after any troop reinforcements.
An army was usually commanded by a colonel general. The staff of an army was usually divided into four sections:

Section I. – General Staff – Consisting of general staff officers. It was divided into the following sub-sections:
* I-Operations, Orders, Order of Battle, Tactics, Training, Security
* I-areas, movements, traffic control, road control, salvage
* I-Intelligence, Air Service, Signals
* I-Ammunition supply
Section II – Adjutancy – consisting of a general staff officer and several adjutant officers. It was subdivided into:
* II-Personnel, promotions, honours and rewards, leave, chaplains, lectures, regimental newspapers, supplies, transport, clothing, boots, captured material
* II-Organisation, facilities, strength, return, billeting, replacement of weapons, ammunition and horses, counter-espionage and censorship, grave registration, railway service
* II-Internal Economy, Routine Orders, Returns
Section III-Field Justice Office, under the direction of the Court Martial Council

Duties of the provost marshal, discipline, court martial jurisdiction

Section IV – Intendant's Office, Medical and Veterinary Service, staffed by military officers, medical and veterinary officers
* IV-Administrative matters, rations, clothing, pay, allowances, requisitions, food prices, local contributions, postal service, dealing with civilians
* IV-Sanitary service, gas protection measures
* IV or IV-Veterinary services
Sections I, II, III and IV were directly subordinate to the Chief Quartermaster, but the work of all sections was coordinated under the Chief of the General Staff. In addition to the general and administrative staffs, there were other additional officers.
General of Artillery at the A.O.K., to whom two staff officers were subordinate, one for the field artillery and one for the heavy artillery
General of the Pioneers
Ammunition staff
Army intelligence commander
Commander of the Air Force
Airship commander
Air Defence Commander
Commander of the railway pioneers
Staff officer of the machine gun troops
Staff officer of the gas troops
Staff officer for surveying
Commander of the motorised troops.
Commander of the ammunition columns and trains
Staff officer of the train
Intelligence officer
Labour commandant
Security officer
Collecting officer
Army Postal Inspector
Secret field police
Education officer
Commander of the Headquarters