46th Landwehr Division explained

Unit Name:	46th Landwehr Division (2nd Royal Saxon)
Native Name:	46. Landwehr-Division (2. Königlich Sächsische)
Dates:	15 February 1917 – March 1919
Country:
Branch:	Royal Saxon Army
Type:	Infantry
Size:	Division
Garrison:	Dresden
Battles:	Eastern Front (World War I)Lithuanian–Soviet War

The 46th Landwehr Division was a Royal Saxon Army Landwehr infantry division in World War I and the Lithuanian–Soviet War.

Battle calendar

The division was formed in February 1917 from militia (Landwehr) and reserve (Ersatz) units in the area of the XII (1st Royal Saxon) Corps in Dresden. It then went to the Eastern Front in mid-March 1917, remained there after the end of the war and acted as a police and occupation force in Lithuania.

1917

• March 13 – December 5 – Static battle between Nemunas-Berezina-Kreva-Smarhon-Narach lake-Tverečius
  • 19–27 July – Defensive battle at Smarhon-Kreva
• 6–17 December – Ceasefire
• From December 17 – Armistice

1918

• Until February 18 – Armistice
• February 18 – March 3 – pursuing battles through Belarus
• March 3 – November 15 – occupation of Russian territory
• From November 16 – occupation and security service in Lithuania and Belarus

1919

• Until 11 February – Occupation and security service in Lithuania

On February 22, 1919, Lieutenant General Walter von Eberhardt became the divisional commander. In April, the South Lithuania Brigade, a Freikorps, was formed from the division's volunteers. It consisted of the 18th, 19th and 20th Volunteer Regiments, the 18th Volunteer Aviation Squadron and the 18th and 19th Volunteer Artillery Abteilung and fought with Lithuanian troops against the invading Red Army troops in the Lithuanian–Soviet War. The last volunteers from the South Lithuania Brigade left Lithuania in July 1919.

Order of Battle

As of 15 February 1917

• 46th Landwehr Infantry Brigade
  • 101st Landwehr Infantry Regiment
  • 103rd Landwehr Infantry Regiment
  • 105th Landwehr Infantry Regiment
  • 4th Squadron/17th Uhlan Regiment "Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, King of Hungary" (1st Royal Saxon)
  • 246th Field Artillery Regiment
  • Landwehr Pionier Company/XII (1st Royal Saxon) Corps
  • Scheinwerferzug Nr. 404
  • 346th Mortar Company
  • 546th Divisional Telephone Department

After 25 January 1918

• 46th Landwehr Infantry Brigade
  • 101st Landwehr Infantry Regiment
  • 103rd Landwehr Infantry Regiment
  • 105th Landwehr Infantry Regiment
  • 4th Squadron/17th Uhlan Regiment "Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, King of Hungary" (1st Royal Saxon)
• 140th Artillery Command
  • 246th Field Artillery Regiment
• 446th Pionier Battalion
• 546th Divisional Signals Command

Commanders

Rank	Name	Date
Generalleutnant	Bernhard von Watzdorf	13 February – 8 September 1917^[1]
Generalmajor	Otto von Ompteda	8 September 1917 – 7 August 1918
Generalmajor	Albrecht von Mandelsloh	7 August 1918 – 21 February 1919
Generalleutnant	Walter von Eberhardt	22 February 1919 – April 1919

Bibliography

• Ruhmeshalle unserer Alten Armee. herausgegeben auf Grund amtlichen Materials des Reichsarchivs, Militär-Verlag, Berlin 1927, S. 70, 141.
• Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions of the German Army Which Participated in the War (1914–1918), United States War Office as War Department Document No. 905, Office of the Adjutant, 1920, S. 473.
• Artur Baumgarten-Crusius: Die Sachsen im Felde 1914–1918. Verlag der Literaturwerke „Minerva“, R. Max Lippold, Leipzig 1923, S. 515–516.

References

1. Dermot Bradley (Hrsg.), Günter Wegner: Stellenbesetzung der Deutschen Heere 1815–1939. Band 1: Die Höheren Kommandostellen 1815–1939. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1780-1, S. 197.