Among the more famous German units of the First World War was the "Alpine Corps", which served in Serbia (1915), France (1916,1917,1918) Rumania (1916,1917), Italy (1917) and Bulgaria (1918). Few German units of the war traveled so far and so often. In a curious misnomer for the Germans, who tend to be so correct about such things, the Alpine Corps is not a Corps, but rather a division sized organization which specialized in mountain warfare. As organized in 1915, it was made up of the following units: ALPINE DIVISION Troop Quality: Veteran Morale: 10 1st Bavarian Jaeger Brigade Lieb (Lifeguard) Barvarian Infantry Regiment 1st Barvarian Jaeger Regiment 2nd Jaeger Brigade 2nd (Prussian) Jaeger Regiment 3rd (Bavarian) Jaeger Regiment 203rd Field Artillery Regiment 201st Mountain Machine Gun Detachment 202nd Mountain Machine Gun Detachment 205th Mountain Machine Gun Detachment 209th Mountain Machine Gun Detachment The 3rd Jaeger Regiment was formed from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Bavarian Ski Battalions. The Lieb Regiment had started the war as a standard German infantry regiment, but it was withdrawn from the 1st Bavarian Division and assigned to the Alpine Corps. Both it and the other two regiments seems to have been reorganized along Jaeger lines with the following organization: JAEGER REGIMENT REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS: 1 Command Stand 3 JAEGER BATTALIONS, each with: BATTALION HEADQUARTERS: 1 Command Stand 4 INFANTRY COMPANIES, each with: 1 Command Infantry Stand 2 Infantry Stands MACHINE GUN COMPANY: 1 Machine Gun Stand (3 dice) (DS) BICYCLE)RECONCOMPANY: 1 Command Infantry Stand and 1 Recon Infantry Stand Notes 1. The 3rd Jaeger Regiment has 4 Battalions, and no cycle companies. The Machine Gun Detachments were of 1 MG stand (2 dice) each, and were to be assigned to support the regiments of the division. In 1916, the Alpine Corps was reorganized to include the following: Troop Quality: Veteran Morale: 10 1st Bavarian Jaeger Brigade Lieb (Lifeguard) Barvarian Infantry Regiment 1st Barvarian Jaeger Regiment 2nd Jaeger Brigade 2nd (Prussian) Jaeger Regiment 3rd (Bavarian) Jaeger Regiment 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment Abteilung, 187th Field Artillery (7.7 MG) Abteilung, 203th Field Artillery (7.7 MG) Abteilung, 204th Field Artillery (7.7 MG) 102nd Pioneer Field Company 105th Pioneer Field Company 106th Pioneer Field Company 175th Mountain Trench Mortar Company Alpine Corp Cyclist Battalion 201st Mountain Machine Gun Detachment 202nd Mountain Machine Gun Detachment 205th Mountain Machine Gun Detachment 209th Mountain Machine Gun Detachment The bicycle companies were converged in a separate battalion in 1916, but the battalion was disbanded in mid year and the companies returned to their parent battalions, and used for replacements. As part of the Army wide reorganization of late 1916, the Alpine Corps lost one of its four infantry regiments (3rd Jaeger Regiment was transferred to the 200th Division.) and took to the field in 1917 with the following: Troop Quality: Veteran Morale: 10 1st Bavarian Jaeger Brigade Lieb (Lifeguard) Barvarian Infantry Regiment 1st Barvarian Jaeger Regiment 2nd (Prussian) Jaeger Regiment Abteilung, 6th Mountain Field Artillery Abteilung, 203th Field Artillery 102nd Pioneer Field Company 283rd Pioneer Field Company 175th Mountain Trench Mortar Company 204th Bavarian Trench Mortar Company 102nd Bavarian Searchlight Section For the 1918 campaign, the Alpine Corps took to the field with the following: Troop Quality: Veteran Morale: 9 1st Bavarian Jaeger Brigade Lieb (Lifeguard) Barvarian Infantry Regiment 1st Barvarian Jaeger Regiment 2nd (Prussian) Jaeger Regiment 2nd Squadron, 4th Bavarian Light Cavalry Regiment 7th Artillery Command 204th Field Artillery Regiment Abteilung, 6th Mountain Field Artillery: HQ, 1st, 2nd, 17th Batteries (7.7cm Mountain Guns) Abteilung, 1st Bavarian Foot Artillery Regiment (15cm howitzers) 9th Bavarian Pioneer Battalion 102nd Pioneer Field Company 283rd Pioneer Field Company 175th Mountain Trench Mortar Company 102nd Bavarian Searchlight Section Back to Table of Contents -- Command Post Newsletter #6 To Command Post Quarterly List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by Greg Novak. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles covering military history and related topics are available at http://www.magweb.com