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At the time of the formation of the Duchy in 1863, Anhalt's army consisted of the
Anhalt Regiment. A convention was signed in 1864 placing the regiment under the
Prussian Army. The regiment did not participate in the 1864 German-Danish War.
In 1866, the two battalions of the regiment were mobilized. The regiment participated
in the march into Bavaria, but saw no combat. Upon demobilization, the regiment's
soldiers received the 1866 Commemorative Cross for Loyal Warriors (Erinnerungskreuz
"Treuen Kriegern 1866").
In 1867, a new convention was signed with Prussia, and the regiment was reorganized
along Prussian lines with three battalions as the Anhalt Infantry Regiment and
designated Infantry Regiment Number 93 (Anhaltisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 93).
It was assigned to the 14th Infantry Brigade, 7th Division, IV Army Corps. Additionally,
two Landwehr battalions were formed as the Anhaltisches Landwehr-Regiment Nr. 93.
The Anhaltisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 93 was mobilized in 1870 for the war
with France. The IV Army Corps was placed under the 2nd Army and the Anhalters saw
combat at Toul, Beaumont, Sedan, and Soissons in Autumn 1870 and participated in the
siege of Paris from September 1870 to January 1871. The regiment saw no further combat,
went into bivouac near Paris in March 1871, returned to Germany in June of that year and
was demobilized in July. Anhalt's soldiers received five Iron Crosses, 1st Class, 162
Iron Crosses, 2nd Class (6 on the noncombatant ribbon). Awards of the Order of Albert
the Bear with Swords included one Commander 1st Class, one Commander 2nd Class, 11
Knights 1st Class, 13 Knights 2nd Class, and 2 gold and 46 silver medals of the order.
When World War I began in August 1914, Anhaltisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 93
was part of the 15th Infantry Brigade, 8th Division, IV Army Corps, 1st Army. The
regiment spent the entire war on the Western Front, fighting in the Marne, at Somme and
in the Lys Offensive, among other battles. The regiment had 4,375 killed in action,
including a regimental commander.
In addition to IR 93, Anhalt also contributed various reserve, Landwehr and Landsturm units
on mobilization. Anhaltisches Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 66 (LIR 66) was raised in Dessau, with its 3rd
Battalion in Zerbst. It formed part of the 14th Landwehr Brigade on mobilization, which in late
October 1914 became part of the provisional Division Waldow. Division Waldow fought on
the Western Front and in January 1915 was renamed the 5th Landwehr Division. In April 1917, the
14th Landwehr Brigade was dissolved and LIR 66 became part of the newly formed 23rd Landwehr
Division. The division was transferred to the Eastern Front where it was involved in some fighting and
occupation activities in Latvia as Russia fell out of the war.
The 3rd Battalion of Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 36 (RIR 36) was raised in
Dessau (another battalion of RIR 36, the 1st, was located in Bernburg, but was apparently a
Prussian unit). RIR 36 formed part of 7th Reserve Division from mobilization through the end
of the war, fighting on the Western Front. The 15th Infantry Brigade formed Brigade-Ersatz-Bataillon Nr. 15, which
included companies from the replacement battalion of IR 93. In the Summer of 1915,
Brigade-Ersatz-Bataillon Nr. 15 became a battalion of IR 361.
Other units were raised during the war. For example, Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment
Nr. 93 was raised in August 1915 and performed
occupation and security duties. Its 1st Battalion was formed from a Landsturm infantry
battalion from Bernburg. Another Anhalt Landsturm infantry battalion, from Dessau, had been
mobilized in late August 1914 and assigned to 6th Army for security duties. Other Anhalters served
in other units such as artillery, pioneers, logistics, medical, aviation and others.
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