About the Grand Duchy
Mecklenburg-Schwerin was located in northern Germany, along the Baltic Sea coast
east of Schleswig-Holstein. Although the eighth-largest state of the German Empire,
after the four kingdoms, Baden, Hessen and Hamburg, it was not very populous for its
size. Only its sister grand duchy, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was less densely populated.
Both had suffered slow or negative growth through the the 19th Century, as large
numbers of Mecklenburgers emigrated, especially to the United States.
Although separate duchies since 1701, the two states remained closely aligned under the
terms of the Erbvergleich of 1755. Both states had entered Napoleon's Confederation
of the Rhine in 1808 and joined the Allies after the debacle in Russia. They were both
elevated to Grand Duchies in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna, and as such entered the
German Confederation. Both sided with Prussia in 1866 and became part of the North
German Confederation in 1867 and the Empire in 1871.
The Armed Forces of the Grand Duchy
The Mecklenburg military contingents had been jointly administered since the 18th
Century, with Mecklenburg-Schwerin, due to its much greater population, providing
the bulk of the forces.
Modern Mecklenburg military history begins in the 1780s. During that decade, several
Mecklenburg units were formed and hired out as mercenaries in Dutch service (a common
practice in that era for German princes). The Mecklenburgers saw combat in Dutch Service
against the French Revolutionary forces in the 1790s.
The Mecklenburg duchies themselves were neutral, but were occupied by the French in
1806. At the time, the duchies' forces consisted of the following units:
- Leibgarde zu Pferde Regiment
- Leib-Grenadier-Regiment (2 battalions)
- Infanterie-Regiment Erbprinz (1 battalion)
|
These were all from Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Mecklenburg-Strelitz had little more than
a company of Leibgarde at the time.
In the Rhine Confederation Army, Mecklenburg's forces were organized into the
Mecklenburg Brigade. The brigade was to consist of four battalions, formed around the
three battalions of the Leib-Grenadier-Regiment and the Infanterie-Regiment
Erbprinz, but it never reached full strength. In March 1809, it was reorganized as
a regiment of two battalions. For the invasion of Russia in 1812, the regiment,
augmented by a battalion from Mecklenburg-Strelitz, formed the 7th Rhine Confederation
Regiment. It accompanied the Grande Armée in the 1812 invasion of Russia and was almost completely
annihilated, with only 34 soldiers returning out of 1,700.
The Mecklenburg dukes conspired with the Prussians to switch to the Allied side, and
a Mecklenburg-Schwerin Brigade and a Mecklenburg-Strelitz Husaren-Regiment were formed
in 1813. These units fought in the campaigns of 1813-1814 and 1815.
After the defeat of Napoleon, the various Mecklenburg units were reorganized. The
duchies were tasked to contribute three battalions and an artillery battery to the
2nd Division of the German Confederation's X Army Corps. In 1819, a light cavalry
squadron was formed; expanded to a regiment in 1831, it would be the ancestor of the
Imperial German Army's 17th Dragoon Regiment. An infantry battalion formed in 1821 was
reorganized and redesignated as a Jäger battalion in 1857. It and the dragoons
fought in 1848 against Denmark.
The other two infantry battalions, which carried the traditions of units formed in
1782 and 1788, were expanded to regiments in 1863 and served in the 1864 war with Denmark.
In the 1866 war with Austria, Generaloberst Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin commanded a Prussian reserve corps, to which the dragoons and one
infantry regiment were assigned, overran eastern Bavaria up to Nuremberg while the main
Prussian force advanced on Königgrätz.
In 1867, having joined the North German Confederation, the Mecklenburg forces were
incorporated into the Prussian Army, forming two infantry and two dragoon regiments
of the 17th Division, along with the Jäger battalion as a corps-level asset.
When war broke out with France in 1870, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II commanded the XIII
Army Corps, responsible for northern Germany.
The XIII Army Corps deployed to France in September, after the victory at Sedan.
Initially, it appeared they would be going in to perform occupation duty, but with the
renewed French resistance after the Third Republic was formed, they went into the
sieges first of Toul and then of Paris. Due to the threat to the besieging forces
presented by the French Army of the Loire, the Grand Duke was given command of an
ad hoc formation, the Army Detachment (Armee-Abteilung), which fought
the French at Loigny-Poupry, Orléans and Beaugency-Cravant. The Army Detachment was
then disbanded and the Mecklenburgers and their Grand Duke, back in command of XIII Army
Corps, fought under Prince Friedrich Karl von Preußen's 2nd Army in the January 1871
capture of Le Mans. After this fight, the rest of the war was relatively quiet for the
XIII Corps and the Mecklenburgers, and armistice was declared on January 28, 1871.
After the war, the army was reorganized and the 17th Division became part of the
IX Army Corps. Over the course of the next several decades, the units were expanded,
reorganized and renamed.
When World War One began, the Mecklenburg contingent
in the German Army was primarily composed of the following
units of the Schwerin-based 17th Division of the IX Army Corps:
- 34. Infanterie-Brigade (Großherzoglich Mecklenburgische)
- 1. Großherzoglich Mecklenburgisches Grenadier-Regiment Nr.89
- 1. Großherzoglich Mecklenburgisches Füsilier-Regiment Kaiser Wilhelm Nr.90
- 17. Kavallerie-Brigade (Großherzoglich Mecklenburgische)
- 1. Großherzoglich Mecklenburgisches Dragoner-Regiment Nr.17
- 2. Großherzoglich Mecklenburgisches Dragoner-Regiment Nr.18
- 17. Feldartillerie-Brigade
- Holsteinisches Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr.24
- Großherzoglich-Mecklenburgisches Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr.60
|
The 24th Holstein Field Artillery regiment was a mixed unit, with its 3rd
Battalion coming from Mecklenburg-Strelitz and the rest from Holstein.
The balance of the division consisted primarily of troops from the
three Hanseatic Cities, as well as one Schleswig-Holstein infantry regiment.
In addition to these 17th Division units, the Jäger battalion, designated
the Großherzoglich Mecklenburgisches Jäger-Bataillon Nr.14, was assigned
to the XV Army Corps.
The Mecklenburgers participated in the opening salvos of the war, fighting at
Liége on August 6-7, 1914 and facing the British at Mons on August 23.
After the First Battle of the Marne, the division settled into trench warfare for the
next two years. Pulled out of the line to refit in 1916, it returned in time to
face the British Somme Offensive, which began with the bloodiest single day of
warfare in history. After this offensive and many more months of trench warfare, the
Mecklenburgers would fight in Flanders in late 1917, suffering even more losses. In
1918, the 17th Division fought in the German Spring offensives and the Second
Battle of the Marne. By the time of the November 11 armistice, the division had
been reduced to two battalions' worth of combat effectives.
This is but a small picture of Mecklenburg participation in the First World War. The
17th Division was only part of the Mecklenburg war effort. There were also Landwehr
and reserve formations, aviators, etc. And the most famous Mecklenburg military
hero of the era was a naval officer, Fregattenkapitän Karl August Nerger.
Fregattenkapitän Nerger, famed for his exploits as commander of the commerce raider
SMS Wolf, was one of the most highly decorated Germans of the war. He was apparently
one of only two officers to receive all five of the highest strictly military orders
of the German states - the Prussian Pour le Mérite, the Bavarian Military
Max-Joseph Order, the Saxon Military St. Henry Order, the Württemberg Military Merit
Order and the Baden Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order (the other being fellow commerce
raider Korvettenkapitän Nikolaus Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien). Fregattenkapitän
Nerger, born in Rostock in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, rivalled the Red Baron for
decorations. During the war, he also received the Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd Class,
the Oldenburg Friedrich August Cross, 1st and 2nd Class, the 1914-dated Mecklenburg-
Schwerin Military Merit Cross, 1st and 2nd Class, and all three Hanseatic Crosses.
Prior to World War One, he had served on the SMS Iltis during the Boxer Rebellion,
and had won the Prussian Crown Order, 4th Class with Swords and the 1900 Mecklenburg-
Schwerin Military Merit Cross, 2nd Class. An honorary (charakterisierte)
Konteradmiral during World War Two, he died as a prisoner of war on January 10, 1947
in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
|
