Weapon used at the Battle of Iwuy 10/11th october 1918

[maillecolle]

May be someone could be informed about what was the situation on the German side during the Battle of Iwuy 10th and 11th of October 1918 (100 days end of battle of Cambrai and beginning of purusit to the Selle)

I know all what happened with the 2 Panzerabteilung division involved in the battle, but we know few things about the
other German Division involved :

6. Infanterie Division with : Infanterie-Regiments 24,64,396 and Feldartillerie Regiment 3

10. Ersatz Division with : Infanterie-Regiments 369,370,371 and Feldartillerie-Regiment 95

18. Reserve Division : Reserve-Regiments 31,84,86 - Reserve Feldartillerie Regiment 18 and Artillerie Bataillon 126

Who were the commanders, how many man in a Regiment ? What kind of weapon did they used ?

I suppose that the machine guns were Spandau (MG 08) and I read that they used shell fire 5.9 from German Howitzer against the CMMGBs, the cavalry and the Canadian Infantry. These were the main weapons used (maybe) but there should have been other kinds during the action.

Thanks for your help

Michel :D:D

[Sheldrake]

May be someone could be informed about what was the situation on the German side during the Battle of Iwuy 10th and 11th of October 1918 (100 days end of battle of Cambrai and beginning of purusit to the Selle)

I know all what happened with the 2 Panzerabteilung division involved in the battle, but we know few things about the
other German Division involved :

6. Infanterie Division with : Infanterie-Regiments 24,64,396 and Feldartillerie Regiment 3

10. Ersatz Division with : Infanterie-Regiments 369,370,371 and Feldartillerie-Regiment 95

18. Reserve Division : Reserve-Regiments 31,84,86 - Reserve Feldartillerie Regiment 18 and Artillerie Bataillon 126

Who were the commanders, how many man in a Regiment ? What kind of weapon did they used ?

I suppose that the machine guns were Spandau (MG 08) and I read that they used shell fire 5.9 from German Howitzer against the CMMGBs, the cavalry and the Canadian Infantry. These were the main weapons used (maybe) but there should have been other kinds during the action.

Thanks for your help

Michel :D:D

I know this battle as I took someone to visit the grave of a soldier of the 49th Division who died on 12th Oct 1918 in that battle.

The questions you ask is complicated by date of the battle, one month before the armistice. The German units involved are likely to have been well below their paper strengths. Reinforcements were drying up and desertion was a significant problem.

The MG08 was the standard machine gun used through the war. There were also some musketten - light machineguns either madsen or much prized, captured Lewis guns. By this time there were also some sub machine guns such as the bergman. Though how many would have been available to these units is a question for the archives.

The 5.9" guns were the medium guns; nicknamed "coal boxes", "black marias" or "jack johnsons" from the black cloud of smoke from their shell bursts. . The standard divisional field artillery piece was the 77mm field gun known as the "wizzbang" from the supersonic shell from this light cannon. The Germans also deployed minenwerfer - mortars.

Have you looked at the British official history. They usually include a summary of the German forces involved in each battle.

[maillecolle]

Thanks for your help Sheldrake, all these nicknames were unknown by me (I enjoy history but I'm not at all specialist in the weapons)
I'll have a look at the British official story but I'm not sure this is available on line, I have to look for these books.
Thanks for your help
Michel