The use of the German manpower pool

[PreußensGlanz]

Hello
I'm trying to bring a bit light into the various German formations that mobilized at the start of the war and to understand how it was possible to fill these and how good their quality was.
My understanding currently is just very basic, and here are some numbers I found on the web, if any one can bring more light into it I would be really thankful for it:
Infanterie-Regiment
54% active soldiers
46% reservist up to 26 years

Reserve-Regiment
1% active soldiers
44% reservist
55% Landwehr, 1. Aufgebot up to 30 years

Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment
62% Landwehr, 1. Aufgebot up to 30 years
38% Landwehr, 2. Aufgebot up to 39 years

Landsturm-Infanterie-Regiment or Bataillon
1. Aufgebot, untrained Landsturm from 17-39 years
2. Aufgebot, untrained Landsturm from 39-45 years
2. Aufgebot, trained Landsturm (from Landwehr 2. Aufgebot) from 39-45 years

Here at the bottom a small graphic to see the various "stages" a soldier went through in his life:
http://www.deutsche-kriegsgeschichte.de/wehrpfl.html


What is missing is any clue of what "stage" was used to fill the few Ersatz Divisions that mobilized at the start of the war(Garde, 4., 8., 10., 19., Bavarian), the core of these seem to be the so called "Brigade-Ersatz-Bataillon".
My understanding is that the regiments of a brigade each had an Ersatz-Bataillon(depot battalion) and each of them provided 2 companies to form a so called "Brigade-Ersatz-Bataillon" with 4 companies, only depot battalion's within a corps area that didn't bordered France or Russia provided companies for the "Brigade-Ersatz-Bataillon".

Now another source points out that the quality regarding the soldier "quality" wasn't below that of a regular unit in these "Brigade-Ersatz-Bataillon" and so I wonder with what type of soldier these units were filled.
It was surely not from the so called "Ersatz-Reserve", that was only the pool of able but never been an active soldier men, these could never have been taken to from the listed Ersatz Divisionen as they simply never had a military training but the Ersatz Divisionen saw action in the West very soon after mobilizing so they must have been filled by trained personal.
Of course you could simply say they were somehow part of the normal Infantry regiments and so had the same "filling" but I wonder of the depot battalion was really closely tied to the parent regiment and comparable to the other battalions in the regiment.
So has anyone a clue about these depot battalions or what "quality" of soldier was used to fill the Ersatz units?

[Latze]

As far as I know the Ersatz divisions were indeed created from the units created using the Ersatz-Reserve manpower pool. That is the way Cron "Imperial German Army" (Solihull 2002, p. 97), Robinson "The Great War Dawning" (Vienna 2013, p. 175) and the German OH (vol 1, p. 71) tell it. Robinson that Ersatz-Reserve-men got up to 20 weeks of administrative but not armed training (whatever that might have been) during their 12 year period of service. Considering this fact and the equipment shortages these units faced they performed astonishingly well. I think the officers commanding these units were mostly drawn from former active duty (not Reserve officers) who were at the time of mobilization aD or zD. Concerning the 'quality': Men were enrolled in the Ersatz Reserve because they meet the demanding standards of the Imperial army but could not be enter into the active units because the peace time army was to small.

[PreußensGlanz]

Thanks for the answer.
I too wonder what "20 weeks of administrative but not armed training" means, at best enough to distinguish the Kaiser from the Feldwebel.
Btw was that 20 weeks over 12 years? That wouldn't be much every year.

[Ken S.]

Not sure how in depth you want to study this, but I prefer to go by original research than what second hand sources have to say based on other second hand sources or documents stating plans that may not have been fully implemented when the time came. In this case I would consult the early casualty lists using good regimental histories as a guide. For example, I consulted the history for Füsilier-Regiment Nr. 40 to find some of the earliest casualties (Ausgabe 20, Page 109)
http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/49547

In terms of "Other Ranks" it initially seems to be exclusively Füsilier and Reservists. A number of the NCOs appear to be Reservists, as well. By consulting subsequent casualty lists one can see how the composition of the regiment changed with the arrival of the replacements. Some Landwehr and Kriegsfreiwilliger begin to appear in the lists, as well as a few Landsturm and Ersatz-Reservist.

[tigre]

Hello to all ; just a little complement...................................

German Infantry in 1914.

In August 1914 there were mobilized: 218 infantry regiments consisting of 654 battalions and 219 machine-gun companies, 113 reserve infantry regiments consisting of 332 battalions and 88 machine-gun companies, 75 Landwehr Infantry regiments consisting of 219 battalions. The regular army and the reserves comprised 29,314 officers and 1,118,774 men, and the Landwehr about 200,000 officers and men. The total number of the infantry comprised 65 per cent of the army.

Source: [Die deutsche Infantene 1914.] Major General Metz. RML Vol XX Nº 77.

Cheers. Raúl M .