Wurttemberg Combat Engineer Battalion number 13
The Wurttemberg Combat Engineer Battalion number 13 was a Combat Engineer Battalion of the Army of Wurttemberg, a component army of the Imperial German Army. It was initially formed as a military unit as a Sapper Company on May 1st , 1817. Its initial garrison was at Ludwigsburg. Additionally in 1817 there was also additional command at Ulm as well as a
reserve component within the armed forces of Wurttemberg. The Battalion was deactivated at the end of the First World War in 1918. After this time, the assets and personnel of the battalion were folded into the Reichswehr Army as the 35th Combat Engineer Battalion.
Garrison
On August 8th , 1857 a fortress engineer company was founded. In September 1857, the entire Combat Engineer Corps was transferred to the Ulm garrison, where subsequently the Company was stationed in the Lower Danube Bastion. On December 18th , 1872; during the course of the reorganization of the entire Imperial German Army, the designation ‘Wüttermberg Pioneer Battalion’ was introduced and a 4th Company was established at the Battalion. From 1888, the battalion received ‘Royal Wüttemberg Pioneer-Battalion Nr.13’, in the Lower Danube Bastion (Pioneer Barracks) there were the staff, 1st and 3rd companies and in the Lower Gaisenbeg Bastion (Gaisenberg Barracks) were the 2nd and 4th companies. The Battalion was subordinate to the XIII (Royal Wüttemberg) Army Corps. Subsequently Ulm remained the location of the Wurttemberg Combat Engineers until its deactivation in 1918.
Campaigns
A detachment of the Combat Engineers participated in the revolutions of 1848 against Denmark, and in the Austrian-Prussian War of 1866 against Prussia, the entire Combat Engineer Corps took part in the Union of Wurttemberg Forces. Under the command of Major Löffler, the Ulm Combat Engineer Corps with Staff, pontoon company, hill column and telegraph detachment went to war again, this time against the Second French Empire in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. The fortress force initially remained in Ulm as a replacement company and was used in the course of the campaign to besiege Belfort and to storm Perouse. The Combat Engineer Corps – in addition to the Combat Engineer operations during the advance – took part in the battles at Wörth and Sedan, as well as in the siege of Paris. After the armistice, the pioneer corps set up the parade ground at Villiers for the Württemberg, Bavarian and Saxon troops, who were not involved in the entry into Paris. Kaiser Wilhelm I thanked the unit for its achievements.
Other Operations
Operation during the flood on the river Iller, 1910.
Organization
Outline
The Battalion consisted of the following component units in 1914:
- Staff
- 4 Companies
- Logistics Train (Supply and Services Troops)
- Medical and administrative staff (medical officers and paymasters)
Commanders
| 1 | von Arlt | 1814 |
| 2 | von Yelin | 1815 |
| 3 | von Berger | 1817 |
| 4 | Merz | 1824 |
| 5 | von Keinitz | 1826 |
| 6 | von Niehammer | 1850 |
| 7 | LTC Emil von Loeffler | 1869 |
| 8 | Johann Otto von Gaertner | 1874 |
| 9 | COL Emil von Loeffler (again) | 1875 |
| 10 | MAJ/LTC Friedrich von Ziegler | 1877 |
| 11 | von Balluseck | 1883 |
| 12 | Gaede | 1888 |
| 13 | LTC Johann Heinrich Beurlin | 1891 |
| 14 | Haak | 1894 |
| 15 | Heiber | 1898 |
| 16 | Dinkelacker | 1903 |
| 17 | Kahns | 1906 |
| 18 | MAJ Hermann Klotz | 1910 |
| 19 | MAJ Langenstraß | August 1914 |
| 20 | MAJ Queisner | |
| 21 | MAJ von Stockmayer | February 1917 |
| 22 | CPT Deyhle | June 1917 |
Other Material
Flag
The flags of the battalion have been restored and are in the guard hall of the Ludwigsburg Castle since 1967.
March
The parade march by Carl Faust, composed in 1855, was the parade march of the battalion. It has been part of the Army Marching Collection (AM II, No. 126) of the German Bundeswehr since 1961.
Known Battalion Members
Robert Bosch (Born September 23 rd ,1861 in Albeck, Deceased March 12 th ,1942 in Stuttgart) Industrialist, from 1881 to 1882 as a one-year volunteer in the Battalion.
Hermann Köhl (Born April 15 th ,1888 in Neu-Ulm, Deceased October 7 th ,1938 in Munich) Aviator, served in 1914 as an officer candidate.