The 2 Chevauleger Official History - Part One - The Battle for Verdun

The following is an excerpt from a history of the 2 Chevauleger Regiment that is believed to be the only history, official or otherwise, that exists of the regiment's service during the First World War. Up to this point, except for some vague references scattered here and there through what few references in the English language in existence, not a lot is known about the regiment's wartime service.

After going finally being able to raise the cash and actually locate a copy (nope, this one is not available electronically on Google Books), it was a trial just getting it shipped from Germany to the United States (for some inexplicable reason, the package wandered up and down the East Coast of the United States for about a month before finally coming west to me). Once I had it in my hands, I realized that it was going to be a tough, tedious process translating it. First, my German is not that great and second, the book is printed in Fraktur, an German typeface that was popular during the Kaiserzeit for printed materials. Normally, I would scan whatever I want to translate and then copy and paste into Google Translate, a tedious process and one that still requires you to puzzle through much of the translation- the grammar and syntax are atrocious (fortunately, I know enough about the German military during the Kaiserzeit that I can usually make an educated guess as to meaning and it's usually correct. 

However, with the book being printed in Fraktur, there's an additional step that I need to do- basically I have to transcribe the passages by hand into modern German (well, sort of modern German) using a chart that translates Fracktur into modern typeface. And yes, there is scanning software available that will do this but it's expensive and not particularly reliable.

Fraktur font- Needless to say, it can be quite confusing at times.

So in the end, I devised a three-step process where I first transcribe the passages in Fraktur into modern German and then copy and paste them into Google Translate. After cleaning up the translates passages for grammar and so that they make some sort of sense, I then have a somewhat finished product. Or at least one that gives an idea of what is going on. It's a slow process and it's only now that I've actually had some time to sit down and tackle some of it.

I have purposely chosen to focus on the 3 Eskadron since that is who we portray for living history purposes and fortunately for  us, the regiment was split up into its component squadrons and parceled out to various divisions so the history is a bit different for each. This is just the beginning and I hope you all will forgive me for whatever mistakes that I make. Given that I seriously doubt that we're ever going to see a professional translation of this book into English, it is a unique contribution/attempt. So on with the translation....

Horrido!

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The Battle of Verdun (February 21 - September 9, 1916)

When the divisional cavalry regiments on the Western Front were rearranged, only the 3^rd Squadron remained with the 6th Bavarian Infantry Division. The 5^th Army then ordered the squadron to be provided for use at Verdun and on July 15, 1916, the 3rd Squadron marched from St. Benoit where it had been situated from December 12, 1914 to July 14, 1916, about 1 ½ years, by way of Lachausse-Jarny to Genaville. On July 16, the squadron moved into accommodations in Mech le Bas and on July 16, it moved into accommodation in Mech le Bas which was dirty and it suffered under the plague of flies suffering and on July 17 it moved to Villers les Mangiennes, where it remained until the August 10, 1916.

The shattered 6^th Bavarian Infantry Division was one example of the murderous struggle for Verdun. On July 19, detachments from the 3rd Squadron took over the sectors of the 3rd Squadron/4th Chevauleger Regiment of the Alpine Corps. The sectors taken over required an impressive number of detachments consisting of 5 officers, 10 NCOs, 65 men and 60 horses so a complete replacement was hardly possible. The efforts of loyal devotion to duty that were required in this great struggle were monumental. In almost continuous travels, the dispatch riders were almost constantly on the move. The paths, gorges and valleys were contaminated with gas and the foul odors of dead bodies polluted the air even more than the enemy's bullets. There was disease around Verdun caused by rank atmosphere as well as by the nervous tension raging in the ranks of the squadron.

Doubtless the brunt of the fighting was on the shoulders of the brave infantry, but it was our dispatch riders who contributed with silent devotion to duty and heroism, can certainly be made equal to the activity of the sister arms to the side. On the shoulders of our Chevaulegers who had to convey the most important messages and commands regardless of enemy fire, weighed a responsibility, which they were also fully aware of. It is known that the means of communication used in the great battle all failed except the alarm goer (?) and dispatch rider, as well as the carrier pigeons. The carrier pigeon station at Romagne was used by our Chevaulegers from July 18 to August 10, 1916 and was garrisoned with 1 officer, 2 NCOs, 4 enlisted men and 8 horses. The men posted were Oberlieutenant b. Ref. Spiegelberger, Sergeant Donhauser, Sergeant Kuhlen and the Chevaulegers Weber, Kamsperger, Auerhammer and Winter. The supervision of the pack animals and the various prisoner transports were assigned to our 3rd Squadron.

From August 2 to August 9 raged the fight for Fleury and on the cold earth. The Division had lost in hard fighting 187 officers, 7523 NCOs and enlisted men that took place. On August 11 they were finally replaced (?). The 3rd Squadron was replaced by the 4^th squadron of the 12^th Jaeger zu Pferde Regiment (Rittmeister v. b. Osten) on August 12 at St. Laurent-Noers after Longuhon where by 8:30 the loading began (railroad?). The squadron travelled via Montmedy –Caignan – Mouzon – Authe - Harricourt by Brisquenay where at 4:30 pm the loading (?) began The squadron moved into Harricourt in the Argonne where they were accommodated where the 4 Squadron of the 12^th Jaeger zu Pferde had previously been stationed. Here, the squadron remained until September 30, 1916.

The 6^th Bavarian Infantry Division was under the command of General-Kommando VI Armee Korps (von Mudra) and was assigned to a relative quiet sector due to their heavy losses. Lieutenant d. R. Spiegel Berger took over the local command at Floville, Lt. B. Ref. Wirth took over that of Cheppy. The squadron had again to provide the normal detachment for the Stellunkstrieg (?) and also to take over the train operations (?). At that time, Captain d’ Hengeliere designed and conducted for the officers of the General Command some riding hunts between Buzanzy and Fosse.