Sächsische Armee
He joined the 8. Infanterie-Regiment Prinz Johann Georg Nr. 107 of the Royal Saxon Army as a "Fähnrich" (officer candidate) just months before the First World War broke out. His unit served on the Western Front, where he fought in the First Battle of the Marne, the First Battle of Ypres the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of St. Quentin (1914). He was promoted to "Leutnant" and became Adjutant of the regiment's third Battalion within a year of joining.