48th Reserve Division ( German Empire ) The 48th Reserve Division ( " 48 . Reserve - Division " ) was a unit of the Imperial German Army in World War I . The division was formed in September 1914 and organized over the next month , arriving in the line in October . It was part of the first wave of new divisions formed at the outset of World War I , which were numbered the 43rd through 54th Reserve Divisions . The division was part of XXIV Reserve Corps . It was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I . Recruitment . The 48th Reserve Division was relatively mixed , but mostly came from the XI and XVIII Army Corps areas . The 221st and 222nd Reserve Infantry Regiments were raised in the Grand Duchy of Hesse . The 223rd Reserve Infantry Regiment was raised in the Prussian Province of Hesse - Nassau , with one battalion each from the former Electorate of Hesse , Duchy of Nassau , and city of Frankfurt am Main . The 224th Reserve Infantry Regiment was from the Thuringian states and the Prussian Province of Saxony . After the 224th Reserve Infantry Regiment was transferred to the 215th Infantry Division , the 48th Reserve Division became an even more predominantly Hessian formation . Combat chronicle . The 48th Reserve Division initially fought on the Western Front , entering the line in October between the Meuse and Moselle . It then moved to the Flanders and Artois regions in the drive northwards known as the Race to the Sea . It fought at Lille in late October and at Ypres into November . At the end of November , the division was transferred to the Eastern Front . It fought in a number of engagements , including the winter 1914 Battle of Łódź , and then participated in the pursuit of the Russians from Carpathia and Austrian Galicia known as the Gorlice - Tarnów Offensive after the major battle at Gorlice and Tarnów . The division remained in positional warfare and various engagements on the Eastern Front thereafter , and faced part of the Brusilov Offensive in 1916 . From October 1916 to April 1917 , the division was attached to the Austro - Hungarian 3rd Army , and was then attached to the Austro - Hungarian 2nd Army . In May 1917 , the division returned to the Western Front , and occupied the line near Verdun , facing the French offensive there in August and September . The division was in the trenches in Lorraine from the end of September to the beginning of December 1917 , and then in Upper Alsace until mid - February 1918 . It then went into army reserve until April , when it went into the line in the Flanders and Artois regions . It remained in the fighting in the northern part of the Western Front until the end of the war . In 1917 , Allied intelligence rated the division as a mediocre division . In 1918 it was rated second class . Order of battle on formation . The 48th Reserve Division was initially organized as a square division , with essentially the same organization as the reserve divisions formed on mobilization . The order of battle of the 48th Reserve Division on January 6 , 1915 was as follows : 8Reserve - Fußartillerie - Batterie 25 Order of battle on March 31 , 1918 . The 48th Reserve Division was triangularized in April 1917 . Over the course of the war , other changes took place , including the formation of artillery and signals commands and a pioneer battalion . The order of battle on March 31 , 1918 was as follows :