53rd Reserve Division ( German Empire ) The 53rd Reserve Division ( " 53 . 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 initially part of XXVII Reserve Corps . The division was disbanded in September 1918 and its assets distributed to other units . The division was recruited in the Kingdom of Saxony . Combat chronicle . The 53rd Reserve Division initially fought on the Western Front , entering the line in mid - October . As part of the so - called Race to the Sea , it fought in the Battle of the Yser in October – November 1914 . It remained in positional warfare and fighting along the Yser until April 1915 , and then was engaged in fighting in the Second Battle of Ypres . After that battle , the division returned to the line on the Yser until September . After a brief period of rest , the division fought against the French offensive in the Second Battle of Champagne . The division again went into army reserve from the end of October 1915 to the end of January 1916 , after which it returned to the line on the Yser and then in the Flanders and Artois regions . It saw several weeks ' action in the Battle of the Somme , and then returned to positional warfare in the line . In November 1916 , the division was transferred to the Eastern Front , where it engaged in positional warfare until June 1917 . It then fought against the Russian Kerensky Offensive and in follow - on fighting in Galicia and on the Ukrainian border . At the end of November 1917 , the division was transferred back to the Western Front , arriving in mid - December at border defense positions on the Belgian - Dutch border . After a few months there and then in the line in Flanders and the Artois , the division fought in the 1918 German Spring Offensive , seeing action in the First Battle of the Somme ( 1918 ) , also known as the Second Battle of the Somme ( to distinguish it from the 1916 battle ) . After that battle , the division went to the Verdun region to recover , and then in June went to the Soisson region , where it saw action in July – August in the Second Battle of the Marne . The division suffered heavily and was relieved on August 10 . It went to the Argonne region to be dissolved ; some of its understrength units were there when the Meuse - Argonne Offensive began and they were sent to the line to bolster other divisions in the face of American attacks . Allied intelligence considered the division as mediocre in 1917 and rated it third class in 1918 . Order of battle on formation . The 53rd 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 53rd Reserve Division on September 10 , 1914 was as follows : Order of battle on March 28 , 1918 . The 53rd Reserve Division was triangularized in May 1917 , dissolving the 106th Reserve Infantry Brigade headquarters and sending the 244th Reserve Infantry Regiment to the 96th Infantry Division . Over the course of the war , other changes took place , including the formation of artillery and signals commands and the enlargement of combat engineer support to a full pioneer battalion . The order of battle on March 28 , 1918 was as follows :