50th Reserve Division ( German Empire ) The 50th Reserve Division ( " 50 . 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 XXV Reserve Corps . It was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I . Recruitment . The division was relatively mixed in composition . The 229th Reserve Infantry Regiment was raised in Lower Silesia . The 230th Reserve Infantry Regiment was raised throughout Silesia . The 231st Reserve Infantry Regiment was raised in Thuringia , mainly in the duchy of Saxe - Altenburg and the Prussian Province of Saxony . The 232nd Reserve Infantry Regiment was raised in Prussian Saxony and the Duchy of Anhalt . The 232nd Reserve Infantry Regiment was transferred to the 107th Infantry Division in June 1915 , and new replacements for the other regiments tended to come from the Prussian Province of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick , with the 229th being described in Allied intelligence documents as becoming a Brunswick regiment . Combat chronicle . The 50th Reserve Division initially fought on the Eastern Front , entering the line in mid - October . It fought in the Battle of Łódź in November – December 1914 and then spent most of the period until mid - 1915 fighting along the Rawka and Bzura Rivers . In July and August 1915 it fought in the Gorlice - Tarnów Offensive and then participated in the follow - on battles and engagements until reaching the Berezina River at the end of September . The division was then transferred to the Western Front . It fought in the Second Battle of Champagne in October and November 1915 and remained in the line in the Champagne until late December , when it went to Flanders and the Artois , where it remained into 1916 . It saw action in the Battle of the Somme later that year , and remained in the Somme until April 1917 . In 1917 , it fought in the Battle of Arras and the Battle of Passchendaele , and saw action at Cambrai . In 1918 , it fought in the German Spring Offensive and the Second Battle of the Marne . It resisted the various Allied counteroffensives , including the Hundred Days Offensive , and was fighting in the Champagne and on the Meuse when World War I ended . In 1918 , Allied intelligence rated the division as second class , and noted its tough fighting in numerous battles . Order of battle on formation . The 50th 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 50th Reserve Division on September 10 , 1914 was as follows : Order of battle on February 27 , 1918 . The 50th Reserve Division was triangularized in June 1915 . 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 February 27 , 1918 was as follows :