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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Etappen


Paul Byrne

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The ' Etappen ' was the name given to the area of Northern France occupied by the Germans. It was sub divided into regional HQ districts ( there was one at St Quentin ) and further divided into numerous ' Etappen Kommandant '.

Does anybody have any information about its organisation. I am particularly interested in the area surrounding Guise.

Hope somebody can help.

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The Etappe is anywhere in the rear. It means much the same as echelon and is not fixed to any particular region.

/David

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Hello,

Not quite: the area under control of an army was divided in: the Operationsgebiet (under control of Divisions & Corps) and the Etappengebiet (under control of the Army through the Etappen-Inspektion). The borders between Operations- and Etappengebiet changed quite often because of front movements etc.

An Etappenkommandant was in charge of an Etappenkommandantur (a district) in the Etappengebiet. In the Operationsgebiet there was a Ortskommandant in each village (the highest in rank of the residing officers, mostly from logistic units).

However, the Etappen-Inspektion was also responsible for certain things in the Operationsgebiet).

To know more about a certain village, you must do a lot of research in the local archives or in Germany (f.i. Corps Orders for the Operationsgebiet).

Regards,

Jan

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