Germany - Imperial: First World War Certificate of the 26th Reserve Army Corps (XXVI Reserve Armee Korps) for having been present in two engagements in the battle for Ypres, as awarded to a soldier by the name of Musk Ibels, therefore a Jewish recipient, who was serving in the 4th Company, of the 240th Reserve Infantry Regiment. Dated 2 August 1916, and signed in ink by General Otto Freiherr von Hugel, recipient of the Pour le Merite in August 1916. This document is printed in colour, and is of impressive form, measuring approximately 400 by 290 mm. This is a rare document to survive.
Condition: light staining, conducive with age, overall Good Condition.
The XXVII Reserve Corps was formed in October 1914. It was part of the first wave of new Corps formed at the outset of World War I consisting of XXII - XXVII Reserve Corps of 43rd - 54th Reserve Divisions (plus 6th Bavarian Reserve Division). The personnel was predominantly made up of kriegsfreiwillige (wartime volunteers) who did not wait to be called up. It was still in existence at the end of the war.
Formed of Saxon and Wurttemberg units in the early stages of the First World War, the Corps appeared on the Western Front in Belgium in October 1914. It was assigned to the 4th Army, commanded by Generalfeldmarschall Albrecht, Duke of Wurttemberg, with which it participated in the First Battle of Ypres. In 1915, it took part in the Second Battle of Ypres and the Second Battle of Champagne and in 1916 in the Battle of the Somme before returning to the Ypres area. The corps had some of the first German units to use gas as a weapon. and General von Hügel's outstanding leadership was recognised by the Kaiser when he awarded the Pour le Merite in August 1916.
In November 1916, it was transferred to the Eastern Front. In late 1917 it returned to the West, initially on border security duties on the Dutch-Belgian border, before returning to the Flanders front in January 1918. It took part in the German Spring Offensive from March 1918 and continued to be engaged on the Western Front for the remainder of the War. The Corps was dissolved in February 1919.
