A German army advances in enemy territory, artillery, cavalry, and infantry deploying under the watchful and protective cover of airships and an airplane. The card was field posted on March 30, 1915.

Aufmarsch deutscher Truppen im Feindesland



Deployment of German troops in enemy territory



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Field postmark March 30, 1915

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On the eve of the war, Germany had eight armies, seven of them in the west, its Eighth Army of 200,000 men in East Prussia, and 4,000,000 reserves.

From north to south, the armies that invaded France, Belgium, and Luxembourg were the First through Seventh Armies.

German required two years of compulsory service, but also used its 1,500,000 reserves from the beginning of the war.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was Supreme War Lord. General Helmuth von Moltke was Chief of the General Staff when war began, but his defeat in the Battle of the Marne led the Kaiser to replace him with Erich von Falkenhayn.

The Eighth Army was in East Prussia under Maximilian von Prittwitz until his seeming panic after the Battle of Gumbinnen. He was replaced by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff.

In mid-September 1914, Falkenhayn transferred four army corps from East Prussia to Austria-Hungary’s northern flank near Cracow creating a new Ninth Army.

The Tenth German Army, formed at the end of 1914, was sent to the Eastern Front over Falkenhayn’s objections after Hindenburg and Ludendorff appealed to Kaiser Wilhelm, the Supreme War Lord.

Commanding the new Eleventh German Army and an Austrian army, General August von Mackensen launched the Gorlice-Tarnow campaign on May 3, 1915. In October, with the Austro-Hungarian Third Army, it invaded Serbia.

After his siege of Verdun failed, Falkenhayn was replaced as Chief of Staff by Hindenburg and Ludendorff.