Talk:Bavarian Ersatz Division

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Military history: European / German / World War I

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What does 'Ersatz" mean in this context? Gillyweed 04:21, 21 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ersatz units were replacement units which processed, trained and integrated new recruits before they joined the regular regiment. Each regiment would have an Ersatz battalion with companies for in-processing, training, out-processing, handling soldiers on leave, etc. When World War I began, an Ersatz battalion took two of these companies and joined them to those of the other regiment in its brigade to form a new battalion. These battalions were known as Brigade Replacement Battalions, or Brigade-Ersatz-Bataillone, and took the number of the brigade which formed them. The Brigade Replacement Battalions were joined to form the Ersatz divisions. Even though they were no longer pure replacement units, but combat units in their own right, the divisions kept the name "Ersatz" for tradition's sake (although many of the battalions were later joined together and renamed as regular infantry regiments). In referring to these units, Ersatz is generally left untranslated from German so they are not confused with regular replacement units. Airbornelawyer 05:09, 21 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]