Saxon Infantry Troop Pickelhaube Model 1885, From Königl.sächs.16.inf.-regt.nr.182.

World War I saw the Königlich Sächsische 16. Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 182 fight exclusively on the Western Front. The unit suffered huge losses in some of the bloodiest battles in history.

Here is a chronological list of the main places and battles in which the regiment was engaged:

1914: The invasion and the war of movement

• Belgium: the regiment entered the country via Dinant and Namur.
• First Battle of the Marne (France): participation in the Battle of the Marne and subsequent retreat.
• Champagne: start of trench warfare around Souain.

1915: Flanders and Artois

• Saint-Eloi / Wijtschate (Belgium): bloody fighting in the mud south of Ypres.
• Battle of Arras: defensive fighting in northern France against French offensives.

1916: The Somme disaster

• Battle of the Somme: the regiment fought near Guillemont and Maurepas. There, the unit was virtually wiped out by British artillery and had to be entirely reconstituted with reservists.

1917: The Hindenburg Line and Flanders

• Siegfriedstellung: withdrawal to the fortified Hindenburg Line.
• Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres): heavy defensive fighting in Flanders under extreme conditions.

1918: The final offensive and defense

• Spring offensive: participation in the last major German offensive in northern France.
• Final phase: continuous withdrawal fighting until the November 1918 armistice in the Cambrai, Meuse and Sedan regions.