My War Memories, 1914-1918
constitution of the armies into Army Groups had not yet been carried far enough. The Army Group of Crown Prince Rupprecht had been created as a result of the Somme fighting in August. It included the 6th Army before Arras, which the Crown Prince himself had hitherto commanded, and the two other armies also engaged, the ist and 2nd, under Generals Fritz von Below and von Gallwitz. The Army Group of the German Crown Prince was of earlier origin; it consisted of the 3rd Army near Rheims, the 5th at Verdun, led by the Crown Prince himself, and the Army Detachments A and B in Alsace and Lorraine.
Not forming part of any Army Group was the 4th Army under Field-Marshal Duke Albrecht of Wiirtembcrg, on the right wing of the Army, and the 7th Army, under Colonel-General von Schubert, between the two Army Groups. At first we decided to make no change in these arrangements, beyond putting the yth Army in the Crown Prince Rupprecht's Group and shortly afterwards forming a special Army Group under the German Crown Prince. There were now only three sections under the direct command of G.H.Q, The wholesale reorganization of the West Front could not be undertaken until there was a pause in the fighting. '
The Chief of Staff of the 4th Army, General Use, and Generals von Kuhl and von Liittwitz, the Chiefs of Staff to the Crown Prince Rupprecht and the German Crown Prince's Groups, gave us a summary of events oix their sectors. Colonel von Lossberg in his serious way, and Colonel Bronsart von Schellen-dorf with his usual vivacity, supplemented General von Kuhl's report of the Battle of the Somme with more detailed and intimate descriptions of events. The loss of ground up to date appeared to me of little importance in itself. We could stand that; but the question how this, and the progressive falling-off of our fighting power of which it was symptomatic, was to be prevented, was of immense importance. It was just as necessary to have a clear idea of our fighting capacity as to know whether our tactical views were still sound. The first was an easy matter, the second of extreme difficulty. Opinions vary
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