XVII Army Corps XVII. Armee-Korps
Flag of the Staff of a Generalkommando (1871–1918)
Active	1 April 1890 (1890-04-01)–1919 (1919)
Country	German Empire
Type	Corps
Size	Approximately 44,000 (on mobilisation in 1914)
Garrison/HQ	Danzig\Elisabethwall 2
Shoulder strap piping	Yellow
Engagements	World War I Battle of Gumbinnen Battle of Tannenberg (1914) First Battle of the Masurian Lakes Battle of the Vistula River German summer offensive 1915 Bug–Narew Offensive Second battle of Przasnysz Narew Offensive
Insignia
Abbreviation	XVII AK

TheXVII Army Corps / XVII AK (German:XVII. Armee-Korps) was acorps level command of theGermanArmy before and duringWorld War I.

As the German Army expanded in the latter part of the 19th century, the XVII Army Corps was set up on 1 April 1890 inDanzig as theGeneralkommando (headquarters) forWest Prussia. It took command of two divisions formed on the same date:35th Division and36th Division. It was assigned to theI Army Inspectorate,^[1] which became the8th Army at the start of theFirst World War.

XVII Corps served on theEastern Front from the start of the war. It was still in existence at the end of the war^[2] in the7th Army,Heeresgruppe Deutscher Kronprinz on theWestern Front.^[3] In 1919, the corps served with theGrenzschutz Ost (border protection east) inDanzig,West Prussia.

By a law of 27 January 1890, it was decided to separate theProvince of West Prussia from theProvince of East Prussia in military affairs. It stipulated that, from 1 April 1890, the entire power of the Army of the German Empire should be 20 army corps (Guards, I - XVII, I and II Bavarian).

The All-highest Cabinet Order (Allerhöchste Kabinettsorder, AKO) of 1 February 1890 authorised the formation of theXVI and XVII Army Corps. The latter was assigned to the I Army Inspectorate and included the territory of theLandwehr districtsSchlawe,Stolp,Konitz,Thorn,Graudenz,Danzig,Preußisch Stargard,Neustadt,Osterode,Deutsch-Eylau andMarienburg.

Later, the districts ofOsterode,Deutsch-Eylau andMarienburg would be reassigned to theXX Corps.

The 25 peacetimeCorps of the German Army (Guards, I - XXI, I - III Bavarian) had a reasonably standardised organisation. Each consisted of twodivisions with usually two infantry brigades, one field artillery brigade and a cavalry brigade each.^[4] Each brigade normally consisted of two regiments of the appropriate type, so each Corps normally commanded 8 infantry, 4 field artillery and 4 cavalry regiments. There were exceptions to this rule:

V,VI,VII,IX andXIV Corps each had a 5th infantry brigade (so 10 infantry regiments)

II,XIII,XVIII andXXI Corps had a 9th infantry regiment

I,VI andXVI Corps had a 3rd cavalry brigade (so 6 cavalry regiments)

theGuards Corps had 11 infantry regiments (in 5 brigades) and 8 cavalry regiments (in 4 brigades).^[5]

Each Corps also directly controlled a number of other units. This could include one or more

Foot Artillery Regiment

Jäger Battalion

Pioneer Battalion

Train Battalion

On mobilization on 2 August 1914, the Corps was restructured. The Leib Hussar Brigade was withdrawn to form part of the2nd Cavalry Division^[7] and the 35th Cavalry Brigade was broken up and its regiments assigned to the divisions as reconnaissance units. Divisions received engineer companies and other support units from the Corps headquarters. In summary, XVII Corps mobilised with 25 infantry battalions, 9 machine gun companies (54 machine guns), 8 cavalry squadrons, 24 field artillery batteries (144 guns), 4 heavy artillery batteries (16 guns), 3 pioneer companies and an aviation detachment.

On mobilisation, XVII Corps was assigned to the8th Army to defend East Prussia, while the rest of the Army executed theSchlieffen Plan offensive in August 1914. It took part in the battles ofGumbinnen,Tannenberg and1st Masurian Lakes. Immediately after the latter, it joined the9th Army inLower Silesia, where it fought at theBattle of the Vistula River.^{[citation needed]}

The XVII Corps had the following commanders during its existence:^[11][12][13]

• German Army order of battle (1914)
• German Army order of battle, Western Front (1918)
• List of Imperial German infantry regiments
• List of Imperial German artillery regiments
• List of Imperial German cavalry regiments
• Order of battle at Tannenberg

• Cron, Hermann (2002).Imperial German Army 1914–18: Organisation, Structure, Orders-of-Battle [first published: 1937]. Helion & Co.ISBN 1-874622-70-1.
• Ellis, John; Cox, Michael (1993).The World War I Databook. Aurum Press Ltd.ISBN 1-85410-766-6.
• Haythornthwaite, Philip J. (1996).The World War One Source Book. Arms and Armour.ISBN 1-85409-351-7.
• Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions of the German Army which Participated in the War (1914–1918), compiled from records of Intelligence section of the General Staff, American Expeditionary Forces, at General Headquarters, Chaumont, France 1919. The London Stamp Exchange. 1989 [1920].ISBN 0-948130-87-3.
• The German Forces in the Field; 7th Revision, 11th November 1918; Compiled by the General Staff, War Office. Imperial War Museum, London and The Battery Press, Inc. 1995 [1918].ISBN 1-870423-95-X.

• Corps of Germany in World War I
• Military units and formations established in 1890
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1919

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