von Hofmann
In October 1914, GM Peter Freiherr von Hofmann was placed in command of his own Corps, which fought uninterrupted until February 1917.
During the winter of 1914/1915, he was appointed military commander in Munkacs, charged with securing the Carpathian heights and the critical Uzsok Pass against the advancing Russians. He took charge of newly formed independent Gruppe Hofmann, a combined Austro-German Corps, and drove the Russians from the pass in February 1915, at the height of the Battles for the Carpathians. Hofmann was consequently awarded the Military Order of Maria Theresa for saving Hungary from invasion, and received the noble rank of "Freiherr." He was promoted to General der Infanterie on 28 February 1918.
After this, the Hofmann Corps was redesignated the XXV. Army Corps and FML Hofmann continued to lead it until wars' end. It was one of a few extremely long and successful wartime commands.
Peter Freiherr von Hofmann died in Vienna on 8 May 1923.
GWS, 2/02
Immediately preceding the Battles for the Carpathians
Army Group Pflanzer-Baltin, GdK Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin
Hofmann Corps, GM Peter Hofmann
Hofmann’s Corps was part of Army Group Pflanzer-Baltin throughout late autumn and winter 1914. His flanks were covered by independent brigades and the Polish Legion under Gen. Trzaska-Durski, which were opposed by many times more Russians along the ridge of the eastern Carpathians. Hofmann had seen the Eastern Beskid Pass lost to the Russian Dniester Group, and therefore fought on Hungarian territory. His troops battled an encroaching 34. Inf. div. from the 8. Army of Gen. Alexei Brusilov. When the General Staff finally sent reinforcements to Army Group Pflanzer-Baltin in early January, Hofmann’s Corps was handed over to the neighbouring German Südarmee, which meant that GdI Alexander von Linsingen was now giving the orders. [rev. 4/04]
Orders of Battle: Polish Front, January 1915
Deutsch Südost-armee, Gen. d. Inf. von Linsingen
Hofmann K.u.K. Korps, Feldmlt. Hofmann
LV. inf. div., Genmj. Drda
Deutsch I. inf. div., Genlt. von Conta
K.u.K. CXXXI. brigade, Oberst Berger
Orders of Battle: Eastern Front, May 1915
Immediately preceding the Dunajec offensive
Deutsche Südarmee, Kmdt. preuß. Gen. d. Inf. v. Linsingen
Hofmann Korps, Feldmlt. Hofmann
Chief of Staff, Oberst Gf. Lamezan
55. inf. div., Genmj. Fleischmann
129. inf. brig., Oberst Matasic
130. inf. brig., Oberst Witoszynski
12. Landsturm terr. brig.,Oberst Burggasser
131. inf. brig., Genmj. Blum
Orders of Battle: Volhynian Front, September 1915
Deutsch Südarmee, Gen. d. Inf. Graf von Bothmer
Hofmann K.u.K. Korps, Feldmlt. Hofmann
LV. inf. div., Genmj. Fleischmann
XLVIII. Deutsch res. div., Genlt. von Oppeln-Bronikowski
Orders of Battle: Volhynian Front, June 1916
Deutsch Südwest Armee, Gen. d. Inf. Graf von Bothmer
Hofmann K.u.K. Korps, Feldmlt. Hofmann
LIV. inf. div., Feldmlt. Daniel
LV. inf. div., Genmj. Unschuld
Hofmann's Corps met the Russians' general advance during the Brussilov Offsensive perhaps better than any other sector. Hofmann had the River Strypa to his back as the Russian XXII. Corps attacked in early June. For the most part, General Bothmer's whole Südarmee remained unaffected by Brussilov. However, General Lechitski and his Russian IX. Army had made such grand success against the VII. Army in July and August that Hofmann's Corps was in danger on the right of its sector.
Bothmer ordered Hofmann to give up his long-held line and retreat across three rivers and the marshy land in between, and take up a position in front of Brzezany. The Russian XVIII. and XXII. Corps did not stop but push across the Zlota Lipa, bringing an eerie reminder to the disastrous rout of September 1914. Hofmann was determined to hold his sector south of Brzezany, but he was pushed up to twelve miles due west of the town by the end of September 1916.
GWS, 10/01
Orders of Battle: Volhynian Front, July 1916
Deutsch Südwest Armee, Gen. d. Inf. von Bothmer
Hofmann K.u.K. Korps, Feldmlt. Hofmann
LIV. inf. div., Feldmlt. Daniel
LV. inf. div., Genmj. Unschuld
Orders of Battle: Volhynian Front, August 1916
Deutsch Südwest Armee, Gen. d. Inf. von Bothmer
Hofmann K.u.K. Korps, Feldmlt. Hofmann
LIV. inf. div., Feldmlt. Daniel
LV. inf. div., Genmj. von Unschuld
The battles in Eastern Galicia and Bukovina in July and August 1916 convinced the Roumanians to launch their invasion when they did. Hofmann's Corps was a pretty steady and talented force. It was the bulwark of the Südarmee for a long time. With a strong blow by the Russian XXXII. Corps late in the game, around the middle of the second week of August, Hofmann Corps was forced to beat a heasty retreat due west from its formerly comfortable defenses on the Strypa river. In fact, Hofmann Corps made one of the fastest retreats in the whole Stanislau campaign; by the evening of 15 August, Hofmann came to rest only after moving some 35 km west, not even pausing at the important road-crossing of Podhajce. The Corps finally halted amidst the hills above the river plain. Hofmann Corps was not alone in this movement; the three southern Corps of Südarmee all had to move west roughly the same distance in the same time.
GWS, 9/03
Orders of Battle: Volhynian Front, July 1917
Deutsch Süd Armee, Gen. d. Inf. von Bothmer
XXV. K.u.K. Korps, Feldmlt. Hofmann
LV. inf. div., Genmj. von Unschuld
LIV. inf. div., Genmj. von Severus
Orders of Battle: Ukraine, October 1918
Ost Armee, Gen. d. Inf. Alfred Krauss
XXV. Korps, Gen. d. Inf. von Hofmann
CLV. Honved inf. div., Feldmlt. ?
LIV. Schützen div., Feldmlt. Severus von Laubenfeld und Ciminago
