Alfred von Soden (General)

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Count Soden with his NCOs in Beijing (1900)
Alfred von Soden (first row on the far right) during the imperial maneuver in 1905

Alfred Anton Georg Ludwig Graf von Soden (born December 9, 1866 in Neustädtles , † April 9, 1943 in Lübeck ) was a German lieutenant general .

Life

origin

Alfred came from the Evangelical Lutheran. Line of the Soden family . He was a son of the gentleman on Neidenfels Julius von Soden (* 1829) and his wife Luise, née Countess von Thürheim (* 1841).

Military career

On January 11, 1887, Soden joined the 2nd Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 32 of the Prussian Army as a flag junior . After his appointment as ensign on August 16, 1887, Soden rose in this regiment to the position of Prime Lieutenant , joined the Imperial Navy on September 10, 1897 and was employed in the I. Sea Battalion in Kiel .

In 1900 he was first lieutenant after the assassination of the German envoy Clemens von Ketteler for a time as leader of the marine detachment to defend the embassy in Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion . Here Soden organized the defense of the diplomatic quarter against the boxers with the military contingents of the international expeditionary force .

For this commitment Wilhelm II awarded him on September 20, 1900 the highest Prussian valor award, the order Pour le Mérite . In the telegram from the emperor to the commander-in-chief of the united intervention army consisting of the contingents of the European, Japanese and American, Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee , it says:

“After reading Count Soden's diary, I gained an overview of the extraordinary circumspection, energy and bravery of him. Just as admirable is the devotion, loyalty and heroic cutting edge of the marines detachment. In grateful appreciation, I award the Count of the plm and the teams the Military Medal of Honor 1st Class. The Conqueror of the Flag Military Merit Cross. "

- Wilhelm IR

On July 23, 1904, Soden resigned from the Imperial Navy and was reappointed in the Prussian Army with the appointment of Wilhelm II's wing adjutant . Left in this position two years later, he was appointed military companion of Prince Oskar of Prussia . After three years he was released from this position and ordered to serve with the prince. Soden held this position from the outbreak of World War I until April 1, 1915. Then he acted until June 14, 1916 as commandant of Liège and then as commandant of Brussels . In this position he was promoted to major general on December 18, 1917 . As such, Soden was transferred to the officers of the army on November 22, 1918 after the end of the war and retired from military service on January 8, 1919.

Loewitz

On August 27, 1939 Soden received on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Tannenberg the character as a lieutenant general . Soden was a landlord at Löwitz near Rehna in Mecklenburg.

literature

  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 3: P-Z. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2011, ISBN 3-7648-2586-3 , pp. 321–322.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Genealogical handbook of the nobility. Volume GB IV, p. 331, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg 1973.
  2. ^ Reichsmarineamt (Ed.): Marineverordnungsblatt. No. 21 of September 23, 1897, p. 232.
  3. ↑ a b Friedrich Kellner: All brains are fogged, darkened. Diaries 1939–1945, Volume I, p. 405, Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2011. Ausriss aus der Hess. State newspaper from April 12, 1943.
  4. ^ Rebellion against foreign devils. In: Der Spiegel. 53/1979.
  5. ^ Gustav Lehmann: The knights of the order pour le merite. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1913.
personal data
SURNAME Soden, Alfred von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Soden, Alfred Anton Georg Ludwig Graf von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lieutenant general
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Neustädtles
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1943
Place of death Lübeck