August Ségur-Cabanac (General)

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August Ségur-Cabanac (born June 1, 1922 in Mödling near Vienna; † March 4, 2011 in Vienna ) was an Austrian general and from 1982 to 1987 commander of the 1st Panzer Grenadier Division of the Austrian Armed Forces .

family

August Franz Graf Ségur-Cabanac (1771–1847), who came from an old French family with a long military tradition, found refuge in Austria during the French Revolution and became the progenitor of the Austrian branch of the family. He began his career as a sub-lieutenant, distinguished himself as a major at Wagram in 1809 and reached the rank of major general in 1844.

His great-grandson, August Ségur-Cabanac (1881–1931), lawyer and finance expert, was Finance Minister of the Republic of Austria from May to November 1922 . During this time his son of the same name was born, who carried on the family's military tradition.

His sons Christian Ségur-Cabanac and René Segur-Cabanac also opted for a military career, as did his grandson Philipp.

Life

August Ségur-Cabanac graduated from high school in July 1941 and was drafted into the German armed forces immediately afterwards . After serving at the front in the spring and summer of 1942, he graduated from the Dresden War School in the autumn of that year . This was followed - after promotion to lieutenant in December 1942 - in the first months of 1943 a company commanding course at the Döberitz infantry school . From April 15 he was deployed as a platoon commander and soon as a company commander in the 156th Infantry Regiment in the southern section of the Eastern Front. On July 21, 1943 he was seriously wounded near Stalino . After almost a year in hospital, he was somewhat restored, and in autumn 1944 he took part as a company commander in the 116th Panzer Division in the retreat in northern France and Belgium as far as the Aachen area. Wounded again in the battle in the Huertgen Forest , he experienced the end of the war as a first lieutenant in a hospital.

On October 11, 1944, he married Christine Bennier during a short vacation from the front.

Family grave at the Mödlinger Friedhof (grave IX | 42)

In 1946 he got a job with the American occupation forces, but in 1954 he signed up for the B-Gendarmerie . On October 1st of this year he was assigned to the Gendarmerie-Oberleutnant at the Gendarmerie School Upper Austria III. From May 1955 he worked for the Gendarmerie Department K, the later military academy, in Enns. As a class officer, he took over class B until it was retired in January 1957, then class 13, which was retired in December of that year. Finally, he led the 3rd Company of the Academic Battalion until it was retired in March 1959, which took place in the old home of the Military Academy , in the Burg in Wiener Neustadt . During these years he had already gained an army-wide reputation as a first lieutenant as a demanding, but nevertheless popular trainer for his officer candidates. After taking on another class in 1959, he was called up for the 3rd General Staff Course in December of that year. He completed this course with first place.

During his practical work in the training department of the Federal Ministry for National Defense in 1962, he was commissioned to publish a specialist magazine. He founded the “ Troop Service ” working group to publish the magazine with their support. He became the founder of the training magazine "Truppendienst", which soon became one of the most renowned publications in the field of military training. After he was accepted into the higher service as a major of the general staff on December 15, 1962 , he was assigned as a tactics teacher at the Theresian Military Academy . On May 15, 1965, he was transferred to the operations department, where he worked on seven possible surgical cases. At that time, this happened for the first time in the second federal army and decisively determined the army's operational planning for the following years. On December 12, 1967, he was transferred to Group Command I as G 3. Under the chief of staff, Colonel dG Karl Wohlgemuth , he was involved in the planning of security measures during the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968 as well as in the preparation and implementation of the armed forces' largest maneuver to date called "Bear Paw" in autumn 1969.

In 1968 he had been promoted to colonel of the general staff. From March 22, 1971 to March 19, 1973 he was Chief of Staff of the Vienna Military Command and then Deputy Head of the Ministry's Organizational Department. On March 19, 1973 he became head of the training department, where he set numerous initiatives in all areas of military training over the next eight years. In 1980 he became a brigadier . The last time he was employed in active service, he took command of the 1st Panzer Grenadier Division in Baden , now as a division general . He led this association from November 1, 1982 until his retirement on November 1, 1987. Shortly before that, he was promoted to general in recognition of his services to the armed forces.

Ségur-Cabanac died on March 4, 2011. He is buried in the family grave in Mödling .

literature

  • Stefan Bader: At the highest point, The Generals of the Federal Army of the Second Republic. Gra and Wis Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-902455-02-0 , p. 320 ff.
  • Stefan Apfl, Joseph Gepp: Three gentlemen from the army. In: Falter. 5/2011.