August von Kirchfeldt

Friedrich Wilhelm August Kirchfeldt , von Kirchfeldt since 1858 , (born January 2, 1802 in Berlin , † November 3, 1858 in Torgau ) was a Prussian major general .

Life

origin

He was the son of the Prussian major of the artillery Andreas Kirchfeldt († 1824 in Berlin) and his wife Friederike Wilhelmine, née von Schlichten.

Military career

Kirchfeldt joined the Guard Artillery Brigade of the Prussian Army as a gunner on March 31, 1817 . Two years later he was promoted to Portepeefähnrich and on November 10, 1819 to Second Lieutenant. From 1827 to 1839 Kirchfeldt was adjutant of the artillery brigade and rose to captain until May 1, 1839 . On April 4, 1844, he was promoted to major in the General Staff . From there, Kirchfeldt was transferred to the General Staff of the II Army Corps on March 17, 1846 . In 1848 he took part in the campaign in Denmark . This was followed by a position as Chief of the General Staff at the Prince of Prussia from June 9, 1849 . As such, he took part in the suppression of the Baden Revolution in the same year and was awarded the order Pour le Mérite on July 27, 1849 . For a short time, Kirchfeldt was commanded from October 2 to November 28, 1849 to serve in the military government of the Rhine provinces and Westphalia . Kirchfeldt then returned to the General Staff as head of department and was appointed head of the General Staff of the II Army Corps less than a month later, leaving the staff of the Prince of Prussia. On 22 October 1850 he returned once more to the Great General Staff back and was there on March 23, 1852 Lieutenant Colonel and on March 22, 1853 to Colonel promoted. Kirchfeldt was active as commander of the 7th Artillery Regiment in Munster from October 13, 1853 to April 3, 1857 .

He then acted as commander of the 12th Infantry Brigade in Brandenburg an der Havel . This position meant a special distinction for Kirchfeldt as an artillery officer. On October 15, 1857, he was promoted to major general. For his achievements, Kirchfeldt was awarded the Commander-in-Chief of the Military Karl Friedrich Order of Merit on April 9, 1858, and was raised to the hereditary Prussian nobility on June 30, 1858 in memory of his services to the enemy in 1849 . A few months later, Kirchfeldt suffered a fractured skull after falling from his horse, from which he died.

Kirchfeldt remained unmarried. His tomb with a cast zinc figure of the “Mourning Achilles” based on a design by Christian Friedrich Tieck and executed by Moritz Geiß is located in the listed Neustadt cemetery in Brandenburg an der Havel.

literature

• Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldier leadership . Volume 6, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1938], DNB 367632810 , pp. 407-408, no. 2027.

Web links

• Kirchfeldt's tomb in Brandenburg an der Havel  in the German Digital Library