Benignus of Safferling

Benignus of Safferling

Benignus Safferling , knight of Safferling since 1881 (born November 30, 1824 in Freising , † September 4, 1899 in Partenkirchen ) was a Bavarian infantry general and minister of war .

Life

origin

Benignus was the son of the Bavarian cavalry officer Alois Safferling and his wife Julie, née von Bienenthal. At the age of eight, he accompanied his father, who, as a lieutenant colonel, belonged to the troops given by King Ludwig I to Prince Otto of Bavaria, who was elected King of the Hellenes , to Greece . There his father died in Argos in 1835 as the commander of a lancers regiment .

Military career

Safferling came to a cadet school established on the island of Aegina and from there in 1841 as a corporal in the 2nd Line Battalion of the Greek Army . When Bavaria had to leave Greece in 1843 , he returned home. He was then employed in the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Bavarian Army , joined the 11th Infantry Regiment as a Junker in 1844 and was promoted to sub-lieutenant on October 31, 1845 . By the end of May 1864, Safferling had advanced to captain 1st class and in 1866 took part in the battles near Zella and Hammelburg during the war against Prussia . He was wounded in the hand in the battle near Helmstadt . After the end of the war, his behavior was recognized by a public commendation and on November 19, 1866 by being awarded the Knight's Cross, First Class of the Military Merit Order .

On May 16, 1867, Safferling was transferred to the 8th Jäger Battalion and a year later he was promoted to staff captain . As such, he was assigned to the General Quartermaster's Staff on February 25, 1869 and promoted to major on February 1, 1870 . With the beginning of the war against France , Safferling became a general staff officer of the 1st Infantry Division under Lieutenant General Stephan . In this capacity he took part in the battles at Sedan and Orléans . He had already proven himself particularly well in the battle of Wörth . For this he was awarded the Iron Cross II. Class and on November 15, 1870, by unanimous decision of the chapter of the order, he was named a Knight of the Military Max Joseph Order . Associated with this was the elevation into the personal nobility and he was allowed to call himself "Knight of Safferling" after the entry in the nobility register on June 1, 1881 .

After the peace agreement , Safferling initially remained with the High Command of the Occupation Army as Bavarian Plenipotentiary and returned to Bavaria in 1872 to take over command of the teaching force set up first in the I and then in the II Army Corps , which was determined to be the Prussian drill regulations for the Bavarian To introduce infantry. In 1874 he became lieutenant colonel and commander of the 1st infantry regiment "König" , in 1876 colonel , in 1880 major general and commander of the Bavarian occupation brigade of the Metz fortress .

In 1886 he was appointed President of the Auditorium General and promoted to Lieutenant General , in 1887 Commander of the 2nd Division and Adjutant General , May 6, 1890 in Heinleth's position as Minister of War and September 20, 1890 General of the Infantry . In 1890 he was also made an honorary citizen of Regensburg . In the following year, Safferling was raised to hereditary nobility with the predicate "von". Released in 1893 from the management of the War Ministry, Safferling was put up for disposal while retaining his position as adjutant general and receiving the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown with a pension .

family

Safferling had been married to a baroness von Redwitz-Wildenroth since 1858. The marriage had four children.

literature

• Gundula Gahlen: The Bavarian Officer Corps 1815–1866. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77045-5 , p. 716.
• For the 50th anniversary of the service of the Royal Bavarian Minister of War, General of the Infantry and General Adjutant Benignus Ritter v. Safferling. In: Military weekly paper . No. 94 of October 24, 1891, pp. 2441-2444.