Detlof von Winterfeldt

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Detlof von Winterfeldt in Spa (November 1918)
Signing of the ceasefire agreement. Refinished photograph from 1918. Behind the table, from right: French General Maxime Weygand and Marshal Ferdinand Foch (standing), British naval officers Rosslyn Wemyss, George Hope and Jack Marriott. In front of it stand the German State Secretary Matthias Erzberger , Major General Detlof von Winterfeldt, Alfred von Oberndorff from the Foreign Office and Captain Ernst Vanselow.
Family grave of Detlof v. Winterfeldt at the Invalidenfriedhof Berlin next to the grave of Hans Karl von Winterfeldt (status 2013)

Detlof Sigismund von Winterfeldt (born May 28, 1867 in Berlin ; † July 3, 1940 there ) was a Prussian major general and military attaché .

Life

origin

He was the son of the later Prussian general of the infantry Rudolf von Winterfeldt (1829-1894) and his wife Pauline, née von Roeder (1842-1914). The later Prussian lieutenant general Hans (1862-1931) was his brother, the Reichstag deputy Joachim von Winterfeldt-Menkin his cousin.

Military career

Winterfeldt attended the French Gymnasium in Berlin and on October 1, 1886, joined the Emperor Franz Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 2 of the Prussian Army as a flag junior . On January 17, 1888, he was promoted to secondary lieutenant and as such Winterfeldt graduated from the War Academy in 1894/97 . After his return he served in the 8th Company and on March 22, 1898 was commanded as Prime Lieutenant to the General Staff . With the character of a captain on March 29, 1900 aggregated to the General Staff of the Army, Winterfeldt came to Magdeburg to the General Staff of the IV Army Corps . On September 14, 1900 he received the patent for his rank and on September 19, 1901, with the transfer to the General Staff , he was sent to the German embassy in Brussels as a military attaché , where he was responsible for the military-political relations of the German Reich until 1905 was entrusted to Belgium .

From September 15, 1905 to January 26, 1907, Winterfeldt returned to the troop service and acted as company commander in the fusilier regiment "von Gersdorff" (Kurhessisches) No. 80 . He was then transferred back to the Army General Staff and transferred to the General Staff. Promoted to major there on March 22, 1907 , he was assigned to the German embassy in Paris on March 25, 1909 . From June 19, 1909, Winterfeldt held the post of military attaché. During the maneuvers of the French army in 1913 he had an accident with his car and suffered serious injuries. Despite his incapacity to work as a result, Winterfeldt was promoted to lieutenant colonel on September 10, 1913 and shortly thereafter elevated to the rank of department chief in the general staff. In July 1914 he received the Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honor on his official farewell from the French capital .

In Germany, Winterfeldt was on leave from the outbreak of World War I until December 31, 1914 to restore his health. Then he was given the management of a department in the Deputy General Staff. He later became chief quartermaster of the 8th Army . From August 1917 to November 1918 Winterfeldt acted - promoted to major general - as military representative to the Reich Chancellor in Berlin.

In November 1918 Winterfeldt was a member of the German Armistice Commission under the leadership of Matthias Erzberger , which signed the armistice in Compiègne , which ended the war. He resigned from the commission in January 1919 to protest the peace conditions, was transferred to the army officers on September 1, 1919 and shortly thereafter retired from military service.

family

Winterfeldt was married on September 30, 1896 in Eyrichshof with Marianne Freiin von Rotenhan (1873-1940). The couple had three sons, two of whom died in World War II . Detlof von Winterfeldt was buried in the family grave in the Invalidenfriedhof Berlin . The grave has been preserved to this day.

literature

Web links

Commons : Detlof von Winterfeldt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldatisches Führertum . Volume 10, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1942], DNB 986919810 , p. 131, no. 3124.
  2. ^ Military weekly paper . No. 94 of July 14, 1914, p. 2110.
  3. ^ Golo Mann (Ed.): Maximilian. Memories and documents. 1968, p. 690.