Eberhard von Schmettow
Eberhard Graf von Schmettow (born September 17, 1861 in Halberstadt ; † January 31, 1935 in Görlitz ) was a Prussian lieutenant general in World War I and adjutant general of the German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Life
origin
Like his cousin Egon, he came from the old Silesian noble family von Schmettow . His parents Maximilian Graf von Schmettow (1824–1886) and Adele Emilie Klothilde, née von Usedom (1840–1895) had five children.
Military career
Schmettow joined the 2nd Guard Uhlan Regiment of the Prussian Army on April 16, 1881 , coming from the cadet corps as a second lieutenant . There he later served as regimental adjutant before he was assigned as an adjutant of the 4th Guards Cavalry Brigade in March 1891 . As Rittmeister Schmettow was then active in the General Staff . Subsequently, he was deployed as squadron chief in the cuirassier regiment "Emperor Nicholas I of Russia" (Brandenburg) No. 6 . This was followed by employment as first general staff officer in the 29th Division . In 1901 Schmettow served as First Adjutant to the Chief of the Army General Staff, Alfred von Schlieffen . In 1902 he was appointed as serving wing adjutant to Kaiser Wilhelm II. From 1906 to 1911 he was in command of the body cuirassier regiment "Great Elector" (Silesian) No. 1 in Breslau . From February 1911 he was in command of the 5th Cavalry Brigade in Frankfurt (Oder) . From 1912 Schmettow was the commander of the Leib-Husaren-Brigade in Danzig-Langfuhr .
At the beginning of the First World War Schmettow was commander of the 9th Cavalry Division , which was used on the Western Front . In November 1914, the division moved to the Eastern Front , where it initially fought in Poland as part of the 9th Army . On June 11, 1915, he took over the 8th Cavalry Division , which he commanded until the beginning of August 1916. Schmettow then briefly received command of the newly established 195th Division .
After he had been promoted on 18 August 1916, Lieutenant General, he was on 31 August at the entry into the war Romania ordered and appointed commander in Transylvania standing 3rd Cavalry Division appointed, the staff the following day the cavalry corps Schmettow was reorganized . Its own 3rd Cavalry Division and the Austro-Hungarian 1st Cavalry Division were assigned to his large unit. He successfully covered the left wing of the 9th Army against Romanian attacks during the Battle of Sibiu . In November 1916, Schmettow's cavalry, now consisting of the 6th and 7th Cavalry Divisions, advanced into Wallachia on Craiova to secure the right flank of the Kühne group wrestling at Targu Jiu . At the beginning of December his cavalry intervened in the Battle of the Argesch and also took part in the capture of Bucharest . For this, Schmettow received the order Pour le Mérite on December 11, 1916 .
The staff of his corps was transferred to the General Command z. b. V. 65 converted and transferred to the western front . In April 1917 his general command was involved in the battle of the Aisne as "Gruppe Sissonne" in the 1st Army . At the end of May 1918, the Schmettow group took part in the 7th Army in the Third Aisne Battle . The oak leaves for the Pour le Mérite was awarded to Schmettow on August 4, 1918 for his services to the defensive battle between Marne and Vesle .
After the Armistice of Compiègne , he marched back home with the remnants of his troops, where he submitted his resignation after the demobilization of his General Command . Schmettow was then transferred to the army officers and retired from military service on February 22, 1919.
family
Schmettow was married to Agnes von Rundstedt (1870-1949). In addition to the later Lieutenant General Rudolf Graf von Schmettow (1891-1970) there was another son, Lieutenant Rudolf Maximilian (1889-1918) and the daughters Hermy (* 1892), Viktoria (* 1896) and Clothilde (* 1900).
Awards
- Order of the Red Eagle III. Class with bow and crown
- Order of the Crown II class
- Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern
- Right knight of the Order of St. John
- Service award cross
- Knight's Cross of the Order of Berthold the First
- Commander II class of the Order of Henry the Lion
- Cross of Honor of the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of Merit
- Cross of Honor of the Order of the Griffin
- Honorary Officer Cross of the Oldenburg House and Merit Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig
- Officer's Cross of the Order of Albrecht
- Commander II class of the House Order of the White Falcon
- Cross of Honor 2nd class of the Lippe House Order
- Knight's Cross with the Lions of the Order of the Württemberg Crown
- Officer's Cross of the Order of St. Alexander
- Commander II class of the Dannebrog Order
- Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
- Knight of the Order of St. Mauritius and Lazarus
- Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy
- Order of the Iron Crown II class
- Order of Saint Stanislaus III. class
- Spanish Military Merit Order II. Class
- Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
literature
- Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume II: M-Z. Bernard & Graefe publishing house, Berlin 1935, pp. 268-271.
- 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. 224-225.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Prussian War Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1914, p. 104.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schmettow, Eberhard von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schmettow, Eberhard Graf von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Prussian Lieutenant General in World War I, Adjutant General of the German Kaiser |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 17, 1861 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Halberstadt |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 31, 1935 |
| Place of death | Goerlitz |