Emil Waldorf

Emil Waldorf (* 25. February 1856 in Koblenz , † 12. December 1918 in Kassel ) was a Prussian officer , last lieutenant general in the First World War .

Life

After visiting the Cadet Corps on April 23, 1874, Waldorf joined the 1st Kurhessian Field Artillery Regiment No. 11 in Kassel as a second lieutenant . For one year from 1881 he served as a department adjutant before becoming regimental adjutant on October 1, 1882. As such, Waldorf was promoted to Prime Lieutenant on February 12, 1884 , and commanded to the War Academy from October 1, 1886 to July 21, 1889 . At the same time he was promoted to captain on January 16, 1890, he was appointed battery boss . After eight years, Waldorf, who had become major on January 27, 1898 , was transferred to Erfurt , where he was in command of III. Department of the 1st Thuringian Field Artillery Regiment No. 19 took over. Just one year later, he was transferred to the Jüterbog field artillery shooting school , where Waldorf initially acted as a teacher until July 17, 1903, when he was transferred to the school staff. On August 13, 1903, he transferred to the 3rd Lorraine Field Artillery Regiment No. 69 in Sankt Avold , was initially charged with the command of the regiment on October 18, 1903 and was finally appointed commander on March 10, 1904. Done as such on April 22, 1905 the promotion to lieutenant colonel , and on January 27, 1908. Colonel . With effect from March 22, 1910, Waldorf became commander of the 34th Field Artillery Brigade stationed in Metz . With the formation of the 42nd Field Artillery Brigade, Major General (since July 19, 1911) Waldorf became the first commander of this unit. He was put up for disposition on April 4, 1914 and was given the character of Lieutenant General .

With the outbreak of World War Waldorf put available and he was appointed commander of mainly of war volunteers newly formed 52nd Reserve Division . After the operational readiness was established at the beginning of October 1914, the division moved to the western front and was used here for the first time with the 4th Army in the Battle of Ypres . Passendale was captured on October 20, but due to the inexperience of the troops, there were great losses. On December 24, 1914, Waldorf received the patent for his rank . The division remained in Flanders in 1915 and then moved to Champagne in September 1916 , where it again fought with great losses in the Battle of the Somme . After 14 days of fighting, the division was pulled to refresh from the front and then went into the trench warfare over. At the end of April 1917, it was deployed on the Aisne and then in Flanders . At the end of April 1918, Waldorf and his division took part in the storming and capture of the strategically important Kemmelberg . In the months that followed, until the end of the war, his association was in permanent defensive battles against the Allies . On the Lys near Deinze he was able to prevent enemy forces from breaking through in October 1918, for which he was awarded the order Pour le Mérite on November 1, 1918 .

After the end of the war, Waldorf's mobilization provision was lifted on December 3, 1918 and he died shortly afterwards in Kassel.

Awards

• Order of the Crown II class
• Prussian service award cross
• Crown for the Order of the Red Eagle II class with oak leaves, star and swords in 1918

literature

• Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume II: M-Z. Verlag Bernard & Graefe, Berlin 1935, pp. 461–462.
• 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. 479-481.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1913. Ed .: War Ministry , ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1913, p. 113.