Erich Freyer

Erich Lebrecht Freyer (born November 5, 1855 in Randau , † December 11, 1935 in Dresden ) was a Prussian lieutenant general .

Life

Freyer occurred on 30 April 1876 as an ensign in the 8th Pomeranian Infantry Regiment. 61 of the Prussian army in Thorn one. There he was appointed ensign on November 11, 1876 and promoted to second lieutenant on October 13, 1877 . As such, he acts from October 1, 1881 until his transfer on January 26, 1886 to the 2nd Posensche Infantry Regiment No. 19 as adjutant of the 1st Battalion. From October 1, 1888 to July 20, 1891, Freyer attended the War Academy for further training and was promoted to Premier Lieutenant on November 13, 1888 . After his return to the troop service, he was appointed company commander on November 26, 1891 , at the same time as his promotion to captain . Freyer remained in this position until July 13, 1895 and then became a teacher at the war schools in Engers and Potsdam . There he taught a. a. Crown Prince Wilhelm , who would later temporarily be his commander on the Western Front.

Left in this position, he was promoted to major on June 9, 1900 and aggregated to the infantry regiment "Margrave Karl" (7th Brandenburgisches) No. 60 . Shortly thereafter, on August 12, 1900, he was transferred as adjutant to the Army High Command in East Asia , where he then took part in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion under Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee . After his return from China , Freyer was appointed commander of the 1st Battalion of the Infantry Body Regiment "Grand Duchess" (3rd Grand Ducal Hessian) No. 117 in Mainz on August 18, 1901 . As such, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 27, 1907 and transferred to regimental staff on April 14, 1907. On January 27, 1910, Freyer became a colonel and commander of the 3rd Lorraine Infantry Regiment No. 135 in Diedenhofen . Three years later, he was promoted to major general and took over as commander of the 56th Infantry Brigade in Rastatt .

First World War

With the mobilization and outbreak of the First World War , Freyer led his brigade first in the battle of Mulhouse , then in the battle of Lorraine and before Nancy - Épinal . In September the large association was withdrawn from the front and relocated to northern France. Here she took part in the first half of October in the battle of Arras and then in the battles near Lille and La Bassée .

On November 2, 1914, Freyer was appointed as the successor to Günther von Pannewitz as commander of the 4th Division , which at that time was with Soissons . A few days later the division moved to Flanders , where it took part in the fighting for Ypres from November 6 to 22, 1914 . Then she was transported to the Eastern Front , where she took part in the fighting against the Russian Army on the Rawka - Bzura with the 9th Army under August von Mackensen . At the end of December 1914, the division went into position warfare here and was able to bring about a decisive victory in the Battle of Humin, which took place from January 31 to February 2, 1915 . Twenty officers and 4,000 men were brought in as prisoners of war . Beginning in March 1915 came Freyer with his division to support the Austrians to the Corps Hofmann in the Carpathians . Then it joined the newly formed Beskid Corps , where it was able to assert itself victoriously in the Easter battle in the Laborcza Valley from April 2 to 14, 1915 and thus give the wavering Austrian front some stability. In the course of the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnów , the division was significantly involved in the fighting for Przemyśl and thus had a lasting influence on the later recapture of the fortress by the 11th Bavarian Division under Paul von Kneussl .

At the beginning of July 1915, Freyer's large formation transferred to the Bug Army and fought in the following years near Berescie-Grabowiec, Wojslawice , Cholm , Wytyzno , Wlodawa , via Brest-Litowsk and Kobryn to the area of Baranowitschi . After the offensive was over at the end of September, the division returned to Brest-Litovsk and was relocated from here to the Western Front.

There she took part during the autumn battle in Champagne from October 8 to November 3, 1915 in the fighting at Tahure and then at Reims . At the end of April Freyer came with his division for the next eleven months before Verdun and fought there with heavy losses and the like. a. around the height 304 and the Fort Thiaumont. In mid-March 1917 he was relocated to Champagne , where Freyer was promoted to Lieutenant General on March 22, 1917. During the Aisne-Champagne double battle, which began on April 16, 1917 , his division was able to repel French attacks several times in the Berry-au-Bac section before being pulled from the front in the first few days of May. Then she was in position battle at Reims until autumn, before the division had to endure heavy defensive battles in November 1917 in the end of the Battle of Flanders . She then recovered near Lille and prepared for the German spring offensive that began on March 21, 1918 . In the 17th Army , Freyer and his division took part in the breakthrough battle between Monchy- Cambrai and captured the village of Hermies, which was important and stubbornly defended for the British defense system. In the following battles at Bapaume on March 24th and 25th, he remained successful and was able to repel counterattacks in the line he had reached. For these achievements Freyer was awarded the highest Prussian bravery award, the Pour le Mérite , on April 17, 1918 .

After the end of the offensive, the division was in position fighting in the line Armentières -La Bassée and took part in the Battle of Valenciennes . Freyer was released from his position on October 25, 1918 and transferred to the army officers.

post war period

After the war and the November Revolution Freyer was then from March 22, 1919 as governor of Thorn in the Border Guard East worked before he on 12 August 1919 at his own request to the disposition was made, and retired from the military service.

Awards

• Order of the Red Eagle III. Class with the loop
• Order of the Crown III. class
• Prussian service award cross
• Cross of Honor of the Hessian Philipps Order
• Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of Albrecht
• Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of Frederick
• Officer's Cross of the Order of the Rising Sun
• Commander of the Franz Joseph Order
• Officer of the Star of Romania
• Order of Saint Stanislaus II class with swords

literature

• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweig: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: A-G. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 , pp. 432-433.
• Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume I: A-L. Bernard & Graefe publishing house, Berlin 1935, pp. 330-332.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} 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. 93.