Ernst Detlof von Krassow

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Ernst Detlof von Krassow (* around 1660 in Pansevitz , Rügen ; † January 23, 1714 in Harburg ) was an officer in the Swedish service, most recently in the rank of lieutenant general .

Life

Ernst Detlof Krassow was born in Swedish-Pomerania as a son of Christian Krassow (* around 1620, † 1671), Herr auf Pansevitz , and his second wife Margarethe von Holstein († around 1680).

He entered the Swedish military service at an early age and in 1677 was accepted as an ensign in the foot bodyguard that was deployed in Skåne during the war against Denmark . He took part in the Battle of Landskrona and distinguished himself in the autumn of the same year when he stormed a ski jump in Kristianstad . The following year he was promoted to lieutenant. After the Peace of Nijmegen , the Life Guard went to Stockholm in 1679 .

War of the Palatinate Succession

In 1688 he was promoted to major in the Erskin Regiment. This belonged to a 6000 man strong corps that of the Swedish King Charles XI. was sent to support the States General in the Palatinate War of Succession ; Krasov himself enlisted a battalion . After the screening of the troops in the pen Bremen the Erskinsche regiment went Maastricht in garrison . It was only used in the Battle of Fleurus in 1690 when it had to cover the retreat of the defeated Allied troops. After regiment chief Carl Gustav Erskine had fallen and his deputy Jöran Johan Knorring was captured, Krassow took over command. He only surrendered when the regiment consisted of only about 30 soldiers and one non-commissioned officer and he was wounded. Georg Friedrich zu Waldeck , the commander of the Allied troops, thanked him personally for his commitment . William III. of Orange appointed him lieutenant colonel. Krassow was one of the few officers captured by the French who were allowed to stay in Paris; the winner of Fleurus, François-Henri de Montmorency-Luxembourg , introduced him to the French king.

On the night of his release from captivity, he went back to Maastricht, where his regiment, which was now led by Knorring, was re-established. It was not used again until 1694, especially during the siege and conquest of the Huy Fortress . In 1695 Krassow commanded the regiment during the siege of Namur, as Knorring was sick. After the conquest of Namur, William III promoted. him to the colonel. He became chief of the regiment. After the Peace of Rijswijk in 1697, Krassow returned to Pomerania via the Bremen Abbey and devoted himself to managing his estates.

Great Northern War

In October 1699 he traveled to Sweden, where he was commissioned to set up a dragoon regiment. He recruited this until May 1700 in Hamburg . The regiment was first sent to the counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst to collect contributions. After the Peace of Traventhal it initially remained in the Bremen area.

In 1702 the Krassow Regiment belonged to a corps that Nils Gyllenstierna brought together near Stettin and that was used to reinforce the army of Charles XII. was posted to Poland . In 1704 Krassow led the center of the attacking troops during the conquest of Lemberg and was seriously wounded. It was not until the beginning of November 1704 that he was able to take command of his regiment again, which soon after took part in the battle of Punitz . After the Swedes had moved into their winter quarters along the Silesian border, Krassow traveled to Pomerania and Rügen to clarify family and inheritance matters.

It was not until 1706 that he and his regiment belonged to the troops of General Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld who won the battle of Fraustadt . A little later he was promoted to major general. While Charles XII. In the summer of 1706 , when his troops marched into the Electorate of Saxony , Krassow's regiment stayed behind as part of a 6000-strong force under Arvid Axel Mardefelt to defend Greater Poland. Krassow advocated facing the Saxon-Russian troops at Kalisch . However, the Battle of Kalisch ended in the defeat of the Swedes and their Polish allies. While Mardefelt was captured, Krassow managed to escape with about 500 men and retreat to Posen . For his commitment, Charles XII raised him. on March 21, 1707 in the Swedish barons.

In 1708 he commanded an auxiliary corps that remained in Poland to protect the Polish king Stanislaus I. Leszczyński and was reinforced by further troops in 1709. After the defeat of Charles XII. Leszczyński's position was clearly weakened in the Battle of Poltava . Finally, Krassow also had to withdraw from Poland. Although prohibited by Prussia and prevented from buying provisions, he marched with his troops through Western Pomerania to Swedish Pomerania.

In autumn 1710 he received a seat and vote in the Swedish government in Pomerania . In 1711 the Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Army in Germany, Mauritz Vellingk , gave him military command in Swedish Pomerania. However, he was unable to counter the numerically superior Danish, Russian and Saxon troops marching into Pomerania in the summer of 1711.

In 1712 he was temporarily given the command of high command in Wismar and the post of lieutenant governor. His successor in Swedish Pomerania was Karl Gustav Düker . In the same year he was given command of the Swedish troops in Bremen and Verden. The Commander-in-Chief Vellingk sent him to negotiate in the Electorate of Hanover to seek political support against an expected Danish invasion of the Swedish territories. In 1713 he was promoted to lieutenant general. After the Danish troops landed near Stade , he followed Vellingk to Hamburg. He spent his last lifetime there, as well as in Holstein and Harburg. He died in Harburg at the beginning of 1714 as a result of gout and stone disease. His body was only transferred to Rügen at the end of the year. He was in the presence of Charles XII. buried with military honors in the Gingster Church . Its epitaph was destroyed in a fire in the church in 1726.

Family and offspring

His brother was General Adam Philipp von Krassow from Mecklenburg . Ernst Detlof von Krassow had been married to Auguste Wilhelmine von Wolffrath († 1721), daughter of the Imperial Councilor and resident of the Electorate of Cologne, Adolph Edler von Wolffrath, from around 1687. The two had three daughters and one son:

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julius von Bohlen : History of the noble, baronial and counts of the family of Krassow. Part 1: Genealogy, property etc. Schneider, 1853, pp. 33–36 ( books.google.de ).
  2. ↑ Julius von Bohlen : History of the noble, baronial and counts of the family of Krassow. Part 1: Genealogy, real estate, etc. Schneider, 1853, pp. 99-104 ( /books.google.de ).
personal data
SURNAME Krassow, Ernst Detlof from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Krassow, Ernst Detlof
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish general
DATE OF BIRTH around 1660
PLACE OF BIRTH Pansevitz
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1714
Place of death Harburg