Franz Georg von Glasenapp

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Franz Georg von Glasenapp

Franz Georg von Glasenapp (born January 18, 1857 in Labes , † August 15, 1914 in Potsdam ) was a Prussian lieutenant general and commander of the protection troops in the Reich Colonial Office ( high command of the protection forces ).

Life

family

His parents were the Prussian lieutenant colonel Friedrich Georg Julius von Glasenapp (born April 23, 1819; February 8, 1891) and his wife Therese von Glasenapp (born July 10, 1824). His father received the Prussian nobility legitimation on March 29, 1858.

Franz Georg von Glasenapp married Margarethe Calandrelli, daughter of the sculptor, member of the Senate of the Academy of Arts and professor Alexander Calandrelli on June 25, 1891 .

Military career

Glasenapp went to China in 1884 with Freiherr von der Goltz, where he worked for three years with Viceroy Li Hongzhang as a reorganizer of the troops in the Pechili province . The German instruction officers brought the Chinese troops to a considerable level of training in a short time.

In 1885 General Tseng, an important military politician in China, contacted Bismarck and asked for German support in modernizing the Chinese army. The Chancellor made Georg von Glasenapp available to him. In this context, the Krupp company set up its own agency in China in order to be able to better receive China's weapons requests on site.

After his return he was assigned to the General Staff for a long time . In 1900 he switched to the marine infantry and went on another expedition to China ( Boxer Rebellion ). Glasenapp took part in the following skirmishes: September 11, 1900 at Liang-Hsiang-Hsien , September 16, 1900 expedition to Ba-da-thsu, December 1 to 10, 1900 expedition to Thsang and Yenshau, December 5, 1900 skirmishes near Tsingtao and Yenschau. In 1904 he went with the Marine Expeditionary Corps to German South West Africa ( Herero uprising ). There were fights here on March 12 and 13, 1904 at the Ovikokorero waterhole and on April 3, 1904 near Okahawi , in the former he was slightly wounded.

Ascent and stays in China

Glasenapp joined the Colberg Grenadier Regiment "Graf Gneisenau" (2nd Pomeranian) No. 9 of the Prussian Army in Kolberg on April 23, 1874 and became ensign and second lieutenant there . From 1876 he was employed as a battalion adjutant. In 1882 he was a lecturer at the Kassel War School . On December 6, 1884, his departure was approved for the purpose of emigrating to China. In 1885 he was Premier Lieutenant in the 8th East Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 45 Insterburg , Darkehmen and was an instructor in Chinese services from 1885 to 1887. On July 28, 1887, he was employed again in the 3rd Magdeburg Infantry Regiment No. 66 . From 1890 he was captain à la suite in the Oldenburg Infantry Regiment No. 91 before he became company commander in the infantry regiment "Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau" (1st Magdeburg) No. 26 in Magdeburg in 1895 . In 1898 he rose to major . In 1899 he was appointed Railway Commissioner to Strasbourg under position à la suite of the Great General Staff of the Army .

From 1900 to 1901 he took part in the campaign in China. In 1901 he was battalion commander in the 3rd Magdeburg Infantry Regiment No. 66, before he officiated on March 4, 1902 as commander of the 2nd Sea Battalion in Wilhelmshaven.

Participation in the suppression of the Herero uprising

On January 21, 1904, the steamer Darmstadt left Wilhelmshaven and, after a fast journey , anchored in Swakopmund on February 9 . The marine expeditionary corps under Glasenapp, consisting of two companies each of the I. and III. Sea battalions as a marine infantry battalion, a machine gun division and the baggage train, plus the replacement team from SMS Habicht , arrived in Swakopmund. Altogether there were 23 officers, eight doctors and officials and around 600 men who were subordinate to his command. On February 23 and March 1, 1904, additional reinforcement transports arrived in Swakopmund. The Eastern Department under Glasenapp had the task of "cleaning up" the Gobabis district and preventing the Herero from fleeing across the eastern border. With her mostly inexperienced soldiers (412 men) the most difficult task had fallen to her. They should control an area as large as Bavaria, which the small force was overwhelmed. On February 14th, the Windhoek units set out to look for the enemy. Again and again they reached abandoned settlements (so-called “shipyards”), but the Hereros could no longer be seen. Ultimately, Glasenapp decided to follow in the footsteps of the Tetjo-Herero, who went west, and not to close the eastern border. But since their supply depot was Gobabis, the supply routes for the eastern department became longer and longer. While trying to commandeer the Tetjo-Herero herds of cattle, a reconnaissance party was ambushed under Glasenapp. The first major battle took place east of Omaruru at the waterhole at Otjihinamaparero . March 13, 1904 was the worst day of the whole campaign for the Germans. Glasenapp came with his staff, many officers and a mounted unit of 36 men in the brambles to the rearguard of the Herero, under the leadership of Mbanderu -König Tjetjo . He was surrounded in this unfavorable area, killing seven officers and thirteen men and wounding three officers and two men. This was a severe blow to the morale of the German soldiers. On April 3, 1904, the Glasenapp troops again faced large Herero groups with whom they came into a battle near Okaharui . Both sides suffered great losses. It was estimated that the German side had faced around a thousand enemy rifles. At the end of April 1904 fatal typhus broke out in the Glasenapp column, claiming almost more victims than the Herero bullets.

On May 3, 1904, Glasenapp was commissioned to lead the Marine Expeditionary Force in South West Africa. On October 12, 1904, he was released from his position as leader of the Marine Expeditionary Corps and the commander of the Marine Infantry Battalion, but in 1904 he was given supreme command of the so-called "German Schutztruppe " on land in the colony of German South West Africa. On March 16, 1905, he became commander of the 1st Maritime Battalion, before becoming inspector of the marine infantry on April 4, 1908 . On October 18, 1908, he resigned from the marine infantry. Glasenapp was then commander of the protection troops in the Reich Colonial Office until April 6, 1914 and was promoted to major general on July 19, 1911 . With pension Glasenapp was awarded the character as a lieutenant general finally to the disposition provided.

Orders and decorations

swell

  • Complete genealogy of the Old Pomeranian family of the hereditary, castle and palace residents of Glasenapp / E. von Glasenapp; Berlin 1897
  • Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon (1920), Volume I, p. 739
  • Freiburg newspaper of February 13, 1904
  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of noble houses, 1901, first year, p.333

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg Army Corps for 1913 , Ed .: War Ministry , Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Son , Berlin 1913, p. 1289
personal data
SURNAME Glasenapp, Franz Georg von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian lieutenant general, commander of the protection troops in the Reich Colonial Office
DATE OF BIRTH January 18, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Labes
DATE OF DEATH August 15, 1914
Place of death Potsdam