Friedrich Franz von Huth

Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Franz von Huth

Friedrich Franz von Huth (born February 28, 1865 in Lüneburg , † November 14, 1945 in Rostock ) was a German major general .

Life

As the son of an officer in the Hanoverian Army , after visiting the cadet corps on April 15, 1884 , Huth joined the Fusilier Regiment No. 90 in Rostock as a characterized portepee ensign . Promoted to second lieutenant in 1885 , he served as adjutant to III. Battalion, became Prime Lieutenant on September 14, 1893 and rose to company commander on March 22, 1900 with his promotion to captain . As a major , he was transferred to the staff of the Colberg Grenadier Regiment "Graf Gneisenau" (2nd Pomeranian) No. 9 in Stargard on March 22, 1912 . On October 18, 1913, he was appointed commander of the 1st Battalion in the Anhalt Infantry Regiment No. 93 in Dessau .

With this regiment, Huth moved to the Western Front after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 and made his first battle at the Gete and in the battles at Mons and Solesmes-Le Câteau. During the attack on Solesmes on August 27, 1914, Huth was badly wounded by English shrapnel . After a successful recovery, he took over the leadership of his old battalion on June 10, 1915 , which at that time was engaged in heavy defensive battles on the Lorettohöhe .

Then he was briefly used as leader of Infantry Regiment No. 165 and a field recruit depot. On October 7, 1915, he was appointed commander of the King's Infantry Regiment (6th Lorraine) No. 145 and experienced the bitter trench warfare there in the Argonne . In August 1916 he took the regiment into the battle for Verdun and the battle for the heights of Thiaumont-Fleury . After further trench warfare in the Argonne and the Vosges , he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on March 22, 1917 and led his regiment in the double battle Aisne - Champagne . After rejecting defensive battles and successful counter-attacks, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords in July 1917 .

After trench warfare near Reims , the operation in Flanders took place in August 1917 , when the regiment prevented all attempts at breakthrough by English troops at Gheluvelt and Hooge. On August 14th, Huth led counterattacks and captured the English base Nonneboschen with his regiment. After another English counterattack in the late autumn of 1917 near Cambrai , Huth ordered the counteroffensive on November 30th in which his regiment penetrated far into the opposing defensive lines and captured several enemy batteries . For these achievements, on January 31, 1918, Huth was awarded the highest Prussian bravery award, the Order Pour le Mérite , on the following grounds :

“... After a thrust more than 6 km deep, hostile and far superior infantry masses, accompanied by tank squadrons, cavalry and strongest artillery, advanced to a comprehensive counter-attack. Defending every step, the regiment went back in perfect order as far as the forest near Villers-Guislain and repulsed all attacks there. On the evening of December 1, 1917, the regiment was at the furthest forward post on the attack front. The incomparable behavior of the regiment is above all Lieutenant Colonel v. Huth, who with exemplary loyalty to the King's Infantry Regiment No. 145 in three years of war has put the stamp of his personality on and has repeatedly led it in the most imperturbable manner in the most difficult situations. "

After the Great Battles in France and further retreat skirmishes, Huth led the remnants of his regiment back home after the armistice . On January 25, 1919, Huth was called to Dessau to handle the demobilization of the Anhalt Infantry Regiment No. 93, where he was dismissed from military service on July 31, 1920, conferring the character of a colonel .

Huth received the character of Major General on August 27, 1939, the so-called Tannenberg Day.

literature

• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 2: HO. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2003, ISBN 3-7648-2516-2 , pp. 142-143.
• Hanns Möller-Witten : History of the knights of the order "pour le mérite" in the world war. Volume I: A-L. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Berlin 1935, pp. 521-523.
• Friedrich Wilhelm Isenburg: The King's Infantry Regiment (6th Lothring.) No. 145 in the Great War 1914-1918. Verlag Klasing & Co, Berlin 1922/23.

1. From mobilization to evacuation for the Battle of Cambrai (November 21, 1917).
2. From the arrival in the area of ​​the 2nd Army (November 22, 1917) to demobilization and dissolution.