Friedrich Gottlieb von Laurens

Friedrich Gottlieb von Laurens (born November 18, 1736 in Halle (Saale) , † August 15, 1803 in Ansbach ) was a Prussian major general and chief of infantry regiment No. 56 .

Life

origin

His parents were Friedrich Johann von Laurens (* 1703; † July 13, 1751), major in the pioneer regiment "Seers" No. 49 , and his wife Dorothea Elisabeth Bertram from Halle.

Military career

Laurens came in 1756 as a corporal in infantry regiment No. 5 of the Prussian Army . During the Seven Years' War he took part in the battles near Roßbach , Leuthen , Liegnitz and Hochkirch as well as in the sieges of Prague, Breslau, Olomouc and Dresden. At that time he became ensign on October 27, 1759 and second lieutenant on November 26, 1760 .

After the war he was on June 9, 1766 First Lieutenant , and on January 5, 1770 Adjutant at Lieutenant General of Saldern . On March 22, 1773 he became staff captain , on June 23, 1777 captain and company commander in Regiment No. 5. Laurens participated as such in the War of the Bavarian Succession . On October 14, 1781, he was transferred to Infantry Regiment No. 11 as a major with a patent from October 14, 1781 . On December 23, 1784, he became commander of the grenadier battalion (previously von Hausen ). On August 24, 1790 Laurens became lieutenant colonel and on December 23, 1790 commander of the infantry regiment "Jung-Schwerin" No. 26 . In a review in 1792 he received the order Pour le Mérite . On May 25, 1792 he was promoted to colonel , shortly afterwards on June 12, 1792 he was sent on vacation for six weeks to Bad Lauchstädt . Laurens fought in Poland in 1794 . On April 5, 1796, he became chief of the 56th Infantry Regiment. On May 30, 1798, he became major general. On June 6, 1803, he was sent to Bad Pyrmont for two months because of his poor health .

Laurens died unmarried on August 15, 1803 in Ansbach.

Regiment No. 56

The regiment was only brought into Prussian service by its previous boss, Christoph Ludwig Rudolph von Reitzenstein . It was an award that Laurens received this regiment. He was a good soldier and was also very popular in his Ansbach garrison. The regiment also had a special feature: many of the soldiers and NCOs were deserters who had fled the Ansbach army before the troops were shipped to America in 1777. In 1802 the government demanded the extradition of 162 deserters; should they not appear in court, the property should be confiscated and the name on the gallows. Desertion was also under severe punishment in the Prussian Army, but King Friedrich Wilhelm III. was very irritated that after such a long time they wanted to bring about a process ( Ansbach-Bayreuth had become Prussian in 1791). He decreed that all trials against soldiers who deserted before 1794 must be stopped. So it went in the sand.

literature

• Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldier leadership . Volume 3, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1937], DNB 367632780 , p. 26, no. 949.