Fritz Rümmelein

Memorial plaque on Fritz Rümmelein's birthplace in Zwiesel

Fritz Rümmelein (born August 9, 1895 in Zwiesel ; † November 4, 1918 near Orsinval , France) was a German lieutenant who was awarded the Pour le Mérite in the First World War .

Life

Fritz Rümmelein was the son of the Zwiesel sawmill owner Heinrich Rümmelein and his wife Karolina nee. Ranger. He worked as an intern in a timber trading factory in Hanau before he volunteered at the reserve battalion of Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 88 in Hanau when the war broke out in August 1914. After completing his training, he served at the front in October 1914.

In February 1915 he was sent to the officers course and in March was promoted to lieutenant in the reserve. In October 1915 he was promoted to leader of the 9th Company in the battalion of Captain Karl von Wenkstern , and from May 1, 1916 he worked as an adjutant of the 3rd Battalion Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 87.

Rümmelein was considered an exemplary soldier by his comrades and superiors. As an award for his bravery, he received the Iron Cross II and I Class, the Knight's Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern and the Hessian Medal of Bravery .

Rümmelein showed unusual steadfastness in the fighting of retreat in October 1918. At Croisilles he made a decisive contribution to the endurance of his battalion, which was enclosed for two days. On October 3, at Beaurevoir, he held the enemy in check with a machine gun until the last moment and then evaded capture when the enemy had already come within 20 m. Finally, on October 9th, with a detachment of two officers , five non-commissioned officers and 18 men assembled from the remains of the regiment, he prevented the enemy, who had already overrun the main battle line, from breaking through. Rümmelein brought neighboring, already retreating troops to a halt and organized a new line of resistance so that an orderly return to the prepared containment position was possible.

Due to the corresponding description of Rümmelein's performance by his regimental commander, Colonel Freiherr von Reitzenstein , Fritz Rümmelein was awarded the Pour le Mérite on October 28, 1918 . This made him the only battalion adjutant to receive this award. Rümmelein fell on November 4th during the last battle of his regiment against the English through a shrapnel. After the end of the war, his comrades brought the body home, where Rümmelein was buried in the family crypt. At a memorial service, a plaque was placed on the house where he was born.

literature

• Ralf Georg Reuth , Konstantin Sakkas: "In the great war. Life and death of Lieutenant Fritz Rümmelein". Piper, Munich 2014. ISBN 978-3-492-05682-3
• Josef Schaller: Chronik Zwiesel , Verlag A. Maier, Zwiesel 1993, p. 304f.