Günther von Kirchbach

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Günther Graf von Kirchbach

Günther Emanuel von Kirchbach , from 1887 Count von Kirchbach (born August 9, 1850 in Erfurt ; † November 6, 1925 in Bad Blankenburg ) was a Prussian officer , most recently Colonel General in World War I and Commander in Chief of Army Group "Kiev".

Life

Günther was the younger son of the Prussian general of the infantry Hugo von Kirchbach (1809-1887), who was raised to the Prussian count , hereditary after the Primogeniture , when he left on February 3, 1880 , a status elevation that ended with his death on October 6 In 1887 Günther was the only living son, as his older brother Hugo had died in 1870. His mother Anna, née Schwarz, died in Berlin in 1910.

On April 7, 1868, Kirchbach joined the Guard Fusilier Regiment of the Prussian Army as a second lieutenant and took part in the war against France in 1870/71 . He then continued his officer career and commanded the Potsdam 2nd Guards Regiment on foot from the summer of 1896 , became a colonel in early 1897 and rose to major general and commander of the 71st Infantry Brigade in Danzig in 1899 , which he led until March 1903. He was then promoted to lieutenant general and on May 18, 1903 appointed commander of the 17th division in Schwerin. Finally, on September 11, 1907, Kirchbach was promoted to General of the Infantry. From September 19, 1907 to April 2, 1911, he was Commanding General of the V Army Corps , a position that his father had also held. In August 1910 he was placed à la suite of the infantry regiment named after his father "Graf Kirchbach" and on April 7, 1911 appointed President of the Reich Military Court.

With the outbreak of the First World War , Kirchbach was appointed commanding general of the X. Reserve Corps , which was deployed in the 2nd Army (Colonel General Bülow ) on the western front . There he was wounded on August 29, 1914 in the Battle of St. Quentin and spent a short time in the hospital. He was replaced by General Johannes von Eben and reappointed President of the Reich Military Court on September 7, 1914. He held this position until his recall and appointment as Commanding General of the Landwehr Corps on September 23, 1916. At the same time he was commissioned from November 13, 1916 to lead the Woyrsch Army Group. Kirchbach was then appointed Commander-in-Chief of Army Department D on April 22, 1917 . From December 12, 1917 he was Commander-in-Chief of the 8th Army ; Successor in the army Division D was his cousin, the Saxon Colonel General Hans von Kirchbach . With effect from July 31, 1918, he was given leave of absence, but from August 8, 1918, as successor to General Field Marshal Hermann von Eichhorn after his assassination, he was given a new assignment as Commander in Chief of Army Group "Kiev", which controlled Ukraine , which had been German-occupied since February 1918 - a position that he held after the official end of the war until the withdrawal of the German associations. He was put up for discussion on February 5, 1919 and adopted into retirement.

Between 1873 and 1912, Kirchbach wrote the first edition of the family history The Sex of those von Kirchbach (first edition: Charlottenburg 1912). The second edition was supplemented by his son Hans Hugo Graf von Kirchbach (1887–1972) ( The Kirchbach family 1490–1939 , CA Starke Verlag, Görlitz 1939).

family

Kirchbach married on June 16, 1883 at Gut Sproitz ( Görlitz district ) Adda Freiin von Liliencron (born September 24, 1865 in Potsdam ; † May 2, 1951 in Bad Blankenburg), a granddaughter of General Karl von Wrangel and daughter of the royal Prussian chamberlain and Rittmeister Carl Freiherr von Liliencron, landlord on Sproitz, and the Adda Freiin von Wrangel .

Awards

literature

  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweig: 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. 197-199.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Genealogical manual of the nobility , Adelige Häuser B Volume XVII, page 217, Volume 89 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1986.
  2. ↑ Michael Holzinger (ed.), Adda von Liliencron: War and Peace. Memories from the life of an officer's wife. Holzinger, Berlin 2014 (first edition: R. Eisenschmidt, Berlin 1912), ISBN 978-1483960432 , p. 199 (online) .
  3. ↑ Michael Holzinger (ed.), Adda von Liliencron: War and Peace. Memories from the life of an officer's wife. Holzinger, Berlin 2014 (first edition: R. Eisenschmidt, Berlin 1912), ISBN 978-1483960432 , p. 230 f. (online) .
  4. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Adelslexikon Volume VI, p. 237. Volume 91 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1987.
  5. ^ A b Werner von Bock: list of the officers' corps of the 2nd Guards Regiment on foot. June 19, 1813 - May 15, 1913. R. Eisenschmidt, Berlin 1913, p. 250.
  6. ^ Military weekly paper . No. 25 of March 23, 1903. Col. 653.
  7. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Adelslexikon Volume VI, p. 237. Volume 91 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1987.
  8. ↑ Michael Holzinger (ed.), Adda von Liliencron: War and Peace. Memories from the life of an officer's wife. Holzinger, Berlin 2014 (first edition: R. Eisenschmidt, Berlin 1912), ISBN 978-1483960432 , p. 226 f. (online) .
  9. ^ Genealogical manual of the nobility , Adelige Häuser B Volume XVII, page 217, Volume 89 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1986.
personal data
SURNAME Kirchbach, Günther von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kirchbach, Günther Emanuel Graf von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian officer, most recently colonel general in World War I.
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Erfurt
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1925
Place of death Bad Blankenburg