Königsberg garrison in Prussia
The Königsberg garrison was a Prussian troop base . The exposed location of Königsberg and the unsecured state borders of East Prussia made it particularly important for over three hundred years.
history
Duchy of Prussia
In the Duchy of Prussia , Georg Wilhelm founded Infantry Regiment No. 1 in Königsberg in 1619 . In 1642, Königsberg became the troop base of the Electoral Life Guard on Foot , the main troop of Grenadier Regiment No. 4 . Since Swedes were grazing in front of the city walls, Grenadier Regiment No. 1 was set up.
Kingdom of Prussia
In the Kingdom of Prussia , the troop display took place on the Kalthöfer site in 1721 . In 1741 the Ècole militaire was established. After the lost battle near Groß-Jägersdorf , Field Marshal General Johann von Lehwaldt vacated Königsberg and East Prussia, which was occupied by the Russians from 1758 to 1762.
In 1796 the 1st field artillery regiment was set up. When Königsberg was shelled by Napoleonic troops in 1807 , General Ernst von Rüchel evacuated the city without a fight. Yorck von Wartenburg occupied the city on January 8, 1813. A little later he called for the establishment of the East Prussian Landwehr .
In 1855 the dragoon barracks in the previous stables became the accommodation of the cuirassier regiment "Count Wrangel" (East Prussian) No. 3 . After the fortress and field artillery were separated in 1864, the foot artillery regiment "von Linger" (East Prussian) No. 1 was created .
The German Imperium
After the Franco-Prussian War , the victorious troops entered Königsberg in 1871. The infantry regiment "Herzog Karl von Mecklenburg-Strelitz" (6th East Prussian) No. 43 , set up after 1861, had three battalions . After 1871 the I. and III. a new barracks on the drum square. The second was in Pillau . In 1873 the cuirassier barracks was built on the Tragheim . In 1874 the artillery received the Karschau and Altenberg firing ranges . In 1876 the Königsberg garrison had 5800 men and 1100 horses.
In 1879 the hospital was built on Yorckstrasse. In 1880 the new commandant's office was built on the Hinterroßgarten. After the construction of the Train barracks (1881), from 1882 onwards there were no more soldiers in civil quarters . From 1887 there were not only mounted riders but also riders with velocipedes . The Pioneer Battalion No. 1 set up in Gdansk in 1819 was relocated to Königsberg in 1889.
In 1891 the officers' mess was built in the governor's house. In 1893 the Samland Pioneer Battalion No. 18 and in 1899 the 2nd East Prussian Field Artillery Regiment No. 52 were set up.
In 1907 the small cruiser SMS Königsberg visited his sponsored town.
The 1st East Prussian Field Artillery Regiment No. 16 received new barracks in Cranzer Allee in 1910, the Grenadier Regiment No. 3 in 1914. In 1910 the flag was handed over and the last imperial maneuver took place in Devau . In 1914 the Train barracks in Ponarth was completed. In the same year, one company each from the Flieger- and Luftschiffer-Battalion with Parseval 3 and Zeppelin 5 came to the airship hangar in Klein Amalienau .
When the First World War broke out , the provincial capital of East Prussia had auxiliary hospitals in the city theater , in the box houses , in the town hall , in the trade union building, in the advanced training school, in the building trade school and in the Hotel Deutsches Haus .
Weimar Republic
The infantry regiment "Duke Karl von Mecklenburg-Strelitz" (6th East Prussian) No. 43 was disbanded in 1919. Even after East Prussia was separated from the Reich by the Polish Corridor , Königsberg remained a fortress and the largest garrison in the republic. Higher staffs were the military district command I , the 1st division , the artillery leader I and the fortress command. In addition, the following units were garrisoned in the city :
- The 1st (Prussian) Infantry Regiment was with the 1st Battalion and the 13th Company ( mine thrower ) in the grenadier barracks Cranzer Allee and with the training battalion in the drum square barracks. In the army , the regiment was from 1935 with 14 companies in the grenadier barracks Cranzer Allee.
- 2nd (Prussian) cavalry regiment :
- 6th Squadron
- Regimental staff, 2nd division and training battery
- 1st (Prussian) Pioneer Battalion
- 1. (Prussian) news department
- 1. (Prussian) motor vehicle department:
- Staff, 1st and 3rd companies
- 1. (Prussian) driving department:
- Staff and 4th Squadron
- 1. (Prussian) medical department
artillery
After the army reform in 1864, the field artillery regiment 1 and the fortress artillery regiment 1 were formed in Königsberg. In 1890 the Artillery Regiment 16 was set up, for which a barracks was built west of the Haberberg Church . Finally, in 1899, the Field Artillery Regiment 52 was set up. In 1910, the Field Artillery Regiment 16 was able to move into new barracks in Cranzer Allee and Kanonenweg. In 1919 the three artillery regiments were disbanded. From 1920 the Artillery Regiment 1 with the II. Division and the training battery was located in Cranzer Allee .
Grenadiers
The Kronprinz Grenadier Regiment (1st East Prussian) No. 1 was set up in 1655. It was considered the Königsberg house regiment. At the end of the 1840s, the regiment moved into the defensions barracks in Herzogsacker. The grenadier regiment "Friedrich Wilhelm I." No. 3 had been with two battalions in the northern bastions of the Wallring since 1890. In 1914 the whole regiment was able to move into a modern barracks building on Cranzer Allee. In 1919 both regiments were disbanded.
Commanders
- Eugene Keyler
- Günther von Pappritz appointed on October 1, 1913
- Hans von Brandenstein , from June 15, 1921 to April 30, 1922
- Otto Lasch , in the Battle of Königsberg (1945)
Churches and cemeteries
The old military cemetery was on the east side of Labiauer Straße in front of the Königstor . The New Military Cemetery had been on the north side of Tapiauer Strasse in front of the Sackheimer Tor since 1870 . In the middle of World War II, the remains of the poet Walter Flex, who fell on Ösel in 1916, were reburied in the New Military Cemetery.
Military music
The elevator of the guard in front of the Königsberg Castle with the subsequent concert at the Königsberg Castle pond was a popular spectacle. The music bands of the seven Königsberg regiments and the two pioneer battalions and the concerts they organized were popular, especially the garden concerts at the Schlossteich, in Luisenhöh and in the Königsberger Tiergarten as well as in winter on the ice rink of the Ice Skaters Club .
Two music masters were known from the time of Wilhelm I : Albert Krantz from Infantry Regiment No. 43 and Gustav Sabac el Cher from the Crown Prince Regiment . Even during the Weimar period , the garrison had six military bands, which played mainly in four castle pond gardens and in the zoo. The long-time master musician Hermann Gareis was known .
literature
- Herbert Meinhard Mühlpfordt : Königsberg from A to Z. A city dictionary. Rise Publishing House. Munich 1972. ISBN 3-7612-0092-7 .
- Denis Dunajewski: The garrison in Königsberg / Prussia 1255-1945 . ISBN 978-609-8180-21-3 .
Web links
- Grenadier Regiment No. 4
- Infantry Regiment Duke Karl von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (6th East Prussian) No. 43
- Foot artillery regiment von Linger (East Prussian) No. 1
- 2nd East Prussian Field Artillery Regiment No. 52
- 1st East Prussian Field Artillery Regiment No. 16