Georg Heinrich von Priem

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Georg Heinrich Priem , von Priem since 1857 (born November 13, 1794 in Vietz , † July 13, 1870 in Berlin ) was a Prussian major general and played a key role in the introduction of the needle gun in the Prussian army .

Life

origin

His parents were the forester Friedrich Ewald Priem and his wife Anna Luise, nee Großkreuz.

Military career

Priem joined the 4th Company of the Guard Jäger Battalion of the Prussian Army on December 28, 1808 . On June 1, 1813, he was transferred as a second lieutenant to the 1st Neumärkische Landwehr Infantry Regiment, with which Priem participated in the sieges of Stettin, Wittenberg, Grokum and Soissons during the Wars of Liberation . For the assault on Arnhem Priem received the Iron Cross 2nd class. He also fought at Großbeeren , Laon , Hoogstraaten and Compiegne. At Dennewitz and Antwerp he was wounded.

After the war, Priem rose to prime lieutenant in mid-June 1815 and was aggregated to the Rhenish Rifle Battalion on February 27, 1816 . On January 12, 1817 he was then transferred to the 20th Infantry Regiment, where he became a captain and company commander on November 28, 1820 . On March 30, 1834 he was promoted to major and came as commander of the III. Battalions in the 8th Landwehr Regiment. From mid-November 1839 Priem was assigned to the rifle factory in Spandau for a year. On April 7, 1842, he was made available to the Minister of War and aggregated to the 8th Landwehr Regiment. He was born on March 30, 1844 to lieutenant colonel , and on March 27, 1847. Colonel promoted. On April 6, 1852 he received his departure with the character as major general.

For his co-invention of the needle gun, he was raised to the hereditary Prussian nobility on June 23, 1857. After the German War , on September 17, 1866, he received the Order of the Red Eagle, Second Class with Oak Leaves, in recognition of the services he had rendered to the superior arming of the Prussian army. The inventor, Dreyse , who was appointed secret commissioner , was also honored.

He died in Berlin on July 13, 1870 and was buried in the garrison cemetery.

Needle gun

Priem was a well-known weapons expert. In 1830 his fusilier battalion was in Sömmerda in Quartier, where he found a special hunting rifle. It was a needle gun (still as a muzzle loader) that Dreyse had built from Sömmerda. Priem immediately recognized the military value and asked Dreyse why he had not offered the rifle to the military. He replied that he had received two rejections. Therefore his partner Collenbusch traveled to Württemberg to negotiate a sale with a captain Schwab.

Priem received one of the prototypes, which he further improved in Erfurt and then presented to General von Thile to his division commander . The latter sent him on to General von Witzleben in Berlin. He was also a weapons connoisseur and persuaded the Minister of War von Hake to order ten rifles for inspection. Shot tests were carried out in autumn. The army had actually just finished the experiments with the percussion rifle and only Colonel von Neumann and Captain Herwarth von Bittenfeld were convinced of the new invention.

In 1832 Witzleben requested further rifles, with these further tests were carried out until 1834. At the end of 1834 an order for 1,100 rifles was placed. The proponents had meanwhile the commander of the III. Army Corps - Prince Wilhelm of Prussia - brought on their side. The rifle was introduced slowly at first, until September 1840, 60,000 rifles had been ordered.

In 1842 a new type of rifle appeared, the Thouvenin rifle , introduced by Major Pallon. Therefore Major Priem was assigned to the Minister of War to accompany the comparisons. General von Peucker , who was in charge of the experiments, then decided to introduce the needle gun. Priem was now given the task of introducing the weapon into the troops, and by his retirement in 1852 all units had been converted.

family

Priem married Henriette Maria Priem (1795–1843), a daughter of the war council August Wilhelm Priem, in Berlin on September 1, 1821. After the death of his first wife, he married Adelheid Friederike Karoline Ernstine von Tresckow (1808–1850), the daughter of Lieutenant General Ernst Christian Albert von Tresckow, on June 2, 1845 in Königsberg . The couple had several children:

  • Maria Wilhelmine Henriette Charlotte (1846–1860)
  • Anna Julie Marianne Karoline (1847–1887) ⚭ January 16, 1867 Konrad von der Groeben
  • Georg Albert (1850–1920) ⚭ September 27, 1879 Theresa Marie Friederike Karoline Freiin von Plettenberg (1855–1944)
  • Adelheid Henriette (1850–1875) ⚭ October 26, 1867 Hermann Freiherr Hofer von Lobenstein (1835–1896), district judge, son of Major General Hermann Hofer von Lobenstein

Finally, on July 25, 1854, he married the younger sister of his wife Ernestine Sophie Ulrike von Tresckow (1812-1893).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ New military sheets: Monthly for Army and Navy, Volume 5, p. 344.
  2. ^ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Nobeligen houses. 1904. Fifth year, Justus Perthes, Gotha 1903, p. 839.
  3. Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Freiherrlichen Häuser to the year 1870. Twentieth year, p. 365.