George of Dormus

Georg Ritter von Dormus (born January 7, 1853 in Olmütz , ( Moravia ), † June 27, 1940 in Vienna ) was an Austrian field marshal lieutenant and weapons technician.

Life and military career

Dormus was the offspring of an old Austrian family of officers, with which profession and career were already mapped out. So Dormus graduated from the Imperial and Royal Technical Military Academy in the Viennese collegiate barracks and was retired on September 1, 1871 as a lieutenant in the fortress artillery battalion. This was followed by the classic career of an artillery officer with a visit to the higher artillery course and the artillery shooting school. In 1873 he was transferred to the 9th Silesian Field Artillery Regiment, where he was promoted to first lieutenant of the artillery in 1877 . From 1881 he returned to the Austro-Hungarian Technical Military Academy as a teacher of weapons science, where he taught among other things Archduke Leopold Salvator , son of Karl Salvator , with whom he would later work.

In 1882 he was promoted to captain , in 1891 transferred to the 14th Lower Austrian-Moravian Corps Artillery Regiment, and in 1893 he was promoted to major. Only two years later, Dormus was promoted to commandant of the 30th Artillery Division, and at the same time he was promoted to lieutenant colonel . From 1896 he belonged to the artillery staff of the 7th department in the Imperial and Royal Ministry of War “Organization and administration of artillery weapons and artillery equipment”.

In 1902 Dormus became the commandant of the corps artillery regiment No. 3 "Archduke Wilhelm" in Graz . In 1905 he was promoted to major general, and from 1907 to 1911 he was in command of the Austro-Hungarian Technical Military Academy, which in the meantime (1904) had moved from the monastery barracks to Mödling . Two years before his retirement, in 1912, Georg von Dormus was promoted to field marshal lieutenant.

Georg Ritter von Dormus was married and had a son and a daughter. He died very old on June 27, 1940 in Vienna.

Weapons technician and designer

Georg von Dormus made a name for himself primarily as a weapon designer and technician. Together with Archduke Karl Salvator, after a few modifications, he was able to demonstrate a mitrailleuse to the Reich Ministry of War in 1888, which was used under the abbreviation "Salvator / Dormus" as Mitrailleuse M.93 in the equipment of the monarchy's permanent places. The patent for the “Salvator / Dormus” system was finally purchased and produced by Škoda in Pilsen . The weapon was only replaced by the Schwarzlose machine gun in the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1907 .

Another project (even if not so successful from a contemporary point of view), which arose in collaboration with the Archduke, was the "Repetierpistole System Carl Salvator and Georg Ritter von Dormus" or even just "Repetierpistole Dormus" , since the Archduke had it in the year of Original died in 1892. It is one of the earliest, possibly even the earliest, self-loading pistol systems. Only 50 of this weapon were produced, including 31 for a troop test which took place in 1897. Among other things, the handling turned out to be “too complicated” for the troops, and there would be repeated “jamming of cartridges” between the hold and the breech block. The system was therefore not introduced into the troops.

literature

Dormus Georg von. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957, p. 197.
Josef Mötz, Joschi Schuy: From the origin of the self-loading pistol. Repeater and self-loading pistols in Austria-Hungary from 1884 to 1918. Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-9502342-0-6 .
Christian Ortner : The Austro-Hungarian artillery from 1867 to 1918. Technology, organization and combat methods. Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-902526-12-0 .

Individual evidence

^ Christian Ortner: The Austro-Hungarian Artillery from 1867 to 1918. Technology, organization and combat procedures, Vienna 2007, p. 141.
↑ Josef Mötz, Joschi Schuy: From the origin of the self-loading pistol. Repeater and self-loading pistols in Austria-Hungary from 1884 to 1918, Vienna 2007, p. 216 f.
↑ Michael R. Lorenz: Biographical data on mlorenz.at
↑ Josef Mötz, Joschi Schuy: From the origin of the self-loading pistol. Repeater and self-loading pistols in Austria-Hungary from 1884 to 1918, Vienna 2007, p. 216 f.
^ Christian Ortner: The Austro-Hungarian Artillery from 1867 to 1918. Technology, organization and combat procedures , Vienna 2007, p. 141.
↑ Josef Mötz, Joschi Schuy: From the origin of the self-loading pistol. Repeater and self-loading pistols in Austria-Hungary from 1884 to 1918, Vienna 2007, p. 217.

Web links

Biographical data on mlorenz.at

personal data
SURNAME	Dormus, Georg von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Dormus, Georg Ritter von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austrian field marshal lieutenant and weapons technician
DATE OF BIRTH	January 7, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH	Olomouc
DATE OF DEATH	June 27, 1940
Place of death	Vienna

[1] Christian Ortner: The Austro-Hungarian Artillery from 1867 to 1918. Technology, organization and combat procedures, Vienna 2007, p. 141.

[2] Josef Mötz, Joschi Schuy: From the origin of the self-loading pistol. Repeater and self-loading pistols in Austria-Hungary from 1884 to 1918, Vienna 2007, p. 216 f.

[3] Michael R. Lorenz: Biographical data on mlorenz.at

[4] Josef Mötz, Joschi Schuy: From the origin of the self-loading pistol. Repeater and self-loading pistols in Austria-Hungary from 1884 to 1918, Vienna 2007, p. 216 f.

[5] Christian Ortner: The Austro-Hungarian Artillery from 1867 to 1918. Technology, organization and combat procedures , Vienna 2007, p. 141.

[6] Josef Mötz, Joschi Schuy: From the origin of the self-loading pistol. Repeater and self-loading pistols in Austria-Hungary from 1884 to 1918, Vienna 2007, p. 217.