Gerhard Mauritz von Schlaun

Gerhard Mauritz Schlaun (from 1788 Schlaun von Linden , from 1790 Freiherr von Schlaun ; * 1742 in Münster , † September 21, 1825 in Besanez ) was a German officer. He last served in the imperial army with the rank of field marshal lieutenant .

Life

He was the son of the baroque master builder and major general Johann Conrad Schlaun . His mother was Anna Catherina (née Rehrmann). Nothing is known about Gerhard Mauritz's school education.

In 1758 at the time of the Seven Years' War he joined the Imperial Army as a volunteer . He was present at the siege and conquest of the Sunshine Fortress in Saxony . A short time later he was wounded for the first time. In 1759 he was caught by surprise on the part of the Imperial troops by a Hanoverian Jäger Corps. He spent a short time in captivity. After his release he switched to the Austrian regiment Hoch- und Deutschmeister as an ensign . At that time, the owner was his sovereign Clemens August von Bayern .

In 1759 he had a special job to do. He was assigned to the small French garrison of Munster as a local expert. He witnessed the blockade and finally the bombing of the city in September. He probably took part in the fighting himself. Then he rejoined his regiment, which was in Bohemia. As a result, he took part in a number of skirmishes and battles. He was certified as "hearty" and "presence of mind". Later in 1761, months of uneventful maneuvering went by. In 1762 there were again some skirmishes before he was captured after the siege of Schweidnitz . That was how the war ended for him.

At least for a time he returned to Münster. He later served on the border between the Habsburg sphere of influence and the Ottoman Empire . When his father made a preliminary division in 1766, he was referred to as a major in the documents . In his father's will of 1771 he was named lieutenant colonel . After Schlaun's death in 1773, he inherited his parents' house in Münster, among other things, before he sold it a short time later. At that time he was lieutenant colonel in the imperial 2nd Wallachian infantry regiment. In the following years he also served on the military border or in the border area between Bohemia and Silesia.

In 1787 he was major general in the war against the Ottoman Empire . He distinguished himself particularly in 1788 during the siege of the Dubica fortress . He was badly wounded in the storm and was close to death. After its recovery, he took part in other military operations. Under the chairmanship of Joseph II , the chapter of the order awarded him the Maria Theresa Order in 1788 . Associated with this was the elevation to the nobility.

In 1790 he had the rank of sergeant general and was a brigadier . He was raised to the baron status at that time. He was stationed on the Croatian border. In 1794 he was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal . In 1794 he married Countess Josepha Christiana Keglevich. The marriage produced a daughter. In 1797 he was transferred to Transylvania . There he served in the army until his retirement in 1808. Associated with the dismissal was the character of a field witness .

literature

• Margret Nolte: Rise of the Westphalian military - knights of the Maria Theresa Order in Austria / Hungary in the 2nd half of the 18th century . In: Westfälische Zeitschrift Vol. 131/132 1981/82 pp. 389-400
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Schlaun von Linden, Moriz Gerhard Freiherr . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 30th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1875, p. 55 ( digitized version ).