Gustav von Kessel (General, 1846)

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Gustav von Kessel

Gustav Emil Bernhard Bodo von Kessel (born April 6, 1846 in Potsdam , † May 28, 1918 in Berlin ) was a Prussian Colonel General , Commander in Chief in the Marches and Governor of Berlin .

Life

origin

Gustav was the son of the later Prussian major general Emil von Kessel (* March 21, 1804 in Potsdam; † November 8, 1870 there) and his wife Julie Elise, nee Freiin von Canstein , widowed von Buddenbrock (* August 4, 1808 in Eschwege ; † May 6, 1895 in Potsdam).

Military career

Kessel attended high schools in Poznan , Danzig and Opole and graduated from the Liegnitz Knight Academy . On May 1, 1864, he became a grenadier in the 1st Guards Regiment on Foot of the Prussian Army . A year later, he was promoted to second lieutenant .

He fought in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and was foot wounded in the Battle of Königgrätz . In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 he was adjutant to his uncle, Colonel Bernhard von Kessel . In the battle of Gravelotte and St. Privat he suffered an upper arm wound. His recovery dragged on until the end of the war, after which he returned to his regiment .

In 1872, Kessel was promoted to Prime Lieutenant. He then attended the Prussian War Academy from 1873 to 1874 . Then he was transferred to the General Staff . In 1878 he took over as chief of a company , as he was promoted to captain . He took over command of the Leibcompanie as a commander in 1881. Two years later he was appointed adjutant to Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm . In 1885 he was promoted to major . To the wing adjutant of Emperor Friedrich III. he was appointed in 1888, and after his death he took this position with Kaiser Wilhelm II . He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1889, with which he became commander of the castle company the following year. In 1891 he was promoted to colonel . He was appointed commander of the 1st Guards Regiment on Foot in 1893. In 1896 he was promoted to major general and serving general à la suite of his majesty.

In the following year, Kessel took command of the 1st Guard Infantry Brigade and was appointed Commandant of Potsdam . He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1899, associated with the position of adjutant general of the emperor. At the same time he took over command of the 2nd Guard Division on March 25, 1899 , and from January 27, 1900, he led the 1st Guard Division . From January 1902 to May 28, 1909 he was commanding general of the Guard Corps .

From 1909 to 1918 Kessel was Commander-in-Chief in the Marken and Governor of Berlin . In the years of the First World War from 1914 onwards he had executive power over Berlin. When there was social unrest in Berlin from 1916 onwards due to the poor supply situation, he wanted to supply the hungry with soup kitchens. When the strike riots broke out in Berlin in January 1918, he used military measures against the strikers and thus suppressed the strike.

Announcement - Emperor's Declaration of War - August 4, 1914.jpg

After his death in May 1918, Colonel General Alexander von Linsingen took over the post of governor in Berlin.

family

In his first marriage, Kessel married Friederike (Frieda) Freiin von Esebeck on September 22, 1877 in Potsdam (born August 14, 1854 in Berlin; † February 12, 1913 there), the daughter of the Prussian major Karl Freiherr von Esebeck and Klara von Rothkirch and panthers. In 1911 the couple lived in Berlin at Kurfürstendamm 252. The painter Elisabeth von Kessel (1893–1980), married to Martin Möller in Swakopmund ( Namibia ), came from this marriage . Four years after the death of his first wife, Kessel was married for a second time on April 30, 1917 in Berlin, just one year before his death, Katharina von Borstell (born March 16, 1878 on Gut Groß-Schwarzlosen , district of Stendal ; † 2. July 1951 in Stendal ), the daughter of Walter von Borstell, Fideikommissherr on Groß-Schwarzlosen and others, and Martha von Böhlendorff-Kölpin.

Awards

Kessel was chief of the infantry regiment "Graf Tauentzien von Wittenberg" (3rd Brandenburg) No. 20 . For his many years of service he had also been awarded many medals and decorations . So z. B .:

Fonts

  • The training of the Prussian Infantry Battalion in practical service , Berlin 1863 ( read book online )
  • History of the Royal Prussian First Guard Regiment on Foot 1857–1871 , Berlin 1881

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914. Ed .: War Ministry . Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Son . Berlin 1914. p. 45.
personal data
SURNAME Kessel, Gustav von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kessel, Gustav Emil Bernhard Bodo von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Colonel General and Governor of Berlin
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH Potsdam
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 1918
Place of death Berlin