Hans Heinrich Adam von Schütz

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Hans Heinrich Adam von Schütz (* 1715 near Cottbus ; † July 18, 1745 near Königgrätz ) was a Prussian lieutenant colonel .

Life

Schütz was the only child of the Saxon-Polish Colonel Hans Joachim von Schütz. His father sent him early to the Princely School in Meissen , a kind of boarding school for nobles. After a short time he moved to Prague, where he was recruited by the Austrian army and transferred to Hungary. However, his father obtained his dismissal there and after his return he got the young Schütz a position as an ensign in the satellite guard in Saxony, where he was promoted to lieutenant a short time later .

After the death of his father in early 1734, von Schütz resigned his service and moved to his heir to the Bahnsdorf estate in the Prussian Lehe Niederlausitz . Fearing reprisals and persecution by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I - Schütz had helped a deserted Prussian soldier to desert - he went to Russia to be on the safe side and entered the service of Russian Tsarina Anna Ivanovna . In the Russian army, von Schütz took part in the Turkish wars as well as in the storming of Oczakow and he managed to become a captain in the Preobrazhensky regiment . However, he got into displeasure with Field Marshal Münnich and preferred to leave Russia. Thereupon he went back to the Prussian Frederick II and in 1743 joined the Hallasch Hussar Regiment (No. 7) as a major . In this position he went to the First Silesian War and gained fame through extensive reconnaissance expeditions into the enemy hinterland.

During the evacuation of Bohemia , von Schütz retreated his troops at intervals, which the king recognized as "Schütz's retreat ". A promotion to lieutenant colonel followed and von Schütz became commander of the von Natzner hussar regiment (No. 4). Another special mention to the king was given by Schütz during the Battle of Hohenfriedberg by his commanding general Hans Karl von Winterfeldt , who paid tribute to his extraordinary achievements.

death

When, after Hohenfriedberg, the Austrians were persecuted as far as Bohemia, von Schütz belonged to the light troops that preceded the Prussian army. On July 18, 1745, there was an exploratory ride into a confusing and dangerous area near Königgrätz . In order to secure the retreat to his own line, von Schütz left two security guards at strategically important points. With about 500 hussars he came across a superior army detachment of General Count von Nadasdy and he ordered a retreat. However, the security detachments that had been left behind had disintegrated in wild panic, so that the way back was cut off for the raiding party. In the following battle against the superior enemy, Hans von Schütz fell after brave resistance, because " he didn't want any quarters ". About 90 hussars were taken prisoner in Austria. When the king found out about this, he first hoped that von Schütz was also in captivity and he sent scouts out to confirm this assumption.

Awards

For brave behavior in the battle near Habelschwerdt , Schütz awarded the order Pour le Mérite . In 1777, while inspecting a new regiment, the king is said to have said to an officer who was introduced to him as the only son by Hans von Schütz: "Does he know that his father was the real creator of my hussars?"

War crimes

In the first year of the war in 1744, the Austrian general Count Carl Gustav Kheul made serious accusations against von Schütz, who allegedly committed acts of violence and atrocities against prisoners and the civilian population in Moravia . Friedrich II then had the matter examined by General von der Marwitz . Nothing is known about the outcome.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Schütz, Hans Heinrich Adam from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian lieutenant colonel
DATE OF BIRTH 1715
PLACE OF BIRTH near Cottbus
DATE OF DEATH July 18, 1745
Place of death at Königgrätz