Hans von Gronau

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Hans von Gronau (1939)
Hans von Gronau
Tomb in the old cemetery in Potsdam

Johann (Hans) Karl Hermann Gronau , from 1913 from Gronau (born December 6, 1850 in Alt-Schadow , † February 22, 1940 in Potsdam ) was a Prussian artillery general and military governor of Thorn .

Life

origin

He came from a family of teachers living in the Bergisches Land in the 17th century , was the son of the Prussian chief forester Johann Karl Ludwig Hermann Gronau (1816–1911) from Köpenick and his wife Alexandrine Friederike Bertha, née Leusenthin (1823–1903) from Groß-Puppen ( Ortelsburg district ) and great-grandson of the Berlin pastor and meteorologist Karl Ludwig Gronau (1742–1826).

Military career

On April 13, 1869, Hans Gronau joined the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade of the Prussian Army in Stettin as a flag squire . He took part in the war against France in 1870/71 and was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class. In the years 1880 to 1882 he was assigned to the Great General Staff . From 1894, he was Lieutenant Colonel Chief of State Department 1 in the General Staff. This so-called "Russian Department" was responsible for the observation and analysis of information from Russia, the Nordic countries, the Balkans, Austria-Hungary, East Asia, Persia and Turkey. After the turn of the century it was the country department responsible exclusively for Russia. From 1903 he was appointed commander of the 1st division and in 1907 appointed governor of Thorn. In this position he received on January 27, 1908 the character of General of the Artillery and was placed on June 8, 1911 à la suite of the field artillery regiment "General-Feldzeugmeister" (1st Brandenburg) No. 3 in Brandenburg an der Havel . On June 8, 1911, he was put up for disposal . On June 16, 1913, Gronau was raised to the hereditary Prussian nobility on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II .

With the beginning of the First World War , Gronau was reactivated and on August 2, 1914 was appointed commanding general of the IV Reserve Corps , with which he took part in the 1st Marne Battle . On September 2, 1914, he received the patent for his rank on the Western Front . In September 1915 he became the commanding general of the XXXXI. Reserve Corps on the Eastern Front . From August 5, 1916, the General Command was designated as the Gronau Army Group and on September 18, 1916 it was renamed the Gronau Army Department . On March 27, 1918, the large association in the Pinsk area was dissolved . In February 1919, Gronau resigned from the military.

family

Hans Gronau married Luise Gerischer on February 23, 1890 in Granow , Arnswalde district (* July 20, 1867 in Granow; † June 25, 1926 in Potsdam). The eldest of his three sons was the ocean aviator and air attaché Wolfgang von Gronau (1893–1977).

Gronau last lived in Potsdam at Moltkestrasse 7. He died in 1940 and was buried in the old cemetery .

Orders and decorations

literature

  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the noble houses. Part B 1933, p. 202 (with stem series), Justus Perthes Verlag, Gotha 1933.
  • The New International Year Book. A Compendium of the World's Progress ... p. 516, Dodd, Mead and Company, 1941.
  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: AG. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 , pp. 528-530.
  • Karl Keil:  Gronau, Karl Ludwig. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 126 ( digitized version ). (Mention)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lukas Grawe, German enemy intelligence before the First World War ", Schöningh Verlag Paderborn / Leiden / Boston / Singapore, 2017, p. 57ff.
  2. ^ Military weekly paper . No. 81 of June 19, 1913, p. 1865.
  3. ^ Winfried Baumgart, Alfons Paquet, Wilhelm Groener, Albert Hopman: From Brest-Litovsk to the German November Revolution. From the diaries. P. 281 (footnote), compiled by Winfried Baumgart, Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht ( excerpt ).
  4. ↑ a b c d e Prussian War Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1912. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1912, p. 411.
personal data
SURNAME Gronau, Hans von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gronau, Hans; Gronau, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the artillery in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Alt-Schadow
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 1940
Place of death Potsdam