Heinrich von Schmitt

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Johann Heinrich von Schmitt (* 1744 in Pest ( Budapest ); † November 11, 1805 near Dürnstein (fallen)) was an Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal and Chief of the Quartermaster Staff ( General Staff ) 1796-1800 and 1805. Under his direction, a map series of southwest Germany was created .

Life

Heinr. v. Schmidt.

After the early death of his father, a cavalry champion, the fourteen-year-old received a foundation place in the engineering school in Vienna . On November 15, 1761 he was retired as an ensign for the 15th Infantry Regiment. His ability to map in Bohemia and Moravia was the reason that on February 1, 1769 he was assigned to the Quartermaster General's staff as first lieutenant. In 1778 he became lieutenant captain and in 1788 captain. His brave behavior in the Turkish war, especially during the storming of Šabac on 23/24. April 1788, brought him promotion to major. The following year he distinguished himself again in the siege of Belgrade and in 1790 became a lieutenant colonel. From 1791 he showed himself to be a capable general staff officer and a clever advisor to his commanders in the Netherlands, and in 1793 he became a colonel.

Under his direction, around 200 sheets of the “ Schmitt's Map of Southwest Germany ” were created in 1797/98 on a scale of 1: 57,600. Schmitt's map series covers large parts of the Rhine region, but also parts of the Palatinate, Bavaria, Hesse-Nassau, Württemberg, Baden and Salzburg. A high time pressure in the production of the maps led to graphical inaccuracies as well as extreme distortions and fluctuations in scale on a number of sheets (TORGE 2007: 76). Sometimes places were mixed up or, like Roßwag, forgotten. The hand-colored original maps are kept in the Vienna War Archives.

At the beginning of the campaign of 1796 he was assigned to the army of Archduke Karl on the Lower Rhine and appointed quartermaster general. In 1799 he was appointed General Quartermaster at the headquarters of the army in Germany by Archduke Karl, whose trust he had earned. In 1800 he was promoted to field marshal lieutenant as quartermaster general of the commandant of the army in Germany, Feldzeugmeister Freiherr von Kray, with whom he did not get along. He therefore asked for his retirement, which he was granted on September 21, 1800.

After the Ulm catastrophe in 1805 he agreed to be reactivated, took up service as Quartermaster General in late autumn of that year and was assigned to the staff of Russian General Kutuzov . His army had just been pushed back into the Dürnstein area by the troops of Marshal Mortier . Schmitt recognized that the French had failed to secure the flanking heights and suggested that this mistake be exploited immediately. On his advice, General Miloradowitsch decided to carry out a frontal attack by General Miloradowitsch at Dürnstein on November 11th at daybreak , while General Dochturow with a column of 9,000 men led by Schmitt after a night bypass march from Krems via Egelsee, Scheibenhof and Resch into the French Back should fall.

The implementation of the plan did not go smoothly. Because it took a lot of effort Schmitt to overcome the timidity and clumsiness of Wickturow, which greatly delayed his flank march. Miloradowitsch, who was initially left alone, was only able to withstand the violent counterattacks of the French with great difficulty. Only towards evening and after repeated arguments between Schmitt and Dochturow did the column advance through the sparsely occupied Dürnstein towards Loiben and get Mortier in the rear. Only then was his corps broken up and the marshal only barely escaped captivity. During the last fighting, which was already fought in the dark, there was brief confusion on the Russian side. During a wild shootout, Schmitt was fatally hit by four - apparently Russian - bullets.

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SURNAME Schmitt, Heinrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmitt, Johann Heinrich Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal and Chief of the Quartermaster Staff
DATE OF BIRTH 1744
PLACE OF BIRTH pest
DATE OF DEATH November 11, 1805
Place of death near Dürnstein (fallen)