Hermann Kövess from Kövesshaza

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Hermann Albin Josef Kövess , from 1873 Kövess von Kövessháza , from 1917 Baron Kövess von Kövessháza (born March 30, 1854 in Timisoara , Austrian Empire , † September 22, 1924 in Vienna ) was an Austro-Hungarian field marshal and the last commander in chief of the Austro-Hungarian army .

Hermann Kövess from Kövesshaza

Life

family

Kövess was the son of the kuk major general Albin Viktor Kövess von Kövessháza (1821–1890) and Johanna Regina Sterzing (1836–1898), a Transylvanian pharmacist's daughter, who was ennobled in 1873 . On October 5, 1892, he married Freiin Hye von Glunek (1861–1941) in Gmunden , daughter of the law teacher and kuk minister Anton Freiherr Hye von Glunek . The couple had three sons: Adalbert († 1914), Eugen (Jenő) and Géza (1896–1977). The latter was employed as a doctor of history in the Army History Museum and was briefly entrusted with its management in 1950.

Military career

From 1864 Kövess attended secondary school in Ofen , and from autumn 1865 he joined the cadet institute in Hainburg . In 1868 he began his training at the genius academy in Znojmo, and in 1869 he moved to the now relocated and renamed Technical Military Academy in Vienna. On August 18, 1872, he joined the kuk Genieregiment No. 2 (Vienna) as a lieutenant . In 1875 he became a first lieutenant and as such attended the war school from 1876 to 1878. In 1878 he was assigned to the 16th Infantry Troop Division in Sibiu as a general staff officer . In 1879 he was a general staff officer in the 12th Cavalry Brigade. From 1882 Kövess worked as a captain in the General Staff in Vienna, in 1885 he was a company commander in Infantry Regiment No. 38. Between November 1886 and November 1888 he was General Staff Officer of the 1st Army Corps in Cracow . In 1889 he moved to the staff of Infantry Regiment No. 56 in Wadowice. On 1 May 1890 he was Major and Infantry Regiment. 26 to Gran added. In November 1894, at the age of 40, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was employed with the 72nd Infantry Regiment in Pressburg , in 1895 he was the leader of a battalion detached to Castelnuovo. On November 1, 1896, Kövess became a colonel and served in Infantry Regiment No. 52. From March 1898 to October 1902, he commanded Infantry Regiment No. 23 in Budapest. In October 1902 he took over the leadership of the 15th Infantry Brigade of the 8th Division under Franz Conrad in Innsbruck and received the rank of major general in November . In November 1906 he took command of the Austro-Hungarian 8th Troop Division and in May 1907 was promoted to field marshal lieutenant. In April 1910 he became an inspector of the fortifications in South Tyrol . In June 1911 he took over as the commanding general of the XII. Corps in Sibiu, on November 1, 1911 he was promoted to General of the Infantry .

First World War

Hermann Kövess von Kövessháza, 1915
180th doctorate of the Military Maria Theresa Order on August 17, 1917 in the Villa Wartholz , where Kövess received the Commander's Cross of this order

When the war broke out in August 1914, the Kövess corps group was subordinate to the 3rd Army and tried to defend the Bukovina and the Dniester line. In the battle of the Gnila Lipa these troops were thrown back by the Russians. In addition, on August 30, Kövess received news of the death of his eldest son Bela (Adalbert), who had died as a train driver at Uhnow. In September the XII. Corps in the formation of General von Bohm-Ermolli's 2nd Army , all of Eastern Galicia had to be evacuated after the defeat at Lemberg and the retreat to the Carpathian ridge was necessary. At the end of October 1914, the XII. Corps to relieve the beleaguered Przemysl failed counterattacks at Stary-Sambor. In November 1914, the 2nd Army was withdrawn from the Carpathians and with the XII. Corps relocated to the Pilica in the Belchatow area for trench warfare in Polish Silesia. At the beginning of May 1915, as a result of the Carpathian breakthrough of the German 11th Army between Gorlice – Tarnow , the Russian front was also in front of the XII. Corps in dissolution. The attack from the Radom area to the Vistula was resumed. On July 21, 1915, Kövess, in cooperation with the German Landwehr Corps under General Woyrsch , succeeded in taking the Ivangorod fortress and forcing his corps to cross the Vistula there. On September 28, 1915, Kövess was appointed commander of the newly organized Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army.

In October 1915, as part of the Mackensen Army Group , the attack against Serbia was launched together with the German 11th Army ( Max von Gallwitz ) and Belgrade was conquered. The 3rd Army concentrated in the second phase of attack on the conquest of Montenegro and Albania . After the conquest of Lovćen (January 11), the occupation of Cetinje (January 13) and Tirana (February 9), he was promoted to colonel general on February 26, 1916 .

Kövess with the German Field Marshal von Mackensen

From March 1916 the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army was part of Archduke Eugene's Army Group on the South Tyrolean front; in July the offensive against the Italians that had begun in mid-May had to be broken off again because the front in Galicia had collapsed due to the Russian Brusilov offensive . On October 20, 1916, Colonel General Kövess took command of the Austro-Hungarian 7th Army , which defended the Carpathian ridge on the Romanian border. In July 1917, the allies' counter-offensive recaptured Bukovina, and the lost Czernowitz was liberated by troops under Kövess. For this he was awarded the Hungarian barony, combined with a lifelong seat in the magnate 's house. On August 5, 1917, Kövess was also promoted to field marshal . From January 1918 Kövess commanded the Army Group consisting of the Austro-Hungarian 7th and 1st Army in Transylvania, after the Peace of Bucharest on May 7, 1918, this large unit was dissolved again.

As the successor to Arthur Arz von Straussenburg , Kövess was finally appointed by Emperor Karl I on November 4, 1918 (the day after the armistice with Italy) as the last Austro-Hungarian army commander. Kövess therefore only had to retreat and command the demobilization of the armed power ordered by Charles I on November 6th . His work was not made easier by the fact that Hungary terminated the Real Union with Austria on October 31, 1918 and the Hungarian regiments only followed the orders of the Hungarian Minister of War Béla Linder . Returned troops were immediately placed under their respective authority by the successor states of the monarchy. Arrived in Vienna on November 9, 1918 with 200 men by ship from Hungary, Kövess in German Austria handled the dissolution of the Austro- Hungarian army until December 3, 1918, and resigned his command on December 19, 1918.

Museum reception

The field marshal's uniform and the marshal's baton from Kövess von Kövesshaza can be viewed in the permanent exhibition of the Vienna Museum of Military History .

literature

Web links

Commons : Hermann Kövess von Kövesshaza  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In Hungarian as Kövessházi báró Kövess Hermann, referred to in German-language documents as Freiherr.
  2. ^ Marie-Therese Arnbom: Marriage behavior of the ennobled Viennese bourgeoisie in the 19th century. In: Robert Hoffmann (ed.): Citizens between tradition and modernity. Böhlau, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-205-98585-0 , pp. 143–162, here: p. 154.
  3. ↑ Little Chronicle. (...) Arrival of Field Marshal v. Kövess. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Afternoon Journal, No. 19474/1918, November 11, 1918, p. 5, bottom center. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
personal data
SURNAME Kövess from Kövesshaza, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kövess von Kövesshaza, Hermann Freiherr
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-Hungarian field marshal and last commander in chief of the Austro-Hungarian army
DATE OF BIRTH March 30, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Timişoara , Austrian Empire
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 1924
Place of death Vienna