Horst von Metzsch

Horst Karl Alfred von Metzsch (born June 14, 1874 in Löbau ; † July 11, 1946 in Gera ) was a German artillery general and military historian.

Life

origin

Horst came from the Saxon-Meißnisch-Vogtland noble family Metzsch and was related to the Saxon Minister of War and General Bernhard von Rabenhorst . He was the son of the royal Saxon building manager Karl von Metzsch (1843–1885) and his wife Kamilla, born August (1847–1899).

Military career

Metzsch occurred on 30 March 1891 as a cadet in the 1st Field Artillery Regiment. 12 of the Saxon army in Dresden one was on 20 April 1891 Ensign appointed and in the following period on June 20, 1892 lieutenant and on 26. March 1899 promoted to first lieutenant . As such, he was transferred to the 4th Field Artillery Regiment No. 48 on October 1, 1899 . A year later, Metzsch was sent to the Prussian War Academy until July 14, 1902 . For a short time he acted from April 23 to June 19, 1904 as adjutant of the 23rd Field Artillery Brigade and was then transferred to the personnel department of the Saxon War Ministry and promoted to captain on April 22, 1905 . From April 1, 1906, he was assigned to the General Staff in Berlin, from September 21, 1907, he was transferred to the 4th Field Artillery Regiment No. 48 for three years as battery chief and then again to the General Staff. From April 22, 1912 to February 11, 1913, Metzsch was first general staff officer of 1st Division No. 23 . As a major (since September 13, 1912) he then acted as the wing adjutant on duty to King Friedrich III. of Saxony .

With the outbreak of the First World War , Metzsch initially retained this position and on October 13, 1914, joined the General Staff of the XXVII as first general staff officer . Reserve Corps (II. Royal Saxon) . In mid-December 1914, he switched to the General Staff of the 4th Army as second general staff officer . Metzsch was then given command of the Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 53 on April 1, 1915, with which he was deployed on the Western Front, initially in Flanders, northeast of Ypres . Then the relocation to Champagne followed . Metzsch gave up the regiment on July 31, 1916 and moved as Chief of the General Staff to Stage Inspection 3 and shortly afterwards on November 16, 1916 in the same position to XII. (I. Royal Saxon) Army Corps . Metzsch became a lieutenant colonel there on May 21, 1917 .

After the end of the war, Metzsch was accepted into the Reichswehr and initially served as chief of staff in military district IV. From October 1, 1920 he then acted as Chief of Staff of the 4th Division and was promoted to Colonel on December 18, 1920 . He was transferred to the staff of the 5th Division on April 11, 1921 , where he was deployed as Artillery Leader V from June 15, 1921. On October 1, 1922, Mertzsch moved to the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin. There he acted until his retirement from active service on February 29, 1928 as the inspector of education and training. As such, he had meanwhile been promoted to major general on April 1, 1924 and to lieutenant general on February 1, 1927 .

Metzsch received on 27 August 1939 the so-called Tannenbergtag , the character conferred as a general of artillery. He had already been made available to the army on August 26, 1939 and was appointed head of the Army Archives in Potsdam until September 30, 1939 . No further use took place thereafter.

Military writer

In civil life, Metzsch worked as the author of numerous military history books and writings.

After the end of the Second World War, many of his writings were placed on the list of literature to be segregated in the Soviet occupation zone .

Awards

• Red Eagle Order IV class with crown
• Order of the Crown III. class
• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with swords
• Pour le Mérite on October 7, 1918
• Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of Civil Merit with Swords
• Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of Albrecht with Swords
• Knight's Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry on May 27, 1915
• Commander II class of the Military Order of St. Henry on November 30, 1915
• Saxon service award
• Knight III. Class of the Order of Merit of Saint Michael
• Bavarian Military Merit Order III. Class with swords and with a crown
• Knight's Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown with Swords
• Hanseatic Cross Hamburg
• Commander II class of the Duke of Saxony-Ernestine House Order
• Officer of the Reussian Cross of Honor
• House Order of Lippe III. class

literature

• Manfred Kehrig:  Metzsch, Horst von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 263 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweig: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 2: HO. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2003, ISBN 3-7648-2516-2 , pp. 444-445.

Web links

• Literature by and about Horst von Metzsch in the catalog of the German National Library
• Object database German Historical Museum: General von Metzsch. Photography around 1940.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Uwe Schirmer:  Rabenhorst, Bernhard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 69 f. ( Digitized version ).
2. ^ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Nobeligen houses. 1901. Second year, Justus Perthes, Gotha 1900, p. 635.
3. ↑ http://www.polunbi.de/bibliothek/1946-nslit-m.html
4. ↑ http://www.polunbi.de/bibliothek/1948-nslit-m.html
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Reichswehr Ministry (Hrsg.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1924, p. 111.
6. ↑ The Royal Saxon Military St. Heinrichs Order 1736–1918. An honor sheet of the Saxon Army. Wilhelm and Bertha von Baensch Foundation, Dresden 1937, p. 460.
7. ↑ The Royal Saxon Military St. Heinrichs Order 1736–1918. An honor sheet of the Saxon Army. Wilhelm and Bertha von Baensch Foundation, Dresden 1937, p. 99.