Johann Carl Ludwig Braun

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Johann Carl Ludwig Braun (born April 18, 1771 in Berlin ; † September 5, 1835 ) was a Prussian lieutenant general and inspector general of the gun and weapons factories in Berlin.

Life

Johann Carl Ludwig Braun was born in 1771 as the son of a respected court court - lawyer , war and domain councilor and syndic of the Kurmärkische knighthood. His great-grandfather was still a village blacksmith, his grandfather was already a wealthy citizen and cloth maker in Berlin. When his father died, he was only seven years old, was sent to an educational institution in Brandenburg and then attended the Joachimsthalsche Gymnasium in Berlin .

On the advice and with the support of his uncle, then Lieutenant of the Artillery Johann Christian von Pontanus , he chose a military career and joined the artillery on April 15, 1788 as a bombardier, attended the artillery academy and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1792 . In the First Coalition War in 1792/94 he was involved as an adjutant of the artillery in the siege of Mainz , the bombardment of Landau and the battle near Trippstadt. Later he was one of the pupils of General Gerhard von Scharnhorst and was involved in experiments and development of field guns in Neuenhagen. In 1799 he was appointed adjutant to the commander of the mounted artillery and, commissioned by Prince August of Prussia , drafted the first drill regulations for this type of weapon. 1804 he was by King Friedrich Wilhelm III. appointed first adjutant to the inspector of the entire artillery, in 1806 he was active in the general staff of Ernst von Rüchel and witnessed the lost battle of Jena and Auerstedt at his side . Here he and the later Prussian general of the cavalry, the then Saxon Rittmeister Johann Adolf von Thielmann , arranged for the reorganization of the defeated Prussian and Saxon troops and provided a corps of 5000 men for an orderly retreat to Magdeburg under the command of General von Tschammer and of General Friedrich Adolf von Kalckreuth . In Magdeburg he received the order to destroy some bridges over the Oder north of Stettin and thus escaped the capitulation of Prenzlau. On the further retreat from Napoleon I's troops via Kolberg and Danzig, he met King Friedrich Wilhelm III in Graudenz and became adjutant of the fortress of Danzig under the governor General von Manstein . Braun earned great merit in the repair, equipment and defense of the fortress of Danzig, for which he was appointed Prime Minister by the King. The successor of the Gdańsk governor, General Friedrich Adolf Graf von Kalckreuth , sent him out of the city to procure food and ammunition, on his return the English ship stranded in the Vistula and Braun became a prisoner of the French as a result of which he met the Kaiser Napoleon Bonaparte came.

After the peace treaty, Braun went to Königsberg and resumed his work on the General Staff . On February 21, 1809 he was promoted to major in the 3rd Artillery Brigade, the organization of which he was entrusted with, and founded the first Prussian artillery workshop, a rifle factory and a powder factory from his own resources in Neisse . For these services he was one of the first to receive the newly founded Red Eagle Order III from the king . Class.

During the reorganization of the Prussian army, Braun worked closely with Scharnhorst and August Neidhardt von Gneisenau . In 1811 he was appointed inspector of the artillery and arms factories. At the outbreak of the Wars of Liberation in 1813, he was placed as a lieutenant colonel at the head of the artillery of the Blücher Army Corps, took part in the battles at Großgörschen and Bautzen and was awarded the Iron Cross II class, the Order of St. Anna II and the Order of the Saint Vladimir III Class excellent.

After the armistice, under the direction of General von Gneisenau, he took care of the restoration of the Silesian fortresses and the procurement of army equipment. In the following fighting he led the artillery of the corps of General Jakob Friedrich von Rüchel-Kleist in the battles of Dresden , Kulm and Leipzig as well as against Erfurt. He was summoned by General von Kleist to the council of war, which decided to withdraw this corps through the Ore Mountains, thereby enabling victory at Kulm. For this he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class. Promoted to colonel in 1814 , Braun took part in the battles of this corps between the rivers Seine and Marne as well as in the battles of Laon and Paris , receiving the Order of St. George IV class.

After the peace agreement, Braun went to England and Vienna with Prince August. When the war broke out again in 1815, he took command of the artillery of General Friedrich Wilhelm Bülow von Dennewitz's corps as major general . Assigned to the division of the war equipment of the Saxon army, he was not involved in the battle of Waterloo , only arrived one day later with the allied armies and took over the command of the artillery of the whole Blücher army for the wounded general Karl Friedrich von Holtzendorff . For his services in this campaign he received the order Pour le Mérite with oak leaves.

In 1816 he was given the task of reorganizing the artillery, was appointed inspector of the 3rd artillery inspection on the Rhine and was responsible for training the troops there. In 1818 he was awarded the Red Eagle Order II. Class with Oak Leaves. In 1824 he was promoted to inspector of the 1st artillery inspection and was transferred to Berlin by the King as chairman of important commissions. In 1825 Braun was promoted to Lieutenant General, in 1829 he was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle First Class with Oak Leaves and in 1832 he was appointed General Inspector of Gun and Weapons Manufacturing. In 1834 he was awarded the Order of St. Anna 1st Class with a crown from the Tsar.

family

On September 23, 1800 Braun married Caroline Auguste Henriette von Schlieben (1783–1824) in Potsdam . The marriage, which was divorced on February 11, 1813, had the following children:

On March 15, 1813, he married Marie Michelsen (1784–1833), daughter of Professor Johann Andreas Christian Michelsen (1749–1797). This marriage had eleven children, including:

  • Ernst (1816–1891), Prussian lieutenant general
  • Otto (1818–1888), Prussian colonel and commander of the 3rd Artillery Brigade
  • Carl Hugo (1819–1906), ship's captain, landlord
  • Johanna Amalie (1821–1884) ⚭ 1846 Albert Körner
  • Clara Wilhelmine (1822–1902) ⚭ August Ernst Rothe
  • Carl Hermann (1824–1904), Lieutenant Colonel ⚭ NN
  • Friedrich Eduard (1827–1913), pastor ⚭ 1863 Henriette Auguste Engel

literature
personal data
SURNAME Braun, Johann Carl Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian lieutenant general
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1771
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH September 5, 1835