Johann Meister (General, 1862)

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Karl Theodor Johann Meister (born September 24, 1862 on the domain of Calenberg near Hanover , † January 13, 1943 in Dresden-Neustadt ) was a German infantry general .

Life

Champion joined on 14 April 1881 as a cadet in the Infantry Regiment "King Ludwig III. von Bayern “(3rd Royal Saxon) No. 102 in Zittau . There he was promoted to second lieutenant on October 13, 1882 . As such, on October 24, 1885, Meister was transferred to the 1st Royal Saxon Leib Grenadier Regiment No. 100 . From October 1, 1888, Meister was assigned to the Marienburg NCO School for three years and in the meantime promoted to Prime Lieutenant on March 20, 1889 . In the years to come he continued to serve in the troops and became captain on September 18, 1893 . From October 1, 1897, Meister was assigned to the Infantry Training Battalion of the Prussian Army for two years . Less than a year later he was appointed company commander in the 2nd East Asian Infantry Regiment . He held this position until October 1, 1901, when he was aggregated to Leib-Grenadier-Regiment No. 100 and, eleven days later, also company commander. On October 1, 1902, he was transferred to Leipzig as adjutant to the 24th Division (2nd Royal Saxon) . As a major (since September 11, 1903), Meister joined the Schutztruppe for German South West Africa on June 5, 1904 and was employed in the 2nd Field Regiment. With this he participated in the suppression of the uprising of the Herero and Nama .

At the end of October 1906 Meister returned to Saxony and from November 1, 1906 acted as commander of the 1st Battalion of the Leib Grenadier Regiment No. 100. With his promotion to lieutenant colonel on September 21, 1909, he was released from his command and at the same time was on duty Wing adjutant of the King of Saxony Friedrich August III. Meister served here for the next three years, becoming a colonel on November 18, 1911 and as such commander of the grenadier regiment "Kaiser Wilhelm, King of Prussia" (2nd Royal Saxon) No. 101 on October 1, 1912 .

First World War

With the outbreak of the First World War and the mobilization, Meister moved into France with his regiment via Belgium and led it a. a. in the battle of the Marne . After the Battle of Ypres , the master , who had been promoted to major general three days earlier, took over the 45th Infantry Brigade (1st Royal Saxon) on December 4, 1914. The following months the brigade was mainly involved in the trench warfare in the Champagne in conjunction with the 23rd Division (1st Royal Saxon) . On September 14, 1916, Meister was appointed commander of the 40th Division (4th Royal Saxon) , which at that time was in Flanders . After the Battle of the Somme , the division was withdrawn from the front. In 1917 she took part in the battles in Flanders and was transferred to the Eastern Front in early November . After participating in the position of fighting between Niemen - Berezina -Krewo- Smorgon - Naroch and Tweretsch which came here in December 1917 ceasefire , which by 15 February 1918 truce resulted. At the end of February 1918, he was relocated to the west, followed by trench warfare between the Maas and the Moselle .

Post-war years

After the armistice of Compiègne , the evacuation of the occupied area and the march back to the garrison via Aachen , Dortmund and Ahlen began . Once there, Meister and his division were transferred to border protection against Czechoslovakia from Bavaria to the south of Freiberg . On February 18, 1919, Meister was initially made available as an officer by the army and retired four days later.

Meister was one of the accused in the Leipzig trials because of the Dinant massacre . Although some witnesses stated that the executed hostages included women and children, the German court saw no reason to convict Meister. It stated: “According to this there are no facts from which it can be concluded that the killing was unlawful. In addition, an order from the accused to shoot those civilians has not been proven. "

Meister received the character of General of the Infantry on August 27, 1939, the so-called Tannenberg Day.

Awards

literature

  • 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. 430-431.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Death register of the registry office Dresden III No. 83/1943.
  2. ↑ Quoted from John Horne, Alan Kramer: Deutsche Kriegsgreuel 1914. P. 518 f.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Ranking list of the Royal Saxon Army for the year 1913 , publisher: Saxon War Ministry, Department for Personal Affairs, C. Heinrich, Dresden 1913, p. 19.
  4. ↑ The Royal Saxon Military St. Heinrichs-Orden 1736–1918, A Ehrenblatt of the Saxon Army , Wilhelm and Bertha von Baensch-Stiftung, Dresden 1937, p. 67.
  5. ↑ The Royal Saxon Military St. Heinrichs-Orden 1736–1918, A Ehrenblatt of the Saxon Army , Wilhelm and Bertha von Baensch-Stiftung, Dresden 1937, p. 98.
personal data
SURNAME Master, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meister, Karl Theodor Johann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German general of the infantry
DATE OF BIRTH September 24, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Domain Calenberg
DATE OF DEATH January 13, 1943
Place of death Dresden-Neustadt