Johann Nepomuk Berger from the Pleisse

Johann Nepomuk Berger von der Pleisse, lithograph by Eduard Kaiser , 1849

Johann Nepomuk Freiherr Berger von der Pleisse (* 1768 in Mattersburg , † April 2, 1864 in Ödenburg ) was an Austrian military master and knight of the Maria Theresa Order .

Life

Johann Nepomuk Berger entered on July 23, 1786 as a cadet in the 34th Infantry Regiment and took part in the Austro-Turkish War of 1787–1789. He stood as an officer cadet in front of the siege ring of Schabatz and Belgrade and was promoted to ensign on August 1, 1788 . In April 1790 he moved as a lieutenant to Infantry Regiment No. 56 and distinguished himself in the First Coalition War . In Flanders he took part in the attacks on Valenciennes and Dunkirk in 1793, then fought on 17/18. May in battle near Werwick and in the following year 1794 in the battle of Tournai , Charleroi and Fleurus . In 1795 he took part in the siege of Mannheim under Count Clerfayt and was appointed first lieutenant after his participation in the battle of Würzburg . With his regiment No. 56 he came to Italy in the campaign of 1805 and fought in the Vicenza and Castiglione area at the beginning of August .

In the campaign of 1809 he fought in Bavaria, on April 10th he received command of the 2nd battalion of his regiment and took part in the preliminary battles of the Battle of Regensburg (April 19-23 ). In the battle of Hausen, he was seriously wounded in the right arm and had to leave the battlefield. On September 1, 1809 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In the war of liberation of 1813 his battalion fought near Dresden and in the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig , where Berger was seriously wounded again.

In the spring campaign of 1814 in France, his troops were on the left wing of the Austrian army and successfully repulsed a French attack near Archamps . On March 26, 1814 he received the Knight's Cross of the Maria Theresa Order for this achievement and in the following year the command of the Infantry Regiment No. 51, with which he took part in the victorious fight against King Murat at the Battle of Tolentino under Field Marshal Count Neipperg . In April 1816 he was raised to the status of a baron with the addition of "von der Pleiße".

In the year he took part in the suppression of the revolution in Naples under Count Nugent and was promoted to major general on October 29, 1824 and appointed brigadier in Cremona . In 1827 he moved to Vienna as a brigadier, rose to military commander of Tyrol in 1831 and was promoted to field marshal lieutenant on September 6, 1832 . In 1837 he was appointed fortress commander in Timisoara and at the end of November 1844 he was appointed commander of Arad . On October 27, 1848, the Hungarians began the siege work against the fortress of Arad. After the garrison of Arad failed, access to an aid convoy under the leadership of Major Georg Berger von der Pleiße (1816-1853), his own adopted son, was obtained in mid-December. The city could be held for several months, but then had to capitulate at the beginning of July 1849 to allow the garrison to withdraw freely.

In 1836 he had married Countess Agnes von Gleispach (1790–1870) and after his retirement lived first in Vienna and from 1851 in Ödenburg.

The Johann Nepomuk Berger Chapel , built in 1853 , with the Berger family coat of arms above the portal, is located at Johann-Nepomuk-Berger-Straße 22.

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Berger von der Pleiße, Johann Freiherr von . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 1st part. University printing house L. C. Zamarski (formerly JP Sollinger), Vienna 1856, p. 302 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Oscar Criste:  Berger, Johann, Freiherr von der Pleiße . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 46, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1902, pp. 372-374.
• Berger von der Pleisse, Johann Nepomuk Frh .. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957, p. 73.
• Gottfried Gröller: Feldzeugmeister Johann Nepomuk Freiherr Berger von der Pleisse (1768–1864). A memorial to the 100th anniversary of the death of the Mattersburg farmer's son . Mattersburg, Stadtgemeinde, 1964. 47 pages, Gr. 8 °, Obr.