Johann Ulrich von Salis-Seewis

Johann Ulrich von Salis-Seewis

Johann Ulrich Graf Salis-Seewis (born December 8, 1862 in Karlstadt , Croatia , † October 24, 1940 in Agram ) was an Austro-Hungarian officer who came from the Swiss noble family Salis-Seewies and who rose to the position of Feldzeugmeister at the end of the First World War .

Life

origin

The father Gaudenz Gubert (1824-1873) was kuk Hauptmann , who over Modena came in the Austrian military service and in 1857 with the Croatian Baroness married Wilhelmine Vranyczany of Dobrinović (1839-1898). The great-grandfather Johann Gaudenz von Salis-Seewis (1762-1834) was Landammann and Chief of Staff of the Federal Army, above all he was known as a poet and lyric poet . Johann Ulrich was born the third child, when his father died in 1873, Johann Ulrich became a half-orphan at the age of 10 . On his father's deathbed, he had to promise to help his mother raise his three younger brothers. He graduated from high school in the Upper Austrian Benedictine monastery of Kremsmünster , where he also graduated. After his matriculation examination, his maternal uncle, Lieutenant Field Marshal Maroicic , took over the management of his further career, which was intended for the Austro-Hungarian military service.

Early military career

First he joined the genius department of the Vienna Technical Military Academy as a pupil and was retired as a lieutenant on August 18, 1883 . This was followed by attending the local war school from 1888 to 1890 . From 1893 to 1896 he was a teacher at the cadet school in Pressburg and was promoted to captain on November 1, 1893. From October 1896 to May 1898 he was responsible for keeping the armed forces of the Balkan states evident. This was followed by service as a company and battalion commander in the Hungarian Infantry Regiment No. 82 in Gyulafehérvár . On November 1, 1899 he was promoted to major and returned from active service to the general staff. He took over the position of Chief of Staff of the 28th Infantry Troop Division in Ljubljana and took part in the maneuvers in Veszprém in September 1901 . On November 1, 1903, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned as a staff officer to the Bosnian-Herzegovinian gendarmerie. In November 1904 he led a delegation to Üsküb to clarify the situation on the border with Macedonia with the porte in Saloniki . On November 1, 1906, he was appointed colonel , which automatically gave him the rank of general according to Turkish regulations. In 1907, after almost three years of effectiveness, the War Ministry ordered the dismissal from this post. Salis was then appointed interim commander of the Hungarian Infantry Regiment No. 86 to Budapest . For a short time he acted as battalion commander in Infantry Regiment No. 76 in Esztergom , before he was given command of the Hungarian-Croatian Infantry Regiment No. 79 "Count Jellacic" in Fiume in April 1908 . The time as regimental commander of the Otocan border regiment lasted until 1912, when he was promoted to major general and commander of the 71st Infantry Brigade in the same garrison.

In the world war

After the outbreak of war in August 1914, Salis and his brigade went to war against Serbia in the association of the Croatian 42nd Honved Infantry Troop Division under General Sarkotić . In association with the 5th Army , the Drina was pushed. His troops fought during operations in the Macva near Banova Polje, Vrbocav and Radenkovic and in the seven-day battle of Šabac . On November 11, 1914 Salis himself took over the leadership of the 42nd Honved Infantry Division and took part in the second offensive to the Kolubara , which failed with heavy losses. The advance ended with rearguard fighting at Dudovica and at the height of Vis. In the spring of 1915 the XIII. Corps (General von Rhemen ) with the 36th Infantry Division and the 42nd Honved Infantry Division, transferred to the Army Group Planter-Baltin in the eastern Carpathian region. The 42nd Honved Infantry Division advanced over the Tatar Pass against the Vorokhta-Tatarow line to the Prut and were able to take Delatyn back. Salis received the rank of Lieutenant Field Marshal on February 15, 1915 and received the Order of the Iron Crown, 2nd class. From February 16, the Salis division advanced to Stanislau and was placed under the command of the German General of the Cavalry Marshal , who defended a front between Chernivtsi and the Dniester near Niezwiska. On March 14, 1915, Salis-Seewis and all members of his family were ennobled by the highest resolution. Count Salis-Seewis led his division until mid-April 1915, was given a short leave of absence and had to finally surrender his command to Field Marshal Lieutenant Anton Lipošćak in mid-June . His removal had been carried out by General of the Planter-Baltin Cavalry , who was dissatisfied with his conduct. Badly affected by this, Count Salis-Seewis was missing until October 1915. To compensate for this, the Army High Command offered him the prospect of the position of military governor for the occupied parts of Serbia on November 14, 1915 , because he was familiar with the language and the conditions in the Balkans . It was not until January 7, 1916, that Field Marshal Lieutenant Count Salis-Seewis, who was also awarded the dignity of the Privy Council, took up his new post as Governor General in Belgrade . His Pro-Slavic decrees quickly made him suspicious of the Hungarian Prime Minister Tisza , so that he was replaced in this position on July 6, 1916 by the General of the Infantry Adolf von Rhemen. Count Salis-Seewis was placed in the Fuehrer's reserve and received the Commander's Cross of the Order of Leopold including war decorations as consolation .

From the beginning of October 1917 to June 1918 he commanded the 92nd Infantry Division, which was deployed on the lower reaches of the Sereth and together with the German 109th Division formed the "Rimnic Group". Because of the resulting subordination to the German Lieutenant General von Behr , Salis felt that he had been in a minor position. In June 1917, it was the task of the upgraded General Command of Count Salis in Wallachia to strengthen the border protection against the approaching Army of the Orient . Field Marshal Mackensen's Romanian Army Group stopped on the Danube Front, the western part of which, from the mouth of the Alt to the Hungarian border, was transferred to the Salis General Command. Shortly before the end of the war, Salis relocated his seat from Craiova to Bucharest on November 3, 1918 in order to prepare the evacuation of Romania with General von Mackensen. The withdrawal began on November 10. On the day of the end of the Austro-Hungarian Army on November 11, 1918, Count Salis-Seewis received his rank as Feldzeugmeister.

Retirement

On January 1, 1919, Count Salis was retired and after the collapse of the monarchy took up residence in his native Croatia, where his siblings also lived. The Viennese Post Savings Bank transferred the supply fees through the liquidation of the military pension. For a long time the republic refused the full pension to which he was entitled, and only shortly before his death did he receive the rightful sums. Count Salis spent his last lifetime in the house of his episcopal brother in Agram. Shortly before his death, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer, suffered terrible pain, and could hardly eat any more. He refused the necessary operation and gave in to the fate that befell him with his family, who stood by him until the end.

literature

• Ernst Putz: Feldzeugmeister Johann Ulrich Graf Salis Seewis from Allgemeine Schweizerische Militärzeitschrift, year 134 (1968), issue 6: p. 322 f., Issue 7: p. 386 f., Issue 8: p. 441 f.

Web links

• Biography on www.austro-hungarian-army (English)