Johannes von Dassel

Fritz Reginald Johannes von Dassel (born August 10, 1863 in Berlin , † November 29, 1928 in Potsdam ) was an infantry general of the Reichswehr .

Life

Origin and family

Johannes was the son of the Prussian Colonel and Landstallmeister Gustav Adolph von Dassel (* February 24, 1816 - April 17, 1894) and his wife Elise, née von Bandemer .

In 1895 he married Else von Borcke (1876–1957), daughter of the Prussian Major General Kurt von Borcke (1847–1921).

Military career

Dassel spent his youth in Trakehnen . From 1873 he was in the Culm cadet house , from 1878 in the main cadet institute in Groß-Lichterfelde . On April 15, 1882 he was transferred as a second lieutenant to the 3rd Guards Regiment on foot in the Prussian Army and from 1886 as an adjutant of the 2nd Battalion. From October 1, 1889 to July 21, 1891, he was sent to the War Academy for further training . In the meantime Dassel had become Prime Lieutenant on March 24, 1890 and rose to regimental adjutant on his return from the War Academy. His activity in the regiment was suspended from October 20, 1892 to January 26, 1896. During this time he was an adjutant of the 3rd Guard Infantry Brigade . As a captain he then became company commander . Dassel gave up this post when he was promoted to major and transferred to the "Kronprinz" (1st East Prussian) No. 1 grenadier regiment on January 27, 1905. On 21 May 1907 he became commander of the Fusilier - Battalion of the Emperor Alexander Grenadier Guards Regiment 1st . From there, Dassel was transferred to Naumburg (Saale) on August 1, 1910 and appointed commander of the Magdeburg Jäger Battalion No. 4 . In this position he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 27, 1912 . He then came to Berlin on January 27, 1913, where he took over as commander of Landwehr District III and was promoted to colonel on March 22, 1914 .

First World War

At the beginning of the First World War, Dassel initially remained in his position and was appointed commander of the 5th Hanoverian Infantry Regiment No. 165 by AOK on August 14, 1914 . He fought in association with the IVth Army Corps on the Western Front at Tirlemont and Mons , at Le Cateau and on the Somme, and advanced with his regiment to the Qurcq. After the Battle of the Marne , like the entire German army, he received the order to retreat and covered it in the Battle of the Aisne . In October 1914 the regiment was engaged in fighting near Arras and Lille and in December in French Flanders. Here he was able to prevent breakthrough attempts several times. On January 25, 1915 Dassel was appointed commander of the 10th Infantry Brigade, which he led in the spring battle at La-Bassée and Arras . After the fighting was over, Dassel was given command of the 49th Infantry Brigade (1st Grand Ducal Hessian) on July 30, 1915 . He commanded the brigade for the next two years in the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme . In the spring of 1917, the large association went back to the Siegfried position. There Dassel was promoted to major general on June 18, 1917 . On September 21, 1917, he entered the fighting in Flanders with his brigade and was able to repel attacks despite great losses.

Wilhelm II finally appointed Dassel on November 24, 1917 as the commander of the Jäger Division , which at that time was in the Venetian Alps . The division remained on the Italian front until the end of January 1918 and was then transferred to the Vosges . Here she made on 30 March 1918, the German spring offensive with and entered after setting the major attack on the Avre back into the trench warfare over. In July he fought in the defensive battle between Soissons and Reims and the subsequent mobile defensive battle between Marne and Vesle . When British forces broke deep into German positions in the defensive battle between Oise and Aisne, Dassel and his division were brought forward and deployed to counterattack. He managed to regain a large part of the lost positions and to hold them for the next few days. For these achievements he was awarded the highest Prussian valor award, the order Pour le Mérite , on October 25, 1918 .

Post-war years

After the Compiègne armistice , Dassel led his division back home, where it was disbanded near Berlin on December 14, 1918. He was then the III. Army Corps and was given command of the 12th Infantry Brigade in Brandenburg an der Havel on January 29, 1919 . For a short time Dassel was then from May 28 to September 30, 1919 inspector of the Landwehr inspection in Berlin. He was then accepted into the Provisional Reichswehr and appointed Infantry Leader III in East Prussia. After the Kapp Putsch , he initially took over the deputy leadership of Wehrkreis I (Königsberg) . From May 1920 Dassel was commander in military district I and from October 1, 1920 also commander of the 1st division . On December 18, 1920, with the seniority of October 1, 1920, he was promoted to lieutenant general . Dassel retired from active service on October 31, 1923, being given the character of General of the Infantry. Wilhelm Heye became his successor.

literature

• Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume I: A-L. Bernard & Graefe publishing house, Berlin 1935, pp. 214-216.
• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: A-G. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 , pp. 286-288.
• Old Prussian biography . Volume I, 1941, p. 125.
• Biographical Yearbook 1928. p. 36.

Web links

• Johannes von Dassel in the online version of the edition files of the Reich Chancellery. Weimar Republic

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of officers of the Royal Prussian 3rd Guard Regiment on foot. From 1860 to 1910. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg 1910, p. 38.
2. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of noble houses . Fourth year, Justus Perthes , Gotha 1903, p. 143.