Josef von Steiner

This article deals with the officer Josef von Steiner. For the State Secretary see Joseph Georg von Steiner .

Josef Steiner , since 1916 Knight von Steiner (born November 24, 1895 in Langenreichen ; † April 15, 1918 near Zwartemolenhoek , Belgium ) was a Bavarian officer , most recently a lieutenant in the First World War . He is the only person with this rank who has also been awarded the Commander's Cross in the long history of the Military Max Joseph Order .

Life

origin

He was the son of the shepherd master , farmer and mayor of the same name and his wife Josefa, née Reiner.

Military career

After graduating from the Lauingen (Danube) teacher training college , Steiner joined the 3rd Infantry Regiment "Prince Karl of Bavaria" of the Bavarian Army in Augsburg on October 1, 1913 as a one-year volunteer .

As a corporal he moved after the outbreak of World War I in the field, participated in the border skirmishes and in Lorraine Battle in part, fought against Nancy - Epinal and the Somme to then at Saint-Quentin in the trench warfare move. After position battles on the Somme, Steiner was promoted to lieutenant in the reserve and in March 1915 assigned with his regiment to the newly formed 11th Infantry Division and transferred to the Eastern Front. As leader of the 1st company he came u. a. used in the battles of Gorlice-Tarnów and near Lemberg , the battles for the Przemyśl fortress and the attack on Brest-Litowsk . Relocated to the Western Front again in February 1916 , he took over the 8th Company and was involved in heavy fighting before Verdun . Pulled out of the front in mid-May, Steiner came to the east and fought on the Styr and Stochod . On June 25, 1916, he attacked Emilin south of Linewka on his own initiative, in order to take the Russian positions and to hold them after several counter attacks. For this achievement he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Max Joseph Order. The award was connected with the elevation to the personal nobility and he was allowed to call himself Ritter von Steiner after his entry in the nobility register .

The Battle of Kovel followed , before Steiner was deployed in the Romanian theater of war . At the beginning of January 1917 he completed the first of three assault courses , initially as a student, later as a teacher and leader. He was used in trench warfare in Upper Alsace, participated in the double battle on the Aisne and in the Champagne , was in trench warfare at the Chemin des Dames and was in the autumn battle in Flanders . From December 21, 1917 to January 10, 1918, Steiner was the leader of the storm company in Deuxnouds. He then took over the command of the 8th Company again during the positional battles between the Maas and Mosel .

He also led this in the battle for the Kemmel . After several hours of artillery preparation, Steiner and his company started the attack on April 15, 1918, in association with three other battalions, as instructed. After occupying the area assigned to him, Steiner managed to revive the stalled main attack through his initiative. Three assault battalions deployed were now able to roll up the enemy positions and gain further ground in the northern area. Steiner fell during the fighting.

For his decisive action, which was decisive for the conquest of the strategically important Zwartemolenhoek-Höhe, Steiner was posthumously awarded the Commander's Cross of the Military Max Joseph Order with effect from April 15, 1918 as the eleventh officer of the Bavarian Army.

Commemoration

The grave of Josef Ritter von Steiner

The architect and sculptor Thomas Wechs created a grave monument for Steiner in Augsburg-Pfersee in 1931 , which was unveiled with great sympathy in the Westfriedhof after his remains had been transferred. Here lay Rupprecht of Bavaria down and other senior generals wreaths.

literature

• Rudolf von Kramer, Otto von Waldenfels: VIRTUTI PRO PATRIA. The Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order. Acts of War and Book of Honor 1914-1918. Self-published by the Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order. Munich 1966. pp. 418-419.
• Anton Kiessling: Commander Ritter von Steiner. The farmer's boy in World War II. Haas. Augsburg 1936.
• The world war in individual pictures. Josef Ritter von Steiner. In: The art of war - in words and pictures. Journal for the German Wehrmacht. Open words. 1937.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rudolf von Kramer, Otto von Waldenfels: VIRTUTI PRO PATRIA. The Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order. Acts of War and Book of Honor 1914-1918. Self-published by the Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order. Munich 1966. pp. 162f.