Karl Berger (officer)

Karl Wilhelm Oskar Berger (born May 29, 1858 in Wolfleben , † June 4, 1936 in Bremen ) was a Prussian lieutenant general .

Life

Berger joined the Magdeburg Pioneer Battalion No. 4 as a flagjunker on October 6, 1877 and was appointed ensign there on November 12, 1878 . On October 16, 1879, when he was promoted to second lieutenant , Berger came to the second engineer inspection in Poznan . A year later he was commanded to the United Artillery and Engineering School until September 30, 1882 and in the meantime Berger was transferred to the Lower Silesian Pioneer Battalion No. 5 in Glogau on July 10, 1882. From September 1, 1882 to July 26, 1888, Berger was then worked in the fortress Cüstrin , was promoted to prime lieutenant on May 16, 1888 and then transferred to the fortress construction school in Charlottenburg as an inspection officer. Here he served for the next four years and then came to the Guard Pioneer Battalion in Berlin. When he was promoted to captain on September 14, 1893, he was appointed company commander in the pioneer battalion "Fürst Radziwill" (East Prussian) No. 1 in Königsberg . After a year, Berger returned to the Guard Pioneer Battalion in the same position. From October 8, 1898 to March 21, 1902, he was commanded to the Great General Staff and then transferred to Strasbourg to the staff of the 1st Alsatian Pioneer Battalion No. 15. Shortly afterwards, on October 18, 1902, he was promoted to major . As such, Berger was to become the commander of Magdeburg Pioneer Battalion No. 4 on October 18, 1904. Berger gave up this command after three years when he was appointed director of the fortress construction school. After becoming lieutenant colonel on April 20, 1910 , Berger took over the post of inspector of the 8th fortress inspection in Freiburg im Breisgau on July 19, 1911 , which was part of the third engineering inspection. Berger, who had been promoted to colonel on February 18, 1913 , was again given a troop command following this activity and was transferred to Hanau on May 6, 1913 as commander of the No. 3 Railway Regiment.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Berger moved into the field with his regiment on the western front and on September 6, 1914 took over the 3rd Lower Alsatian Infantry Regiment No. 138 at Epinal . In association with the 42nd Division , it fought off Epinal and then moved to northern France to take part in the Battle of the Somme. After its termination, the regiment went into position warfare at St. Quentin . Berger was then given command of the 30th Reserve Infantry Brigade on January 1, 1915, with which he proved himself during the winter battle in Champagne . On July 24, 1915, he was promoted to major general . As such, he led the brigade in the battle of the Somme. Berger was appointed commander in the March 31, 1917 Flanders standing 19th Landwehr Division appointed. Berger gave up this command on November 13, 1917 and took over the 119th Division , which a few days later counteracted the British attack on the Cambrai tank battle . In the subsequent counter-offensive, the division was able to recapture a large part of the previously lost terrain. After the losses were replenished, the division prepared for the imminent spring offensive and then attacked in the front line of the 17th Army on March 21, 1918. During the breakthrough battle that followed between Monchy and Cambrai and the Battle of Bapaume , the British units were defeated and forced to retreat. Only between Arras and Albert did the division come to a standstill and return to trench warfare.

The division was now assigned to the 6th Army and there it fought from April 9 to 18, 1918 in the Battle of Armentières . At the beginning of August 1918, Berger and his division were assigned to the 2nd Army . After the defensive battle between Albert and Péronne , Berger was relieved of his command on August 23, 1918 and transferred to the officers of the army.

After the end of the war, he submitted his farewell, which was granted to him on December 4, 1918 with the position for disposition . On August 30, 1919, while at the same time conferring the character of Lieutenant General, he was retired.

Awards

• Order of the Crown III. class
• Prussian service award cross
• Officer's Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania
• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Order of the Red Eagle II class with swords in October 1916
• Pour le Mérite on April 17, 1918

literature

• 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. 93-94.
• 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. 73-74.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg Army Corps for 1914 , Ed .: War Ministry , Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1914, p. 519.