Karl Dieffenbach

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Karl Dieffenbach

Karl Dieffenbach (born November 2, 1859 in Schlitz ; † March 17, 1936 in Düsseldorf ) was a Prussian infantry general .

Life

Dieffenbach was born the son of the secret senior church councilor Georg Christian and, after graduating from high school , joined the 7th Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 69 of the Prussian Army in Trier in 1879 as an avantageur . In 1880 he was promoted to lieutenant there . After attending the War Academy in Berlin from 1888 to 1891, he returned as a first lieutenant . In 1893 he was promoted to captain and sent to the Great General Staff . In 1896 he returned to service as a company commander in the fusilier regiment "Prince Heinrich von Preußen" (Brandenburgisches) No. 35 in Brandenburg an der Havel , before Dieffenbach was transferred to the General Staff in 1898 and promoted to major in 1899 . In 1901 he was appointed battalion commander in the infantry regiment "Graf Werder" (4th Rheinisches) No. 30 in Saarlouis . In 1904 he was appointed commander of the war school in Neisse and in 1906 promoted to lieutenant colonel.

As a colonel , he was appointed commander of the grenadier regiment "Graf Kleist von Nollendorf" (1st West Prussian) No. 6 in Posen in 1908. After he was promoted to major general in 1912 , he became commander of the 28th Infantry Brigade in Düsseldorf .

Dieffenbach was married to the painter Fanny Coupette from Trier .

First World War

May 1 to September 30, 1915

When the First World War broke out , Dieffenbach took over command of the 22nd Division in the XI on August 2, 1914 . Army Corps . With this he first went westwards, at the end of August to the Eastern Front to East Prussia , Cracow , Ivangorod and the Rawka , where he was promoted to Lieutenant General on April 18, 1915 . On June 2, 1915, he led his division to Lubakzow , crossed the San at Sieniawa and advanced to Pinsk . He spent the winter of 1915/16 in Volhynia . At the end of March 1916, the division moved to Courland and stayed with Mitau until the end of June .

During the Brusilov offensive , the division was assigned to the newly formed "attack group von der Marwitz" in eastern Galicia . When the division, together with the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army under Colonel General Puhallo, had to withdraw between Lipa and Styr on July 20, Dieffenbach was given the command of the army. After the retreat was brought to a standstill, the division, reinforced by two kuk infantry troop divisions , remained in its East Galician position as "Korps Dieffenbach" until mid-December.

For on December 17, 1916 commanding general of the VIII. Corps appointed Dieffenbach was as such on March 12, 1917 senior commanders should be replaced with younger, to the front of Ypres located IX. Reserve Corps transferred. On April 2, he received command of the southern section of the 6th Army with the leadership of the "Arras Group" . A week later the Battle of Arras began . In recognition of his services in the defense, he was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite by AKO on April 26, 1917 . In June 1917, during the Battle of Messines , he was transferred to Flanders with his general command to lead the "Group Wytschaete" of the 4th Army . His divisions had to give up the front arch of Wytschaete in the battle with the British 2nd Army under General Herbert Plumer and fought for many months on the southern section of the Great Battle of Flanders to maintain the new front line between Hollebeke-Zandvoorde-west of Warneton.

In January 1918 his general command of the newly formed 17th Army was transferred to the Artois . During the spring offensive he led his divisions in March 1918 in the battle of Monchy - Cambrai and then took part in the attack in the Scarpe . In mid-April 1918 Dieffenbach and his corps returned to the 6th Army and fought in the Battle of the Lys in the area south of Merville . Position battles followed in Artois and French Flanders from May to August . In September 1918 the army command moved the IX. Reserve corps to the 1st Army in Reims and from the end of September to the 5th Army on the Meuse. On November 8, 1918, the General Command of the IX. Reserve Corps disbanded.

Weimar Republic

After the end of the war, Dieffenbach submitted his resignation. On May 8, 1919, it was put up for disposition in its approval . On July 19, 1919, Karl Dieffenbach was given the character of General of the Infantry when he was retired.

As a result, he was chairman of the regional association of the Rheinisch-Westfälisches Industriegebiet and the Düsseldorf branch of the German officers' association and the warrior association of the Düsseldorf administrative district .

Awards

literature

  • Otto Dziobek: History of the Infantry Regiment Lübeck (3rd Hanseatic) No. 162. First edition, Officers Association, Lübeck 1922.
  • Hanns Möller: The history of the knights of the order “pour le merite” in World War 1914–1918. Volume 1: A-L. Bernard & Graefe publishing house, Berlin 1935.
  • Robert Volz: Reich manual of the German society . The handbook of personalities in words and pictures. Volume 1: A-K. German business publisher, Berlin 1930, DNB 453960286 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Coupette, Fanny. In: mohr-rautenstrauch.de. Retrieved March 28, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Rautenstrauch trunk. (No longer available online.) In: mohr-rautenstrauch.de. Archived from the original on March 22, 2018 ; accessed on March 28, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / mohr-rautenstrauch.de
personal data
SURNAME Dieffenbach, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the infantry
DATE OF BIRTH November 2, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Schlitz (Vogelsbergkreis)
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1936
Place of death Dusseldorf