Karl Erdmann von Reitzenstein

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Karl Erdmann von Reitzenstein (born July 10, 1722 in Hohenberg an der Eger , † February 16, 1789 ) was a Prussian major general and chief of the 12th Dragoon Regiment . He was an excellent rider leader in the so-called little war , during the Seven Years' War .

Life

Reitzenstein was born as the son of Kaspar Erdmann von Reitzenstein heir on Hohenberg and his wife Amalie Charlotte von Beust . He began his military career in the Saxon cavalry , in which he served as an officer from 1741 to 1746. He went to the Prussian army with the rank of cornet of the Gersdorff cuirassier regiment , in which the hussars under Hans Joachim von Zieten had earned a good reputation.

He came as a lieutenant in Regiment No. 2 under Ziethen. In 1757 he was staff assistant master , 1758 cavalry master and 1759 major in this regiment. During this time he drew attention to himself through a series of successful operations. In May 1759 he fought against the Russians on the Polish border in the Polish-Wartenberg , Pietschen and Creutzburg area . In September 1759 he was relocated to the Lusatian Mountains . He attacked Austrian supplies and pushed as far as Gabel . In May 1760 he fought there against the hussars under Laudon . The attack on Liebau on May 14, 1760 was remarkable. In the same year he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and commander in Dragoon Regiment No. 10 . On August 15, 1761 he successfully took action against two Austrian cuirassier regiments at Strachwitz and Wahlstatt Abbey , which earned him the Pour le Mérite order . In September he was still successful at Kobylin and Gostyń .

At the equestrian skirmish near Kammendorf - on June 14, 1762 - he was able to distinguish himself again. In July 1762 he was placed under the command of Lieutenant General Graf zu Neuwied , who used Reitzenstein primarily as a scout. The Seven Years' War was already in its final stages when, at the beginning of July 1763, it was able to advance across the Elbe into north-eastern Bohemia to the Aupa . After the end of the war he was promoted to colonel in 1764 . In 1769 he was appointed major general and was given the 12th Dragoon Regiment . He gave up the regiment in 1780.

Frederick the Great called him

"... a man of great merit."

family

His first wife was Leopoldine von Reitzenstein. In 1779 he married Dorothea Sophie Auguste von Podewils (1761–1785), daughter of the Prussian major general Friedrich Wilhelm von Podewils . In 1780 he bought the Glötzin estate from his mother-in-law. The couple divorced in 1781. She then married the later Prussian major general Karl Ernst August von der Groeben (1750-1809). In 1783 Reitzenstein married Klara Sophie von Kameke in their third marriage .

literature
personal data
SURNAME Reitzenstein, Karl Erdmann from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reitzenstein, Carl Erdmann von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Major General and Chief of Dragoon Regiment No. 12
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1722
PLACE OF BIRTH Hohenberg on the Eger
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 1789