Karl von Fasbender

Karl Fasbender , since 1908 Knight of Fasbender , (* 3. December 1852 in Michelbach in Wiesbaden ; † 13. May 1933 in Munich ) was a Bavarian Infantry General and commander in the First World War .

Karl von Fasbender

Life

family

He was the son of the factory owner of the same name, Karl Fasbender, and his wife Elisabeth, née Lossen. Fasbender married Lili Zellner in 1891, with whom he had two children.

Military career

After attending the Latin school in Hadamar , Fasbender passed his Abitur at the humanistic grammar school in Würzburg . He then studied law for a year at the University of Würzburg and joined the 9th Infantry Regiment "Wrede" of the Bavarian Army in Würzburg on October 1, 1872 as a one-year volunteer . On October 1, 1873, Fasbender was taken on as a professional soldier , graduated from military school in 1875 and was promoted to secondary lieutenant on November 12, 1875 . From 1878 to 1881 he was a regimental adjutant, then Fasbender graduated from the military academy by 1884 , which pronounced him qualification for the general staff, the higher adjutantage and the subject. As a prime lieutenant from January 1, 1886 to February 1, 1888 he was adjutant of the Kaiserslautern district command . On the 1 December 1888 General Staff commanded, he became the on September 1, 1890 Railway Department of the General Staff in Berlin added. Promoted to captain on October 1 , Fasbender was appointed company commander in the 9th Infantry Regiment on June 11, 1891 . On September 22, 1893, as à la suite of the General Staff, he took up a position as a teacher at the War Academy, where he was promoted to major on April 13, 1896 .

On September 27, 1897 he was appointed battalion commander in the 10th Infantry Regiment "King Ludwig" in Ingolstadt . On December 13, 1898, he took command of the 1st Jäger Battalion "König" in Freising . On March 7, 1900, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. On March 1, 1901, he handed over command of the 1st Jäger Battalion to Jakob Pfluegl. On February 12, 1901, he was appointed as a suite of the 1st Jäger Battalion as the commander of the Lechfeld Military Shooting School, where he modernized the theory and practice of combat shooting. On October 15, 1902, he was promoted to colonel . On October 23, 1903, Fasbender was in command of the 3rd Infantry Regiment "Prince Karl of Bavaria" in Augsburg , his successor, Hans Abt, took over command on February 6, 1905. With promotion to major general , he was promoted to major general on April 9, 1905 Appointed commander of the 9th Infantry Brigade in Nuremberg . From January 2 to April 27, 1906, he was posted to Berlin and played a key role in reforming the drill regulations for the infantry. On December 30, 1907, he was appointed Chief of the Army General Staff and Inspector of the Military Educational Institutions. After promotion to lieutenant general (June 26, 1908), he was appointed commander of the 4th division in Würzburg on November 18, 1908 . With the award of the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown , he was raised to the personal nobility and entered in the nobility register of the knightly class. Fasbender held the division command until March 23, 1912. Then he was adopted at his own discretion with the character of general of the infantry.

At the beginning of the First World War , Fasbender took over the 1st Reserve Corps in the 6th Army as commanding general on August 10, 1914 . On October 11, 1914, he was re-employed as General of the Infantry for the duration of the war. As à la suite of the 1st Jäger Battalion, he was authorized to wear the uniform of this battalion. At the beginning of October 1914 he succeeded in surprisingly attacking a French reserve division near Valenciennes and Cambrai ( Arras ) and crushing it. However, he did not get beyond the heights of Vimy because of newly thrown French forces . On October 5, 1914, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Max Joseph Order No. 35 (number during the First World War) “because of his outstanding, energetic and always successful leadership work, especially in the first days of October 1914 through the heavy victorious battles of his corps for the heights of Vimy and Loretto, which were highly significant for the overall situation.

In May 1915 he had to fight back from Arras constant French attacks and suffer heavy losses. On May 5th, in particular, he had to clear up a critical situation when the French 10th Army with its XXII. Army Corps was able to achieve a three kilometer deep break. In September 1915, despite the extremely massive use of artillery, he let the French run against his corps in vain by having the deployment rooms of the French 10th Army under fire with his strong artillery at an early stage.

On June 3, 1916, he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Military Max Joseph Order. The reason was u. a. found: "... he has his guides activities in the Somme battle the overall situation very favorably influenced in 1916 particularly by the independent decisions taken decisive decision of the immediate re-use its largely detached, hard battle-weary troops to the rescue of a highly critical situation." In August 1916 could he also prevented the French breaking in at Maurepas in the further course of the battle .

During the Battle of Arras in the spring of 1917, he stood with his corps in front of the heights of Vimy , which he could not hold because of a break-in by the English at the neighboring 14th Infantry Division . He therefore decided to move the defense about five kilometers to the rear in order to force the English artillery to move to a new position. On April 13, 1917, he moved into the new position, another advance by the English failed. At the suggestion of his Commander-in-Chief, General Field Marshal Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria , he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Military Max Joseph Order “because of a proposal to the top management that testified to the highest level of responsibility and far-sighted foresight, whose purposeful implementation resulted in the victorious defense against the violent British attacks on April 23rd and 28th and May 3rd, 1917, thanks to the troops he raised in an excellent military spirit ... ”.

On March 28, 1918, during the Battle of Michael , he carried out an unsuccessful attack on Arras. On November 18, 1918, Fasbender was dismissed from service as Commander-in-Chief of the 19th Army .

From April 1 to July 8, 1919 and from April 9, 1921 to October 1932, he was Grand Chancellor of the Military Max Joseph Order.

literature

• Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen , Friedrichfranz Feeser : The Bavaria book of the world wars 1914-1918. Volume I, Chr.Belser AG, publishing house, Stuttgart 1930.
• Othmar Hackl : The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914). CH Beck´sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-10490-8 , p. 433.
• Rudolf von Kramer, Otto Freiherr von Waldenfels: The royal Bavarian military Max-Joseph-Order. Self-published by the kb Militär-Max-Joseph-Order, Munich 1966.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Othmar Hackl: The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914). CH Beck´sche publishing house bookstore. Munich 1989. ISBN 3-406-10490-8 . P. 433.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} quoted from Rudolf von Kramer, Otto Freiherr von Waldenfels: The royal Bavarian military Max-Joseph-Order. Self-published by the kb Militär-Max-Joseph-Order, Munich 1966.