Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin

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Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin as Colonel General; Drawing by Oskar Brüch

Karl Pflanzer , from 1893 Edler von Pflanzer , from 1898 Freiherr von Pflanzer-Baltin (born June 1, 1855 in Pécs , Hungary , † April 8, 1925 in Vienna ) was Colonel General of the Austro-Hungarian Austro-Hungarian Army .

family

He was the son of the later General Auditor Wilhelm Planter, who was raised to the hereditary nobility in 1893 as a nobleman . His childless uncle was the retired Captain Josef Freiherr von Baltin. He succeeded in transferring his title of nobility and the coat of arms to his nephew and so he called himself Karl Freiherr von Pflanzer-Baltin since 1898 .

He married Hedwig Feger de Mercyfalva et Temes-Zsadany, with whom he had two sons: Arthur von Pflanzer-Baltin (born May 23, 1888; † April 12, 1963) and Erwin von Pflanzer Baltin (1893-1915). Both were cavalry officers. Arthur had no children and Erwin fell in the First World War .

Life

Planter-Baltin attended the cadet schools in Marburg and Eisenstadt after secondary school and from 1867 to 1871 the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt . The later generals Karl Graf Kirchbach and Arthur Giesl von Gieslingen were his classmates. On September 1, 1875, he was promoted to lieutenant in Dragoon Regiment No. 1. From 1877 to 1878 he attended the brigade officers' school in Pardubitz and from 1878 to 1880 the war school (general staff training) in Vienna. Successively he was promoted to lieutenant in 1880, captain in 1884 and major in 1891. After various staff assignments, he was transferred to the Uhlan Regiment No. 2 and on May 1, 1894 was appointed lieutenant colonel. After that he was a teacher at the war school. On May 1, 1897 he was promoted to colonel and Chief of Staff of the XI. Corps appointed. On May 1, 1903, he became major general and commander of the 32nd  Infantry Brigade in Sibiu . In 1905 he took over command of the 31st Infantry Brigade in Kronstadt . On October 30, 1907 he was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal and appointed Commander of the 4th  Infantry Division in Brno . He was then still inspector general of the corps officer's schools and his military career seemed unspectacularly to be retiring.

With the outbreak of World War I his retirement, however, was postponed, he was with the leadership of the Dniester standing army group Planter Baltin charge and on October 3, 1914 cavalry general promoted. With his reinforced army corps, consisting largely of land defense units, he was able to stop the Russian advance in Bukovina on what was then the southernmost eastern front and withstand General Brusilov's troops through skilful operations on the national border. For this he was awarded the Leopold Order  1st Class with war decoration. In the February offensive of 1915, with German troops , he was able to recapture the lost Czernowitz from the Russians and subsequently with his troops skillfully evade operational encirclement by the Dniester group of the Russian 8th Army . For his military achievements he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Maria Theresa Order . During the Carpathian Battle , he supported the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army with strong attacks by his army group, which was able to reach the Prut for a while. The bringing in of Russian reserves canceled these successes again. The new enemy, the Russian 9th Army under General Letschizki , restored the old Dniester line.

After the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnów , which was successful for the Central Powers , General Letschizki led a counter-offensive which pushed Planter's troops, known as the Austro-Hungarian 7th Army since May 8, back to the Nadwórna - Kolomea line until mid-May 1915 . As a result of the Great Retreat , however , the Russians returned to the northern Dnjestrufer in the summer of 1915. The left wing of planter followed the movement, while the right wing remained in the old position. In October and November 1915, Planter's troops were again able to successfully withstand counterattacks by the Russians.

On May 1, 1916 Planter Baltin became the Colonel-General conveyed. He suffered his first setbacks in the so-called Brusilov Offensive . The 7th Army had to withdraw with great losses and the Russians took back eastern Bukovina and Chernivtsi. As a result, the German and Austro-Hungarian troops had to fight several heavy and costly battles in order to stabilize the eastern front in July 1916. Rumors that under Pflanzer-Baltin German troops suffered greater losses than Austro-Hungarian troops led to pronounced quarrels in both army lines, to which the general was ultimately sacrificed. He retired in November 1916 "voluntarily for health reasons".

As early as March 1917, the troop leader, popular with the soldiers, was reactivated by Emperor Karl I. He was appointed general inspector of the foot troops (infantry inspector) and subsequently, on July 13, 1918, he was appointed commander in chief of all imperial and royal troops in Albania , the Albania army group . General Planter-Baltin was able to stop a Franco-Italian offensive and even launched a counter-offensive, which could push the enemy troops back to the south and east. Only high losses caused by malaria stopped its successful advance. After the collapse of Bulgaria in September 1918, the entire front collapsed in this sector. Planter-Baltin could only carry out an orderly withdrawal of his troops to the old frontier at Cattaro .

After the war he retired on December 1, 1918 and died on April 8, 1925 in Vienna. He was buried with all military honors in the Hietzingen cemetery .

Honors

in chronological order

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) 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 / www.friedhoefewien.at
  2. ^ Badener Zeitung: Local News. - General of the Cavalry Baron von Pflanzer-Baltin. May 1, 1915

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Planter Baltin, Karl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Planter-Baltin, Karl Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian general
DATE OF BIRTH June 1, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Pécs , Hungary
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1925
Place of death Vienna