Karl von Wrangel

Karl Freiherr von Wrangel

Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Wrangel (born September 28, 1812 in Königsberg , † November 28, 1899 in Sproitz ) was a Prussian infantry general and is an honorary citizen of Flensburg .

Life

Wrangel statue in the city ​​park in Flensburg

origin

He was the son of the later Prussian Lieutenant General August Friedrich Ludwig Freiherr von Wrangel and his wife Karoline Sophie Henriette, née Countess Truchseß von Waldburg (1777-1819).

Military career

Raised in the cadet houses of Culm and Berlin , Wrangel came on 13 August 1830 as a second lieutenant in the 1st Guard Regiment and attended the General War School in Berlin from 1837 to 1840 .

In December 1841, Wrangel had to leave the service because of an honorary trade and - after he had healed from the severe wound he had received - was hired again in March 1843 for the later Emperor Wilhelm I and was assigned to the trigonometric department of the General Staff in Berlin the next year . From here he went, having become Premier Lieutenant in 1846 , with his uncle, Lieutenant General Friedrich von Wrangel , when he had received the supreme command of the German troops destined for the war against Denmark in April 1848 , to the Elbe Duchies , where he became captain of the Schleswig-Holstein General Staff transferred and took part in the campaigns of 1848/49.

The drummer from Kolding from the relief from the monument in Flensburg

Before that he had earned the nickname of the "Drummer von Kolding", which a newspaper enclosed with him. The incident, from which it owes its name, occurred on April 29, 1849 during a street fight in the town of Kolding, which was occupied by the Schleswig-Holsteiners . When these gave way to the advancing Danes, Wrangel brought them to a standstill by tearing the drum from a drum and struck the storm on it.

When Prussia called off its officers in April 1850 , Wrangel became the conductor of the topographical department and did not return to service as a lieutenant colonel until the mobilization in 1859 . Now he took the lead in a Landwehr regiment , which soon after became the Pomeranian Infantry Regiment No. 61 in Stolp .

In the war of 1866 he moved into the field at the head of the 26th Infantry Brigade in Münster and took part in the Main Campaign . In the battles at Dermbach , Kissingen , Laufach , Aschaffenburg , Tauberbischofsheim and Gerchsheim - when used independently - he played an outstanding role and received the order Pour le Mérite for this .

On August 10, 1867, he was appointed commander of the 18th division in Flensburg and promoted to lieutenant general in the spring of 1868 . In the war against France in 1870/71 his division took part in the IX. Army Corps at the battles at Colombey-Nouilly , Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte-St. Private part. During the siege of Metz , his troops intervened from September 1st during the battle of Noiseville to support the defensive battle of the Prussian I. Army Corps on the east bank of the Moselle . His division excelled at the beginning of December especially when taking Orléans . From there the Commander-in-Chief, Prince Friedrich Karl Nikolaus of Prussia , telegraphed to Versailles : "The honor of the day goes to the Wrangel Division". For this purpose, Wrangel was awarded the Oak Leaves for the Order Pour le Mérite on December 5, 1870 . As the war continued, Wrangel's division was still involved in the capture of Le Mans on January 11, 1871.

After the peace agreement , Wrangel remained at the head of his division in Flensburg until June 1872, when he became governor of Posen . On September 2, 1873 he was given the character of General of the Infantry. With his pension , Wrangel was finally put up for disposal on December 12, 1876 . In recognition of his many years of service, Wilhelm I awarded him the Grand Cross of the Red Eagle Order with Oak Leaves and Swords on September 16, 1881 . He was also a legal knight of the Order of St. John .

Burial place of Karl von Wrangel and his wife in Sproitz

family

Wrangel had married Elisabeth Adelheid Ernestine von Strantz on March 26, 1843 (born September 25, 1813 in Berlin, † February 27, 1891 in Sproitz ). From the marriage the daughter Adda (born July 28, 1844 in Charlottenburg; † January 23, 1913) emerged, who on July 29, 1864 in Berlin with Karl Freiherr von Liliencron († 1901), Lord of Sproitz, Chamberlain and Rittmeister a. D. had married. Adda was a founding member and chairwoman of the women's association of the German Colonial Society.

Honors and commemorations

He was made an honorary citizen of Flensburg in 1872. In 1903 a memorial in his memory in Flensburg, consisting of a statue with a base on which a relief with the image of the drummer von Kolding is attached, was unveiled in Flensburg's city park . In addition, a street in Flensburg is named after him (see there ). There is also a Wrangelstrasse in Kiel (see there ).

literature

• Adda von Liliencron : General of the Infantry Baron Karl von Wrangel. A picture of life based on his own records . Gotha 1903.
• Bernhard von Poten :  Wrangel, Karl Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 55, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1910, p. 124 f.
• Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldier leadership . Volume 7, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1939], DNB 367632829 , pp. 351-354, no. 2340.

Web links

Commons : Karl von Wrangel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files