Leopold von Brese-Winiary

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Leopold von Brese-Winiary, portrayed by Franz Krüger

Johann Leopold Ludwig Brese , von Brese-Winiary since 1856 , (born September 9, 1787 in Berlin ; † May 5, 1878 ibid) was a Prussian general of the infantry , general inspector of the Prussian fortresses and chief of the engineering corps , who played a major role in the establishment who had fortifications in the Prussian eastern provinces.

Private life

Wroce's family comes from Gerbstedt in what was then the county of Mansfeld , where his grandfather was a postman and mayor. His father Johann Karl Brese joined the postal service in Magdeburg on May 18, 1765 . In July 1770 he was transferred to Berlin, got a position as royal Prussian court postal secretary and died there on January 5, 1824 at the age of 75 as a former privy councilor and court postmaster. His second marriage was on September 2, 1784 in Berlin with Charlotte Friederike Henriette († February 21, 1840 in Berlin at the age of 74). She was a daughter of the war council Johann Christian Carow.

Johann Leopold Ludwig Brese married in 1816 Friederike Johanne Charlotte († January 31, 1871 in Berlin at the age of 79 years), a subsidiary of the Judicial Council Gottlieb Wilhelm Wittchow of Swinoujscie , the 1817 multiple products (eg. B. Mellenthin ) on the island of Ruegen acquired . Only the son Leopold emerged from this marriage, who died in an accident in 1820 at the age of three. So that the nobility brought into the family in 1856 should not die out in the first generation, General von Brese-Winiary adopted his brother-in-law Carl Ferdinand Wittchow in 1868, owner of the manor on Mellenthin and Dewichow, to whom the name, nobility and coat of arms were transferred on April 17, 1869 and from then on he was allowed to call himself Wittchow von Brese-Winiary. One of his descendants was Colonel Heinz Wittchow von Brese-Winiary, commander of the Panzergrenadier Regiment 108, holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

General von Brese – Winiary last lived in Berlin, Leipziger Str. 2, where he died on May 5, 1878 after several strokes. The burial took place in the Jerusalem cemetery in front of the Halle gates.

Military background

Leopold attended the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster before he was given the express permission of Friedrich Wilhelm III. on November 2, 1805 was accepted into the Prussian Engineering Academy. The war against France interrupted his training and he went from Spandau , via Küstrin to Danzig , where at the beginning of 1807 he took part in the battles for the fortress as a non-commissioned officer; here especially in the defense of a blockhouse in the Covered Way in front of the Jerusalem Bastion, for which he was promoted to Second Lieutenant in June 1807 . After the Peace of Tilsit , Brese received his appointment as a teacher for the fortification of the Prussian princes Friedrich , Friedrich Wilhelm and Wilhelm - although he himself still had no qualifications . In May 1810 he went to Berlin as adjutant to Major Pullet, the brigadier of the fortresses in Pomerania and Brandenburg, and attended war school there for three years. In 1813 he supported the Russian siege of Danzig and received the Iron Cross II. Class as well as an honor saber for bravery from the Russian side. This was followed by promotions to prime lieutenant (August 1813), staff captain (January 18, 1815) and captain (June 17, 1815). In the summer campaign of 1815 Brese was part of the staff of the IV Prussian Corps under General von Tauentzien . In January 1816 he was involved in the expansion of the Stralsund fortress . On September 9, 1816 he was initially appointed as an assistant to the War Ministry, in July 1818 a full member of the Ministry and in February of the next year he was appointed head of the engineering department there.

In the meantime (April 19, 1820) promoted to major, in 1827 Brese received the first order to independently plan the fortress of Posen from the General Inspector of the Prussian fortresses, General of the Infantry Gustav von Rauch . The city of Poznan should be less protected against an enemy from outside. Rather, the idea was to establish permanent positions to secure the provincial capital against possible Polish uprisings . The draft submitted by him on June 21, 1827 recommended the construction of a large fortress on the north-dominating Winiary hill, which dominates the entire city, and several smaller works. The construction of Fort Winiary was approved by the highest cabinet order of April 14, 1828 . Brese stayed in the War Ministry, but continued to play a major role in carrying out the work in Poznan. It was not until May 12, 1832, that he received a troop command as inspector of the Brandenburg-Pomerania Fortress Inspectorate, to which the Posen Fortress was subordinated a little later. This was followed by promotions to lieutenant colonel (March 30, 1835), colonel (March 30, 1837) and major general (March 22, 1843). On September 12, 1841 he was appointed inspector of the 2nd engineering inspection and on May 22, 1842, he took over the 1st engineering inspection in the same position. This gave him great influence on the work on the fortresses in Königsberg , Lötzen , Thorn , Stettin and also Posen.

On January 30, 1849, Major General Brese was appointed chief of the engineering corps and inspector general of all Prussian fortresses. Promoted to lieutenant general on May 8, 1849, he became a member of the Prussian State Council on May 25, 1854 . On his 50th anniversary of service and in recognition of his services in the construction of the Poznan fortress, he was elevated to the hereditary Prussian nobility on October 15, 1856 with the title of Brese-Winiary . The family coat of arms shows a silver tip in blue, which is decorated with a red shield with the iron cross in it, but has a green three-mountain at the base, on which a fortress tower stands between two green vines. The point is covered by a golden anchor on a bare sword. Appointed General of the Infantry on November 22, 1858, he received his requested retirement on July 1, 1860 with the award of the Order of the Black Eagle and was put up for disposition on January 3, 1861 with the statutory pension .

Significance for fortress construction

General von Aster's outstanding position for the Prussian fortress construction in the western provinces, here especially for Koblenz , was taken by von Brese – Winiary for the fortification structures in the eastern provinces, with a focus on Posen. In addition, all important fortress designs went through his desk during his service (1816–1832) in the War Ministry. Brrosses merits in the practical implementation consisted in bringing the form of normal polygons created by Aster, for example in Koblenz, into certain shapes based on Montalembert's ideas. He looked for tactically important main points in the area, secured them with strong independent works and put in between simple entrenchments for gun emplacements. The in-depth structure was decisive. Each line of fortifications was given three positions: a path covered by reduit block houses as the outer line, a storm-free main wall as the main position and behind it a strong casemated reduit as the last and materially strongest reserve position of the defense. However , von Brese-Winiary had underestimated the effects on the fortress construction, through the breech-loading guns with rifled barrel barrels that were used in the second half of the 1850s, and the resulting greater accuracy, range and penetration. The reinforcement structures that now became necessary on the Prussian fortress systems therefore had to be carried out by his successor, General Moritz von Prittwitz .

Awards

Fort Winiary

In 1856, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV approved the names "Johann", "Leopold" and "Ludwig" for the three bastions of Fort Winiary.

Works

  • The reinforcement of the fortifications of Danzig during the winter of 1806-1807 . In: Archives for the officers of the Royal Prussian Artillery and Engineer Corps . tape 11 , 1840, p. 20–101 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  • Three lectures on origins u. the essence of the newer fastening method . Berlin 1844.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Titan von Hefner: The nobility of the Kingdom of Prussia (=  J. Siebmacher's large and general book of arms . Volume 3 , 1-3. Department). Nuremberg 1857, p. 453 .
  2. ^ Hermann Usener-Klipstein: General Leopold von Brese-Winiary . In: Our Pommerland . tape 13 . Stettin 1928, p. 156-158 ( digitized version ).
  3. ↑ See in detail about the struggle for the log houses in: Gustav Köhler: History of the fortresses Danzig and Weichselmünde up to 1814 . tape 2 (1734-1814) . Breslau 1893 ( digitized version ).
  4. ↑ Otto Titan von Hefner: The nobility of the Kingdom of Prussia (=  J. Siebmacher's large and general book of arms . Volume 3 , 1-3. Department). Nuremberg 1857, p. 98 .
personal data
SURNAME Brese-Winiary, Leopold von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brese, Johann Leopold Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the infantry, inspector general of the Prussian fortresses and chief of the engineering corps
DATE OF BIRTH September 9, 1787
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH May 5, 1878
Place of death Berlin