Ludwig Balthasar von Schrautenbach-Weitolshausen

Ludwig Balthasar von Schrautenbach-Weitolshausen (other spellings: Weitelshausen or Weidelshausen , also Ludwig Balthasar von Weitolshausen called Schrautenbach ), (* May 17, 1654 , † December 17, 1738 in Gundernhausen ) was a German officer, most recently lieutenant general of the princely Hesse-Darmstadt Army.

Career

Schrautenbach's name appears for the first time in 1677 as a company commander of the 2nd company of the life guard of Landgrave Ludwig VI. on. The Landgrave had formed an infantry regiment from the three companies of the Guard , which he made available to Emperor Leopold I as an auxiliary corps as a result of an alliance agreement concluded with him. The regiment fought from 1677 in the Dutch War to 1686 in the Reunion War with the army of the allies on the Rhine and the Saar against the French .

In the Turkish war

In 1687 Schrautenbach, meanwhile captain of the guard on foot, was activated again. Landgrave Ludwig's son Prince Georg von Hessen-Darmstadt had received the order to set up a regiment for the Republic of Venice , which was allied with the Emperor and the Kingdom of Poland against the Ottoman Empire , that was carried out with other German troops in the course of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) should be used in the reconquest of the Peloponnese .

Schrautenbach took over the recruitment of a company and received the major position for it . In autumn 1687 the regiment moved to Hungary and moved to the Peloponnese, where it was successfully used in the conquest of the fortress of Chalkis on the island of Evia .

In the Palatinate War of Succession

In February 1690 the Hessian regiment was recalled because of the Palatine War of Succession with France that had broken out . The losses from the previous mission and due to illnesses were very high, so that in May 1689 the regiment only numbered 191 men. This was followed by missions on the Rhine and in the Netherlands , with Schrautenbach taking over the regimental command as a lieutenant colonel . In order to replenish the severely melted regiment, it was united with the previous bodyguard and from then on bore the name of Schrautenbach Regiment . In June 1691 the regiment was at Worms . In 1693 Schrautenbach, meanwhile promoted to colonel , was to relieve Heidelberg , which was besieged again by the French after 1689 . However, it came too late and the French had already occupied the city and the castle . The Upper County of Katzenelnbogen and Darmstadt were also conquered without Schrautenbach being able to prevent this. In 1694 Schrautenbach's regiment was increased from 11 to a total of 13 companies with 100 men and officers. With the troops of the Upper Rhine District and the Imperial Army , the regiment provided field service as well as garrison service in Darmstadt.

In 1695 the regiment was mostly in Brabant and was successfully used in the siege of Namur , including in the last storm on the fortress.

After the delivery of 6 companies to the district regiment set up by Landgrave Ernst Ludwig on April 1, 1697 , the regiment was again reduced to 5 companies after the Peace of Rijswijk in 1698.

In the War of the Spanish Succession

In 1702 the regiment - again reinforced to 8 companies - took part in the Imperial War against France ( War of the Spanish Succession ). Schrautenbach was promoted to major general and took command of the Hesse-Darmstadt troops consisting of two infantry and one cavalry regiment .

Schrautenberg took part in the conquest of Landau and on October 14, 1702 in the battle of Friedlingen . As a result, the Hessian troops were deployed in a scattered manner - for example, as the garrison of Landau during the siege by the French in October 1703. Another part, which was supposed to relieve Landau, was defeated by the French on November 15, 1703 in the Battle of Speyerbach which resulted in the Landau case. In 1704, Schrautenbach commanded the Hesse-Darmstadt and Mainz troops in the Main and Neckar area and, following an agreement reached at the end of 1704 between Braunschweig-Lüneburg and Hessen-Darmstadt, entered service with other Hessian troops in Brunswick. The Schrautenbach Regiment was initially deployed in Alsace and suffered considerable losses on June 4, 1705 when Marshal Villars broke through the Weißenburg lines . However, later in 1705 the troops won a victory at Haguenau . In the winter of 1705/06 the regiment was released back home.

In 1707 Schrautenbach fought with his troops under the Empire general feldmarschall Elector Georg Ludwig of Hanover to the French invasion in Bavaria ward and stood in July at Philippsburg . In 1708 Schrautenbach secured the Hessian borders and was rarely used because the main theater of war was in the Netherlands.

After the peace of 1714 Schrautenbach's regiment was reduced again and he seems to have resigned from the regimental command. In 1720, Colonel von Clement became the commander of the regiment; from August 1733, Prince Ludwig, later Landgrave Ludwig IX. , commanded. However, Schrautenbach, who was listed as Lieutenant General from 1732 , was named Chief of the Regiment until his death.

Schrautenbach's participation in the War of the Polish Succession in 1734 is not documented, but is considered likely.

For his time, Schrautenbach was considered a progressive commander who rejected the death penalty and ensured that innovations in weapons, equipment and training were quickly introduced to the Hessen-Darmstadt troops - for example, muskets with flintlocks and bayonets , iron ramrods , and step in step while marching , the closed order in members according to rank to uniform uniformity of the officers.

family

Schrautenbach was a member of the Hessian , later baronial noble family Weitolshausen called Schrautenbach . He was the second son of the Hesse-Darmstadt Chamberlain and Supreme Guard of the Landreiter Georg Friedrich Balthasar von Weitolshausen called Schrautenbach and his wife Maria Engel, née Baroness von Stein. He was married to Sophie Elisabeth von Geismar and the couple had four sons and a daughter.

literature

• Wilhelm Grotefend :  Schrautenbach-Weitolshausen, Ludwig Balthasar von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 54, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1908, pp. 181-183.