Ludwig von Fabini

Ludwig Hermann von Fabini (born July 6, 1861 in Mediasch , † December 11, 1937 in Temešvár ) was an Austro-Hungarian officer, known as the leader of the later Kaiserjäger division in World War I , most recently general of the infantry .

Life

origin

He was born as the son of the high school professor and later pastor Johann Fabini (1825-1899) and the daughter of the mayor of Mediasch, Josefa, née Auner, (1832-1901) in Transylvania . He received his name in honor of Uncle Ludwig Fabini (1830–1906), an Austro-Hungarian Feldzeugmeister and commanding general .

Early military career

After attending the Protestant grammar school in Medias, he attended the infantry cadet school in Prague for two years . He was in the Bohemian Infantry Regiment. 36 for lieutenant promoted to after three years of service Lieutenant appointed and then to the Vienna Military Academy drafted.

After graduating from the Vienna War School, he was assigned to the General Staff in 1899 . After further posts in Lemberg and Innsbruck , he worked in the War Ministry for three and a half years, promoted to captain and then transferred to Infantry Regiment No. 48 in Pressburg and later to Großkanischa . He then became chief of staff of the kuk 33rd Infantry Troop Division in Komorn . On October 1, 1899, he was assigned to Vienna and until 1905 took over a section of the imperial military chancellery. After his promotion to colonel on January 3, 1906, he did brief active service in Innsbruck and then took over the position of Chief of Staff of the V Corps in Pressburg for a year and a half. On November 1, 1911, he was promoted to major general and took over the leadership of the 11th Infantry Brigade in Graz . On October 20, 1912 he was raised to the nobility.

In the first World War

At the beginning of the war (August 1914) he led the 11th Brigade as part of the "Iron" III. Corps ( General of the Infantry Emil Colerus von Geldern ) in the Austro-Hungarian 6th Infantry Troop Division ( FML Yellow von Siegesstern) in the Battle of Zloczow and in the retreat battles around Lemberg. At the end of September 1914 he took over the leadership of the Austro-Hungarian 8th Infantry Troop Division and was promoted to field marshal lieutenant on November 9, 1914 . In mid-September 1914 his division had withdrawn behind the San as part of the XIV Corps near Leżajsk and participated in counter-attacks by the Roth corps group from Limanowa-Łapanów north of the Vistula on the Szreniawa . Relocated to New Sandets in the Carpathian Mountains at the beginning of December , his troops carried out a successful counterattack in the Battle of Limanowa – Lapanow . Between May 6 and June 25, 1915, as a result of the breakthrough in the Tarnów area, his troops advanced from the Biala again via San.

In mid-July 1915, the 8th ITD. after the outbreak of war with Italy moved to the front on the Isonzo in Tolmin . From October 1915 it was used on the mountain front in the Dolomites . In mid-May 1916, Fabini's troops were part of the XX. Corps involved in the South Tyrol offensive. On May 30, the assumed 180th Brigade captured (Major General Ignaz Verdroß ) Monte Priaforà north of Schio where the trench warfare began again. On December 9, 1916, the 8th Division was awarded the addition of the Kaiserjäger Division by imperial order . As early as mid-August 1916, Fabini, as the successor to General Arz von Straussenburg, had led the VI. Corps taken over. In January 1917 Fabini finally replaced Karl Křitek as commander of the XVII deployed on the Dniester . Corps and participated in the unit of the 7th Army in July in the area west of Nadwirna in the defense of the Kerensky offensive . On March 3, 1918, he was promoted to the rank of general of the infantry. His troops took part in the advance in Ukraine as part of the Austro-Hungarian Army .

After the war, Fabini retired and from 1920 to 1934 spent his pension alternately in Graz and Mediasch. He was also active as a writer and stood up as a lawyer for the rights of the Mediascher and Kleinkokler district. In 1934 he moved to Temešvár , where he lived until his death in 1937. His wife Friederike, née Voss, survived him and gave birth to three sons and two daughters during their marriage.

Fonts

• The baptism of fire of the Iron Corps: The first day of the Battle of Złoczów on August 26, 1914 in: Military Science Communications , September / October 1930 issue.
• Monte Priaforà. A fame sheet of the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger from the May offensive in 1916 in: Militärwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen, November / December 1931 issue.
• The fighting over the plateau of Bainsizza in the 10th Isonzo battle from May 12th to 30th, 1917 in: Militärwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen, May 1933.
• Tiroler Kaiserjäger 1914/15 on the San in: Military Science Communications, December 1934 issue.

Trivia

In The Last Days of Mankind by Karl Kraus he is referred to as " Kaiserjägertod" in his function as commander of the 8th Infantry Troop Division "Kaiserjäger-Division" :

The Commander: Your Excellency, the troops are freezing to death in the icy holes filled with groundwater.

Kaiserjägertod: How high do you estimate the likely losses?

The commander: 4000.

Kaiserjägertod: The troops are to be sacrificed according to orders.

literature

• Hermann A. Hienz: Writer's Lexicon of the Transylvanian Germans: Volume D - G, Böhlau Verlag 2001, p. 43
• Austria-Hungary's last war . Volume I, ed .: Edmund Glaise-Horstenau, Verlag der Militärwissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen, Vienna 1930. S. 426, 788 f