Ludwig von Reiche (General, 1775)

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August Friedrich Ludwig Karl von Reiche (born October 4, 1775 in Nienburg / Weser , † May 18, 1854 in Berlin ) was a Prussian infantry general and military writer.

origin

His parents were the court advisor and state syndic of Nienburg Ernst Karl von Reiche († 1823) and his wife Bernhardine Heppe († 1833).

Life

Reiche went into Prussian service at the end of 1788 and came to the "Eichmann" infantry regiment in Wesel . He became an ensign and an officer on May 1, 1793. He fought between 1793 and 1794 during the First Coalition War in the Netherlands and came to the Rhine in the summer of 1794. After the war he returned to his Wesel garrison. He had occupied himself with science and art at an early age and now wanted to switch from the infantry to the engineering corps . To do this, he had to graduate from the engineering school and so in May 1796 he registered as an experienced officer at the engineering school in Potsdam. When he passed the exam two years later, he performed so well that he was brought in as a teacher at the school. It was then that his writing began. In May 1804 he was transferred to Danzig to expand the fortress there. During the war of 1806 he joined the field army under Duke Karl August von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach . He took part in the retreat to Lübeck and was captured during the surrender there. After he was released on his word of honor, he first returned to his parents.

In January 1809 he was able to return to the army and came to the fortress Spandau . But he saw no promotion opportunities for himself in the engineering corps and therefore changed in 1810 as a staff captain in the cadet corps . In addition, he became a teacher of fortification art, recording and military drawing for Crown Prince Wilhelm and his cousin Friedrich of Prussia . He was very successful and was promoted to captain in 1811 . But with the start of the Wars of Liberation in 1813, he asked for a transfer to the Army Corps and when Yorck came to Berlin in March 1813, he was assigned to its General Staff. His first work was building bridges over the Elbe near Roßlau . The attack on Wittenberg and the crossing over the Saale near Merseburg were unsuccessful. In York's opinion Reiche was prudent and well-behaved, but he was also quick to speak and tended to go beyond his authority. He took part in the battle of Großgörschen and received the Iron Cross 2nd class for his behavior , he fought at Königswartha-Weissig and Bautzen . After the armistice he became a major and was commissioned to set up a camp near Spandau. When the war flared up again, he came to the General Staff of III. Army Corps under von Bülow . He supported Bülow in the decision to fight the battle of Großbeeren . For Dennewitz he then received the Iron Cross First Class. He then took part with Bülow in the Battle of Nations near Leipzig and in the following battles in Holland.

In January 1814 he came to the Great Headquarters in Basel to organize further supplies for Bülow. At the end of January he was back and took part in the fighting in Belgium and France. Then he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and chief of the general staff of III. Army Corps appointed under General von Borstell in Aachen. But at the end of September he was ordered to Berlin to work as a teacher for Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm , and Princes Wilhelm and Friedrich also became his students again. But when Napoleon returned from Elba , he became Chief of Staff of the 1st Army Corps under General von Zieten . Although neither of them had a good relationship, they fought at Ligny and Waterloo .

After the peace agreement, Zieten became the commander of the Prussian occupation forces in France. Reiche remained as colonel and chief of the general staff. After the troops had withdrawn in 1818, he joined the commission preparing the takeover of Luxembourg by the German Confederation . After five years he returned to Berlin as the inspector of the engineering inspection. In 1836 he was promoted to lieutenant general and in 1842 received his retirement as general of the infantry . He used his last years to work again as an author of military textbooks.

Works

His first book was field fortification in 1804 . It was used as the standard textbook in military schools for many decades. In 1806 he wanted to publish Construction Practice for Field Engineers , but due to the lost war of 1806 it was not printed until 1812. His work Permanent Fortification Art was therefore not very successful either.

  • 1804: The field fortification derived from theoretical and practical reasons, or detailed and clear instructions on how one can appropriately arrange and set up field entrenchments. Digitized
  • 1805: Attempt a full construction practice for field engineers. Digitized
  • 1812: The art of fortification . Digitized
  • 1820: Attempt of a complete construction practice for field engineers and infantry officers in particular: Or instruction for the practical construction of all entrenchments occurring in the field, etc. everything that can be related to field fortification; Mainly for self-teaching. Digitized

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In Poten (lit.). differently born in 1774.
  2. ^ From: Droysen The life of Field Marshal Count York von Wartenburg. Volume 2, Berlin 1852, p. 200.
personal data
SURNAME Reiche, Ludwig von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reiche, August Friedrich Ludwig Karl von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian infantry general and military writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1775
PLACE OF BIRTH Nienburg / Weser
DATE OF DEATH May 18, 1854
Place of death Berlin