Manfred von Richthofen (General)

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Manfred Karl Ernst Freiherr von Richthofen (* 24. May 1855 in Barzdorf ; † 28. November 1939 in Bersdorf ) was a Prussian officer , most recently general of cavalry in the First World War .

Life

Richthofen, from the noble family of the same name , joined the cuirassier regiment "von Driesen" (Westphalian) No. 4 on April 23, 1874 as an ensign . In the further course of his military career Richthofen was commissioned on April 22, 1902 with the command of the regiment of the Gardes du Corps and on June 10, 1903, while being promoted to lieutenant colonel, was appointed its commander. At the same time he also became a wing adjutant of Wilhelm II on April 10, 1905, he was promoted to colonel and on March 21, 1908, he took over command of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Brigade in Potsdam . Then he was promoted to major general on April 20, 1910, and to lieutenant general on February 18, 1913 . Along with this promotion was the appointment as commander of the Guard Cavalry Division in Berlin. From February 18, 1913 until the beginning of the war, Richthofen was commander of the 6th Division .

First World War

He gave up this command with the outbreak of the First World War and during mobilization in August 1914 and served as Higher Cavalry Commander No. 1 until September 22, 1916 . His cavalry command was initially on the Western Front and moved to the Eastern Front during the First Battle of Flanders . In November 1914 his corps got into the Lowitsch pocket during the Battle of Łódź . Under the supreme command of the commanding general of the XXV. Reserve Corps Reinhard von Scheffer-Boyadel succeeded in breaking out to the east near Brzeziny on November 24, 1914, by the trapped troop units, which included the 3rd Guard Division under General Karl Litzmann and scattered parts of the 72nd Infantry Brigade .

On September 23, 1916 von Richthofen took over the command of the XXXVIII. Reserve Corps and from November 19, 1916 on the XXV. Reserve Corps , both deployed in the central sector of the Eastern Front. In March 1917 he was given the command of General Command No. 53 , which he held until January 1918. Wilhelm II then appointed him deputy commanding general of the Guard Corps in Berlin . At the same time he was commanded from April 18, 1918 as deputy president of the Reich Military Court . On November 23, 1918, Richthofen retired from military service.

Manfred von Richthofen was the biological uncle and adoptive father of the later Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen . He died on November 28, 1939 on his Lower Silesian estate near Jauer .

Awards

literature

  • Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume II: M-Z. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Berlin 1935, pp. 193–194.
  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 3: P-Z. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2011, ISBN 3-7648-2586-3 , pp. 119-120.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914 , Ed .: War Ministry , Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1914, p. 61
personal data
SURNAME Richthofen, Manfred von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Richthofen, Manfred Karl Ernst Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian officer, most recently general of the cavalry in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Barzdorf
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1939
Place of death Bersdorf