Martin of Oldershausen

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Martin Heinrich Franz Hans Baron von Oldershausen (born November 24, 1865 in Hildesheim , † July 23, 1924 in Hamburg ) was a German lieutenant general in the Reichswehr .

Life

origin

Martin came from the Lower Saxon nobility of Oldershausen . He was the eldest son of the kuk Rittmeister Ernst von Oldershausen (1827–1895) and his wife Auguste, née Haller (1837–1917). His younger brother Erich later also advanced to lieutenant general and was chief of the field railways during the First World War .

Military career

On April 10, 1884, Oldershausen joined the 1st Leib Grenadier Regiment No. 100 of the Saxon Army in Dresden as a charged ensign . There he received the patent for this rank on December 21, 1884 and was promoted to second lieutenant on September 18, 1885 . On April 1, 1887, Oldershausen was transferred to the 1st Jäger Battalion No. 12 in Freiberg , promoted to Prime Lieutenant on June 21, 1892 , and sent to the Prussian War Academy in Berlin from October 1, 1892 to July 21, 1895 . After returning to the troop service, Oldershausen served nine months in the 1st Jäger Battalion No. 12, was then transferred to his regular regiment and at the same time assigned to the Great General Staff of the Prussian Army . There he was promoted to captain on September 16, 1898 . As such, Oldershausen returned to 1st Jäger Battalion No. 12 on October 25, 1897 and was then commanded to represent the adjutant of 1st Infantry Brigade No. 45 from March 24 to September 15, 1898 . He was then appointed adjutant. Oldershausen was recalled from this post when he was appointed company commander in 1st Jäger Battalion No. 12 on April 19, 1901. After more than three years in the battalion, he was appointed first general staff officer on October 28, 1904 in the staff of 4th Division No. 40 in Chemnitz . As a major (since April 20, 1906), Oldershausen took over the III. Battalion of the 5th Infantry Regiment "Kronprinz" No. 104 stationed in Chemnitz . January 27, 1911 to June 19, 1912, he was then commander of the First Battalion of the 6th Infantry Regiment "King Wilhelm II. Von Württemberg" no. 105 in Strasbourg and subsequently after the March 22, 1912 Lt. Col. become was transferred to the regimental headquarters.

First World War

With the outbreak of the First World War, Oldershausen was appointed commander of the Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 106 in Plauen . However, he did not take command, but was instead appointed commander of the 6th Infantry Regiment "King Wilhelm II of Württemberg" No. 105, as the previous commander had died near Mulhouse . On August 19, 1914, Oldershausen was promoted to colonel . With his regiment he first fought in the Vosges . Oldershausen was able to follow the procedure of the XV. Army corps southwest of Lützelburg , for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry on September 9, 1914 . At the beginning of September he transferred the regiment to northern France and fought there in the middle of the month in the Battle of the Aisne . During the Battle of Flanders he managed to conquer Gheluvelt despite being wounded . Associated with this was the introduction of forty enemy officers and 2,000 men. Friedrich August III drew him for his commitment . on November 13, 1914 with the Commander II Class of the Military Order of St. Henry. The following months the regiment was in trench warfare in Flanders .

On March 2, 1915, Oldershausen gave up command and was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the VIII. Reserve Corps under the commanding General Friedrich Fleck . In this position he was able to prove himself for the first time during the winter battle in Champagne and to repel the major attack by French troops. At the end of May 1915, Oldershausen was given the rank of brigade commander. The corps was also able to maintain its positions in the autumn battle in Champagne . Oldershausen then joined the 3rd Army under Colonel General Karl von Eine on July 3, 1916, as Chief of the General Staff . From mid-April 1917, he played a decisive role in the defensive successes during the Battle of the Aisne . Wilhelm II then awarded him on May 20, 1917 the highest Prussian valor award, the order Pour le Mérite . On November 30, 1917, Oldershausen was promoted to major general with a patent from November 6, 1917 .

As such, he was appointed commander of the 24th Reserve Division (2nd Royal Saxon) on January 30, 1918 , which was part of the 17th Army and was preparing for an offensive in the following years. On March 21, 1918, joined Division at the beginning of the Great Battle in France on the attack and the English positions could break through in Inchy and conquer the evening of March 23 Ruyaulcourt in three days of fighting. In addition to 307 prisoners, eleven artillery pieces and 116 machine guns were also captured. With the end of the offensive, the division was involved in fighting between Arras and Albert and was able to repel enemy attacks at Caudry in mid-June . From July 20, 1918, the large association was south of the Aisne . Here she fought on Vesle and Laon before being pulled from the front at the end of August. After a short recovery phase, the division came back to the front between Aisne and Ailette in mid-September 1918 and prevented the passage of French forces over the Aisne Canal here at the beginning of October . This was followed by the withdrawal into the Hunding position. Oldershausen was on November 2, 1918, the command of his division and was appointed chief of General Staff of the Army Department A appointed. With this he stood in the last days of the war in Alsace and led the subordinate troops back home after the armistice of Compiègne . There Oldershausen was relieved of his position after the demobilization of the army department at the end of December 1918.

post war period

Oldershausen was then commissioned on February 1, 1919 with the leadership of the 32nd Division (3rd Royal Saxon) and was at the same time from March to May 1919 commander of the volunteer border hunter brigade 1. This formed at Bautzen and was in the border guard against the Czechoslovakia in action. Leaving his position as division leader, Oldershausen was assigned to the Saxon Ministry of the Military at the end of May 1919. Oldershausen was released from both assignments on September 30, 1919 and then taken over as the successor to Major Karl von Stockhausen as Chief of the General Staff of Reichswehr Group Command 1 in the Provisional Reichswehr . Just like Stockhausen, Oldershausen was skeptical of the plans of his superior General of the Infantry Walther von Lüttwitz , which later led to the Kapp Putsch . Due to his loyalty to the government during the putsch, Oldershausen remained under the new commander of Group Command 1 Walter von Bergmann until May 30, 1920 and was then at the special disposal of the Reichswehr Ministry until August 30, 1920 . The Reichswehr Minister Otto Gessler then appointed him disarmament commissioner of the Reich government .

In the course of the further reduction of the transitional army to the Reichswehr, Oldershausen was put up for disposition on December 31, 1920 with the character of lieutenant general and retired.

family

Oldershausen married Frida von Polenz (1876-1917) on September 16, 1896 in Plauen . After her death, he married Else Haugk (* ​​1889) in Cologne on June 5, 1918. The children Sibylle (1897) and Hans (* 1920) emerged from the marriages.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Royal Saxon Military St. Heinrichs-Orden 1736–1918, an honorary sheet of the Saxon Army. Wilhelm and Bertha von Baensch Foundation, Dresden 1937, p. 494.
  2. ↑ The Royal Saxon Military St. Heinrichs Order 1736–1918. An honor sheet of the Saxon Army. Wilhelm and Bertha von Baensch Foundation, Dresden 1937, p. 101.
  3. ^ Georg Tessin : German associations and troops 1918–1939. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1974, ISBN 3-7648-1000-9 , p. 78.
  4. ↑ Harold J. Gordon Jr .: The Reichswehr and the Weimar Republic. Verlag für Wehrwesen Bernard & Graefe, Frankfurt am Main 1959, p. 113.
personal data
SURNAME Oldershausen, Martin von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Martin Heinrich Franz Hans Freiherr von Oldershausen (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lieutenant General of the Reichswehr
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Hildesheim
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1924
Place of death Hamburg