Max Clausius

Max Clausius (born January 12, 1871 in Jellowa , † February 7, 1941 in Berlin ) was a German colonel , knight of the order Pour le Mérite and SS brigade leader .

Life

After his education in the cadet corps in 1890, Clausius was transferred as an ensign to the infantry regiment "Hiller von Gärtringen" (4th Posensches) No. 59 in Deutsch Eylau . There he was promoted to Second Lieutenant on August 22, 1891 and served as a battalion adjutant for the next four years. This was followed by his promotion to first lieutenant on December 16, 1899 and to captain on May 18, 1907 . As such, Clausius became company commander in the 1st Upper Alsace Infantry Regiment No. 167 and then an administrative member of the Erfurt rifle factory . In 1910 he was transferred to Kassel in the infantry regiment "von Wittich" (3rd Kurhessisches) No. 83 , where he initially took over the 4th company. In 1913 he was given command of the MG company within the regiment .

With the outbreak of the First World War , his regiment mobilized and was used in association with the 22nd Division in the conquest of Liège . Here the regiment had to record high losses and so Clausius became the commander of the III. Battalion, which he then commanded for the next few years, first on the western and then on the eastern front . After the Brusilov offensive was over, Clausius was appointed head of the German-Austrian field war school on the Eastern Front while retaining his position as battalion commander. Then he moved his regiment back to the western front. Here he was appointed regimental commander on April 21, 1918. During the defensive battles between Cambrai and St. Quentin in the late summer and autumn of 1918, Claudius and his regiment were particularly able to prove themselves, for which he was awarded the highest Prussian bravery award, the Pour le Mérite, in recognition of his achievements on October 15, 1918.

After the Armistice of Compiègne , Clausius led his troops back home, where he resigned after demobilizing and dissolving his regiment. This was him in 1919 by awarding the character as Lt. Col. granted.

On May 1, 1933, Clausius joined the NSDAP ( membership number 2.637.043) and also became a member of the SS on June 1, 1934 (SS number 181.012). Within this organization he was SS-Oberführer from September 12, 1937 and was promoted to SS-Brigadführer on March 22, 1940. In the meantime, Clausius was given the character of a colonel on August 27, 1939, the so-called Tannenberg Day.

literature

• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: A-G. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 , pp. 265-266.
• Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume I: A-L. Bernard & Graefe publishing house, Berlin 1935, p. 197.