Max von Boehn (General)

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Max von Boehn

Max Ferdinand Karl von Boehn (* 16th August 1850 in Bydgoszcz ; † 18th February 1921 in Castle Sommerfeld , district Crossen ) was a Prussian colonel general in the First World War .

Life

origin

Max came from the Pomeranian noble family von Boehn . He was the son of the future Prussian Lieutenant General Julius Heinrich von Boehn (1820-1893) and his wife Josepha Luise Henriette, née Cords (born November 17, 1830 in Mischwitz near Hohensalza , † August 19, 1883 in Berlin). His younger brother Hans (1853–1931) also embarked on a military career, making it up to general of the cavalry . The later Prussian general of the infantry and commanding general of the VI. Army Corps Oktavio Philipp von Boehn (1824–1899) was his uncle.

Military career

After attending grammar schools in Thorn , Stolp and Berlin ( Royal Realschule 1st order ), Boehn joined the 3rd Guards Regiment on foot of the Prussian Army in Hanover on December 6, 1867 as a three-year-old volunteer and flag junior . With a patent dated June 15, he was appointed Portepeefähnrich on July 7, 1868 and promoted to Second Lieutenant on March 9, 1869 . On February 4, 1870 he was transferred to the 8th Company in Hamburg in the 2nd Hanseatic Infantry Regiment No. 76 . With this regiment Boehn took part in the sieges of Metz , Toul and Paris , as well as the battles at Dreux , Bellême and La Madeleine-Bouvet during the war against France in 1870/71 . In the battle of Loigny he was slightly wounded by a shot in the right arm and was awarded the Iron Cross and the Mecklenburg Military Merit Cross, 2nd class, for his achievements .

From May 13, 1872 to October 1, 1875, Boehn was adjutant of the II. Battalion and then a month later came to the Hamburg district command for two years as an adjutant . Used here in the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Hanseatic Landwehr Regiment No. 76 , Boehn was promoted to Prime Lieutenant on January 11, 1876 and as such was sent to the military shooting school from August 1 to November 16, 1878 . On March 22, 1881 he was transferred to the newly formed Infantry Regiment No. 97 on April 1, 1881 . Under position à la suite of this regiment, Boehn worked as an adjutant of the 2nd Grand Ducal Hessian (50th) Infantry Brigade in Darmstadt from June 16, 1881 . He remained in this command until October 14, 1882, after he had already been placed on foot on June 22, 1882 à la suite of the 4th Guards Regiment . As a captain , Boehn was then chief of the 12th Company in the Kaiser Alexander Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 1 in Berlin for six years . He then remained in the capital, came as an aide to the 1st Guards Infantry Division and received on 2 September 1889 the character as a Major . Boehn received the patent for this rank shortly afterwards on September 21, 1889. From 27 July 1890 he was adjutant in the General Command of the Guard Corps before Boehn returned and on 27 January 1892 in the troop service as commander of the Fusilier - battalion was in the Emperor Alexander Grenadier Guards Regiment 1 appointed..

As a regular staff officer , Boehn was transferred to the 3rd Guards Regiment on foot on May 13, 1895 and promoted to lieutenant colonel on June 18, 1895 . In 1897 Boehn returned to Hamburg, was initially charged with the command of the 2nd Hanseatic Infantry Regiment No. 76 on July 20, and was appointed regimental commander on November 18, 1897 with his promotion to colonel . He was entrusted with the leadership of the 9th Infantry Brigade in Frankfurt (Oder) on May 18, 1901, and with his promotion to major general on June 16, he was appointed commander. As such, he was sent to an information course at the field artillery shooting school in Jüterbog in May 1904 . Boehn was promoted to lieutenant general on April 22, 1905, and was appointed commander of the 18th division in Flensburg .

He was promoted to general of the infantry on September 1, 1909 and succeeded Wilhelm von Uslar as governor of Ulm Fortress on December 2, 1909 . The Württemberg King Wilhelm II honored his services in June 1911 by being awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Frederick . Under position à la suite of the infantry regiment "Hamburg" (2nd Hanseatic) No. 76, Boehn was released from his post on September 21, 1912 and put up for disposal with a pension . He spent his retirement in Naumburg .

First World War

Leuven University Library, six months after the fire

With the mobilization at the outbreak of the First World War, Boehn was reactivated as a general of the infantry zD and became the commanding general of the IX. Reserve Corps appointed. Called the “Northern Army”, in this position he was initially responsible for coastal protection in Schleswig-Holstein until August 22, 1914, as well as protecting the strategically important Kaiser Wilhelm Canal from a possible invasion. After these initial fears had been dispelled, the corps was transported to Belgium on August 23 . Here it was embroiled in alleged battles in Leuven on August 25th . Von Boehn was responsible for the destruction of Löwens and the destruction of the university library , which opponents denounced as a war crime . This was followed by fighting near Mechelen and around the Termonde fortress , until the large unit was brought into the beleaguered right wing of the army via St. Quentin . On September 14th the corps reached Noyon and attacked in the direction of Carlepont. In October 1914, the front between Roye and Noyon stabilized , fighting followed near Laucourt , and at the beginning of January 1915 a deployment in the Battle of Soissons followed .

From the end of August to September 17, 1915, Boehn also acted as deputy commander in chief of the 1st Army . After their dissolution, the IX. Reserve corps subordinated to the 2nd Army from September 17th and to the 6th Army from October 21, 1915 .

Position battles followed in Flanders and in the Artois . On February 21, 1916, the day the Battle of Verdun began , the so-called "Gießler-Höhe" was stormed near Angres . Fights at Givenchy followed. Subordinated to the newly formed 1st Army, the IX. Reserve Corps on July 19, 1916 into the Battle of the Somme . For the defensive success of his troops in the battles there, Boehn was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite on August 24, 1916 . From August 25th, the 6th Army corps fought again in Flanders and Artois , before returning to the Somme on September 26th, 1916 . From 26 October his troops were at the 4th Army in position battles on the Yser .

On February 2, 1917, Boehn succeeded Hermann von Strantz as Commander-in-Chief of Army Department C (previously "Strantz"). She fought under him on the Meuse Heights before Boehn was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 7th Army on March 11, 1917 . Under his leadership, the army was deployed in the winter battle on the Champagne, the trench warfare on the Aisne and the double battle on the Aisne and Champagne . After heavy fighting at the Chemin des Dames and several unsuccessful attempts at breakthrough, Boehn received the oak leaves for the Pour le Mérite on May 20, 1917. As the year progressed, the army was involved north of the Ailette and in October in the Battle of Malmaison .

Boehn celebrated his 50th anniversary of military service on December 5, 1917 in Marle and his king honored him by awarding him the Grand Cross of the Red Eagle Order with Oak Leaves and Swords.

At the beginning of the Great Battle in France , Boehn was promoted to Colonel General on March 22, 1918. During the German offensive, the army advanced west, but had to stop further attack efforts on April 6th. It was not until May 27 that he was able to take the offensive again, overcoming the Chemin des Dames and the Aisne-Marne Canal as well as the Aisne and the Vesle . In the further course of the conquest of the fortifications on the northeast front of Reims succeeded . Within a few days, Boehn's associations had gained terrain of 60 km depth, took around 60,000 prisoners of war and captured 830 artillery pieces and 2,000 machine guns. For these services, Wilhelm II appointed him chief of Schleswig-Holstein Infantry Regiment No. 163 on May 30, 1918 . Six days later Boehn welcomed his regiment, which had been transferred from the 4th to the 7th Army, in Fressancourt . He was also made a Knight of the Black Eagle Order.

When the movement reverted to trench warfare, his army fought between the Oise , Aisne and Marne . A final attack battle on the Marne and in the Champagne developed into a defensive battle between Soissons and Reims, as well as between Marne and Vesle, at the end of which the German troops were pushed back on a line before the spring offensive. ( Battle of the Marne )

On August 6, 1918 Boehn was appointed commander in chief of the army group of the same name . It was formed on August 12, 1918 from the 2nd, 9th and 18th Army to defend the Siegfried Line in southern Artois between Oise and Somme. It was the last of its kind in this war. When the overwhelming power of the Allies forced the position to be abandoned, the Army Group was disbanded on October 8th and, at his request, on October 31, 1918, Boehn was again given command of the 7th Army. After fighting in the Hunding and Antwerp-Maas positions , the Compiègne armistice came into force on November 11, 1918 .

Boehn then vacated the previously occupied area and reached Marburg with his army command by the end of November 1918 . After demobilization Boehns mobilization provision was abolished on 18 January and he on 27 January 1919 adopted .

After his departure he lived in Charlottenburg . The local "Association of Officers of the former Emperor Alexander Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 1" appointed him honorary chairman . Boehn died at the age of 70 at Sommerfeld Castle and was buried in the Invaliden churchyard . Like his father's, his grave has not been preserved.

family

Boehn married Martha Elsner (born March 2, 1854 in Groß Rosenburg; † in Schloss Sommerfeld) on September 25, 1873 in Groß Rosenburg . The marriage had four children:

  • Volkhart (born June 23, 1874 in Hamburg, † January 7, 1937 in Potsdam), German major
  • Wanda (born November 14, 1878 in Schwerin, † November 16, 1971 in Berlin)
  • Josepha (born May 26, 1883 in Berlin; † September 20, 1946 in Coburg)
  • Armgard (born December 4, 1885 in Berlin, † April 22, 1971 in Munich)

Boehn barracks

After the First World War, due to the peace treaty of Versailles , the reduction of the German army resulted in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg being demilitarized for almost 15 years. The barracks now mostly served social purposes. This was to change in 1935 with the army increase in the Third Reich . Hamburg soon became one of the garrisons in the empire.

The area of ​​the Boehn barracks in Hamburg-Rahlstedt was bought by various previous owners. The barracks named after the old regimental leader was completed in March 1936 and the 76th Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht moved into it.

In 1994, only the memorial at Dammtor , a memorial stone in the Boehn barracks opposite the former headquarters of the Panzergrenadierbrigade 17 and a bronze relief at the officers' quarters reminded of the 76ers in Hamburg . In addition, there was a stone relief in the building that depicts the namesake of the barracks. The brigade left Hamburg in 1993.

Awards

In addition to the medals and decorations already mentioned , Boehn received the following further awards in the course of his military career:

literature

Web links

Commons : Max von Boehn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Württembergisches Kriegsministerium (Ed.): Military Ordinance Sheet. No. 36 of December 9, 1909, p. 123.
  2. ^ Military weekly paper. No. 83 of July 4, 1911, p. 1932.
  3. ↑ Peter Schöller : The lion case and the white book. A critical examination of the German documentation about the events in Leuven from August 25 to 28, 1914. Böhlau, Cologne, Graz 1958.
  4. ^ Otto Dziobek : History of the Infantry Regiment Lübeck (3rd Hanseatic) No. 162. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg i. O. 1922, first edition, officers' association, formerly 162.
  5. ^ Military weekly paper. No. 72 of December 15, 1917, p. 1831.
  6. ↑ Holger Ritter: History of the Schleswig-Holstein Infantry Regiment No. 163. Volume 184 of the Prussian. Part of the memorial sheets, Leuchtfeuer Verlag, Hamburg 1926.
  7. ↑ Walther Killy: German Biographical Encyclopedia. (DBE), 1995
  8. ^ Nigel Thomas: The German Army in World War I. 2003
  9. ^ Curt Jany (ed.), Hermann Cron: History of the German Army in the World Wars 1914-1918. Volume 5, Berlin 1937, p. 77.
  10. ↑ Laurenz Demps : Between Mars and Minerva. Signpost for the Invalidenfriedhof. Verlag für Bauwesen, Berlin 1998, p. 70.
  11. ↑ Panzergrenadierbrigade 17 - Hanseatic City of Hamburg
  12. ↑ Lübecker General-Anzeiger from December 25, 1914, category: Local, sub-item: Awards
  13. ↑ Lübeck city archive in matters of Senate files: Directory of the owners of the Lübeck Hanseatic Cross , signature 1093
  14. ^ Military weekly paper. No. 87 of May 15, 1915. p. 2097.
  15. ^ Military weekly paper. No. 158 of March 24, 1917. p. 3886.
personal data
SURNAME Boehn, Max von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boehn, Max Ferdinand Karl von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Colonel General in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Bromberg (District of Bromberg)
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1921
Place of death Sommerfeld Castle