Maximilian Zürn

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maximilian Zürn (born September 19, 1871 in Munich ; † July 4, 1943 ibid) was a German officer , most recently major general in World War II .

Life

origin

Zürn was the son of an appellate judge.

Military career

After attending a humanistic grammar school , Zürn joined the 6th Chevaulegers Regiment of the Bavarian Army in Bayreuth as a volunteer for promotion in 1891 . After successfully attending the war school , he was promoted to secondary lieutenant in 1893 , to the 5th Chevaulegers Regiment and from 1897 as a regimental adjutant. From 1901 to 1903 he was assigned to the equitation institute and then by 1906 Zürn graduated from the war academy , which awarded him the qualification for the higher adjutantage and the departmental service. As Rittmeister , Zürn was then adjutant of the 1st Cavalry Brigade and from 1909 to 1911 squadron chief in the 4th Chevaulegers Regiment "König" . Then Zürn was promoted to second adjutant of the General Command of the II Army Corps in Würzburg and in 1912 to major .

After the outbreak of the First World War , he was with the corps first in Lorraine, later in France. On July 14, 1915, Zürn became the commander of the 1st Uhlan regiment "Kaiser Wilhelm II, King of Prussia" , with which he was used exclusively on the Eastern Front . First, it fought in Poland , pushed over Kurland to Lithuania before and went here on the Komaika in trench warfare over. At the end of September he came to Ukraine and was in trench warfare on the Stochod until 1918 . After the peace of Brest-Litovsk, he stayed there with his regiment as a police force in support of the People's Republic against the Bolsheviks . On October 27, 1918 Zürn gave up the regiment and was given command of the 2nd Infantry Regiment .

For his achievements during the war, Zürn was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross , the Military Merit Order III. Class with swords, the Hanseatic Cross Hamburg and the Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Class with war decorations.

After the Armistice of Compiègne , he led his troops back home and led the demobilization and dissolution of the regiment. Then Zürn was taken over as commander of the Reichswehr Cavalry Regiment 23 in the Provisional Reichswehr . This regiment was merged into the 17 Reiter Regiment in the transitional army on May 1, 1920, and Zürn retained command as a lieutenant colonel . He remained in this post even after the formation of the Reichswehr and was promoted to colonel on April 1, 1922 . At the beginning of 1927, Zürn gave up the regiment, joined the staff of Infantry Leader VII, and on February 1, 1927 was major general and as such was transferred to the Munich headquarters. In the same year he retired from active military service.

Before the beginning of the Second World War, Zürn was reactivated to the army of the Wehrmacht and was commander of Division 427 from October 25, 1939. With the conversion to the 557th Infantry Division , he gave command on February 7, 1940 to Major General Hermann Kuprion . His mobilization provision was then lifted.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Othmar Hackl: The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914). CH Beck´sche publishing house bookstore. Munich 1989. ISBN 3-406-10490-8 . P. 610.
  2. ^ Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen , Friedrichfranz Feeser : The Bavaria Book of World Wars 1914-1918. Volume 1. Chr. Belser AG publishing house bookstore. Stuttgart 1930. p. 203
  3. ↑ Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry . Mittler & Sohn publishing house . Berlin 1924. p. 114.
  4. ↑ Andris J. Kursietis: The Wehrmacht at War 1939-1945. The Units and Commanders of the German Ground Forces during World War II. Aspect 1999. ISBN 90-75323-38-7 . Pp. 206, 216.
personal data
SURNAME Zürn, Maximilian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German major general
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 1943
Place of death Munich