Moritz Erwin von Lemagh

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Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh (born April 23, 1871 in Rudolfswerth ; † February 19, 1946 in Krems ) was an Austro-Hungarian major general and engineer . From 1916 until the end of the war in November 1918, he commanded the Ortler Front, the highest section of the First World War .

Life

Emperor Karl I at the removal of the troops on September 16, 1917 in the Lemgeld camp near the Dreisprachenspitze , Colonel Baron von Lemagh immediately to the left of the emperor

Moritz was born as the third son of the couple Anton Freiherr von Lemagh and Alice Pober von Raccogliano at Neuhof Castle in Rudolfswerth in der Krain , where his father served as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army . Since his father changed the garrison location several times, Moritz attended various schools, such as the elementary school in Theresienstadt and Vienna , before he went to the military lower secondary school in St. Pölten . He was expelled from the latter for a violation of discipline. Then he went to the lower secondary school in Vienna and then went to the upper secondary school in Salzburg , where he passed the Matura in 1887 . At the age of 16 he was by far the youngest graduate of the school.

Although Moritz would have preferred to study architecture, his father let him pursue a military career. From 1887 to 1890 he attended the genius department of the Austro-Hungarian Technical Military Academy in Vienna. He was considered hardworking with a quick grasp. In 1890 he graduated from the academy as a lieutenant and was transferred to the railway and telegraph regiment in Korneuburg .

In 1892 he was promoted to first lieutenant and from 1894 to 1895 he was a battalion adjutant. In 1899, after having attended several advanced training courses, he was assigned to the genius staff of the Genius Battalion in Trento . It was active in Trento until 1901. He worked there, among other things, at the Moena and Paneveggio barriers and rose to captain during this time. He then returned to Korneuburg, where he was in command of the construction company until 1903.

Until the First World War, Lemwohl was entrusted with various tasks as a genius officer at several locations, including Kraków and Theresienstadt. After the outbreak of war in August 1914, he was now promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned to the Geniedirektion Brixen , where he worked on equipping the Buchensteintal barrier and the Tre Sassi plant . From December 1914 until the Italian entry into the war in May 1915, he stayed on the Eastern Front in Galicia in the area of ​​the Austro-Hungarian IV and VII armies and was busy with fortification work. During this time his first deployment to the front took place. After the Italian declaration of war on May 23, 1915, he returned to the Geniedirektion Brixen and was there until September 1915 as a fortification officer of the German Alpine Corps . In the summer of 1915 he fell ill with dysentery so that he could not work at the front. In September 1915 he was promoted to colonel.

In October 1915 he reached the Folgaria plateau as a combat group commander . He had to give up this task against his will in February 1916, when he was appointed commander of Subrayon I, succeeding the late Colonel Abendorf. Lemagh was not enthusiastic about his new area of ​​responsibility, as he regarded the section of the front between Stilfserjoch and Cevedale as too quiet in his opinion and the relocation almost as a punishment.

In March 1916 he arrived in Prad im Vinschgau . Until the end of the war in November 1918, he remained in command of the front section in the Ortler group . During this time he succeeded in defending the so-called Ortler Front, which stretched along the Ortler main ridge at heights of up to 3900 m. The longer the war lasted, the longer the war went on, he had to make do with increasingly scarce resources. Under his command, some spectacular actions were carried out, the military success of which was limited locally, but which were echoed due to the adverse external conditions, such as the permanent occupation of the Ortlergipfles, the Königspitze , as well as the conquest and defense of the Hohe Schneide and the temporary capture of the Trafoier Ice wall with the help of a 2000 m long glacier tunnel.

Ortler creation with Thurwieserspitze , Bäckmanngrat, Trafoier Eiswand and the Great Snow Bell behind

During his time in Prad he also continued to pursue his hobbies of architecture and painting. He designed several chapels, such as the Herz-Jesu chapels in the Gragitz district or at the Zufallhütte , for which he also created the altarpieces. Lemagh always tried to keep the burdens on the civilian population who were called in to help out in the war as low as possible. For this and for border defense, he was made an honorary citizen in Glurns , Taufers , Prad and Stilfs .

In the chaotic days of retreat at the end of the war, he managed to lead his troops in an orderly manner to Landeck and thus evade capture.

On January 1, 1919, Lemagh was retired. After the end of the First World War and the monarchy, he was faced with a completely new situation. He had to completely reorient himself and was forced to find a new job because of his low pension. He stayed in Innsbruck until 1922, where he worked as the second director in a technical company. He then took up a position as a civil engineer in Vienna, before moving to the Augarten porcelain manufactory , where he rose from porcelain painter to management. In the post-war period he also began to work on his war memories of the Ortler, The King of the German Alps and His Heroes , which he published in 1925. In March 1926 he was subsequently promoted to major general. At the beginning of 1930 he retired to his Marienschlössl estate in Wiedendorf, today part of the community of Straß im Straßertale .

Private life

Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh, who preferred to be called Erwin, had been married to Maria Viktoria Countess Sizzo-Noris since 1905. The latter came from an old noble family from Trento , from which, among other things, the Prince-Bishop Cristoforo Sizzo de Noris (1706–1776) had emerged. The marriage resulted in two children, a daughter and a son. The family lived in Vienna and on their estate in Wiedendorf until the First World War.

During his time as the district commander in Prad, he entered into a relationship with his housekeeper, which resulted in an illegitimate son. After the end of the First World War, he returned to his wife and two children. When his wife died of lymphatic cancer in March 1930 , Lemagh got in touch with his former housekeeper from Prad, for whom he bought a house in Wiedendorf in 1937.

After the annexation of Austria in 1938, which Lemagh viewed positively, his son was arrested by the SS for membership in the Fatherland Front . It was only with great effort that he managed to get free and to travel to Sweden to meet his fiancée.

Shortly before the end of the war in 1945, his illegitimate son who was serving in the Wehrmacht was killed. Lemagh did not find out about his death until the end of 1945. His former housekeeper had married in 1941 and had only sporadic contact with him. The news hit Lemagh hard. His health had also deteriorated significantly in the meantime. On February 19, 1946, after a brief serious illness, he died in hospital in Krems and was buried in the cemetery in Elsarn, also part of the community of Straß im Straßertal.

Awards

literature

  • Helmut Golowitsch (ed.): Ortler fights 1915–1918. The King of the German Alps and his heroes by Major General Baron von Lemagh supplemented by historical contributions , Book Service South Tyrol, Nuremberg 2005, ISBN 978-3-923995-28-8 .
  • Heinz König: "Remember, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. Autonomous Region Trentino-South Tyrol, o. O. 2012.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. pp. 7-18
  2. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. pp. 18-19
  3. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. pp. 21-23
  4. ↑ Heinz König: "Remember, O Wanderer ..." :: biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. pp. 23-25
  5. ↑ Helmut Golowitsch (ed.): Ortlerkampf 1915-1918. The King of the German Alps and his Heroes by Major General Baron von Lemagh, supplemented by historical contributions, pp. 104–106
  6. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. pp 51-56
  7. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. pp. 41-45
  8. ↑ Helmut Golowitsch (ed.): Ortlerkampf 1915-1918. The King of the German Alps and his Heroes by Major General Baron von Lemagh, supplemented by historical contributions, pp. 104–106
  9. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. pp 87-107
  10. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. pp. 26-30
  11. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. p. 50
  12. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. pp. 105-121
  13. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. p. 128
  14. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. p. 148
  15. ↑ Heinz König: "Gedenke, O Wanderer ...": biographical mosaic about Ing. Moritz Erwin Freiherr von Lemagh Major General ret. D. p. 84
personal data
SURNAME Lemagh, Moritz Erwin von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lemagh, Moritz Erwin Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-Hungarian colonel and engineer
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Novo mesto
DATE OF DEATH February 19, 1946
Place of death Krems at the Donau