Remus of Woyrsch

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Remus of Woyrsch

Martin Wilhelm Remus von Woyrsch (born February 4, 1847 at Gut Pilsnitz, Breslau district ; † August 6, 1920 ibid) was a Prussian field marshal , member of the Prussian manor (1908-1918) and honorary commander of the Order of St. John .

Life

Pilsnitz manor around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection

origin

Woyrsch came from an old South Bohemian noble family of Woyrsch, who lived in Opava ( Moravia-Silesia ) from around 1500 . He was the son of the Prussian Real Privy Councilor and member of the Prussian mansion Karl Wilhelm Remus von Woyrsch (1814-1899), legal knight of the Order of St. John, and his wife Cäcilie, née von Websky (1825-1903).

The Prussian chamberlain and manor Günther von Woyrsch was his brother. His nephew was the later SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the police Udo von Woyrsch (1895-1983).

Military career

After Woyrsch in Wroclaw his high school had taken off, he entered on April 5, 1866 as a cadet in the 1st Guards Regiment walk the Prussian army one. After only eight weeks of service, he took part in the German War . As an ensign of his regiment, he saved the seriously wounded Lieutenant Prince Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen on the battlefield of Königgrätz . When he tried to put an emergency bandage around the shattered knees of the prince, both were captured by Austrians. Anton refused a defense with a weapon as senseless bloodshed. This scene can later be found as a bronze relief on the Berlin Victory Column . For this act, Woyrsch was awarded the Second Class Military Medal of Honor.

In the Franco-Prussian War , Woyrsch was wounded at St. Privat and received the Iron Cross, 2nd class. After the end of the war, he was first regimental adjutant, and from April 1876 to the end of April 1878 adjutant of the 2nd Guard Infantry Brigade. Then he was commanded to the Great General Staff . On October 18, 1879, he was appointed company commander in the 1st Guards Regiment on foot. Here, Woyrsch instructed Prince Wilhelm , the future German Emperor, in the field service. Without having completed the Prussian War Academy , he was transferred to the General Staff in mid-April 1882. After various general staff assignments, he was given command of the Guard Fusilier Regiment on May 30, 1896 and was then commissioned on September 1, 1897 to lead the 4th Guard Infantry Brigade. With his promotion to major general on November 18, 1897, he was appointed commander. Woyrsch finally gave up the brigade on April 17, 1901, was entrusted with the command of the 12th Division and a month later was appointed lieutenant general to the command. from May 29, 1903 Woyrsch acted as commanding general of the VI. Army Corps . In 1911, Woyrsch was finally put up for disposition with the award of the Order of the Black Eagle , for which he later also received the necklace .

Corps Woyrsch 1915

With the outbreak of World War Woyrsch was reactivated and the Commanding General of the from Silesian Landwehr units formed Landwehr Corps appointed. This penetrated as far as the Vistula and strengthened the left wing of the Austro-Hungarian Dankl army , which was also supposed to protect Silesia. In the three-day battle against the Russians at Tarnawka , he covered the retreat of the Austrians with his army detachment. The Petersburger Zeitung then wrote: “ Only the activity of the small Prussian Landwehr troops prevented the complete annihilation of the Austrian army in this battle. “With his promotion to Colonel General on December 3, 1914, Woyrsch gave up the leadership of the Landwehr Corps, but remained commander in chief of the army department named after him . In July 1915 the breakthrough battle of Sienno succeeded and for his participation in this victory Woyrsch was awarded the oak leaves for Pour le Mérite on July 23, 1915. In the coming weeks we went fighting over the Bug 400 km to the upper Shchara , where the army detachment only came to a standstill on both sides of the Baranowitschi , on the Serwetsch and Oginski Canal , and went into position warfare. After Leopold of Bavaria had been appointed Commander-in-Chief East, Woyrsch advanced to become Commander-in-Chief of the Army Group named after him .

In November 1915, the town of Leobschütz / Głubczyce created the figure of the "Iron Woyrsch", one of the numerous nailed figures of the First World War , in honor of Woyrsch .

After the collapse of the tsarist army and the conclusion of the armistice on the Eastern Front, the Army Group "Woyrsch" was disbanded on December 31, 1917. In approval of his resignation request and in recognition of his many years of military service in three wars, Wilhelm II promoted him to field marshal general on this date.

Woyrsch retired to Pilsnitz Castle, which had once served as Friedrich II's headquarters before moving to Wroclaw on January 31, 1741, and died there on August 6, 1920.

family

Woyrsch married on September 26, 1873 in Potsdam Thekla von Massow (born October 26, 1854 in Königsberg , † December 2, 1943 in Liegnitz ), the daughter of the Prussian forest master Hermann von Massow and the Thekla von Websky.

Honors

Orders and decorations

Honorary doctorate

Other honors

Kaiser Wilhelm II also decided that one of the eight defense towers of the Marienburg Order Castle should be named Woyrisch .

literature

  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 3: P-Z. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2011, ISBN 3-7648-2586-3 , pp. 561-563.
  • Hanns Möller-Witten : History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume II: M-Z. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Berlin 1935, pp. 522-524.
  • Bruno Clemenz: Field Marshal General von Woyrsch and his Silesians. Handwritten excerpt from his war diary. Life story of the general . Carl Flemming, Berlin / Glogau 1919.
  • Jürgen Hahn-Butry (ed.): Prussian-German field marshals and grand admirals. Safari, Berlin 1938.
  • Genealogical handbook of the nobility , noble houses A Volume VII, p. 402, Volume 34 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1965, ISSN  0435-2408 .
  • Acta Borussica. Volume 9 (1900–1909), p. 437 (PDF file; 2.74 MB)

Web links

Commons : Remus von Woyrsch  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fig. In: Bruno Clemenz: Generalfeldmarschall von Woyrsch und seine Schlesier , Berlin: Flemming [1919], pp. 187f.
  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, pp. 116–117.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Prussian War Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1914, p. 144.
personal data
SURNAME Woyrsch, Remus von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Woyrsch, Martin Wilhelm Remus von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Field Marshal General
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Gut Pilsnitz, Wroclaw district
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1920
Place of death Gut Pilsnitz, Wroclaw district