Richard Wellmann (officer)

Lieutenant General Richard Wellmann

Richard Ludwig Wellmann (born June 29, 1859 in Schönfeld , † June 12, 1934 in Hanover ) was a Prussian lieutenant general in the First World War .

Life

origin

Wellmann was the son of a major a. D. and Economics Commissioner in Kreuzburg and his wife Anna, née Bach.

Military career

He attended the high school in Crossen and the high schools in Züllichau and Breslau . Then Wellmann joined the Prussian Army in Frankfurt (Oder) as a flag junior in the grenadier regiment "Prince Carl von Preußen" (2nd Brandenburg) No. 12 on April 1, 1877 and was promoted to secondary lieutenant on October 12 the following year . During his ten years in the regiment, he was commanded from 1884 to 1887 at the War Academy . On April 3, 1888 he was transferred to the Infantry Regiment "von Horn" (3rd Rheinisches) No. 29 and at the same time promoted to Prime Lieutenant. The following year he became a regimental adjutant . In 1891 he was assigned as such to the 32nd Infantry Brigade in Saarbrücken . Here he was promoted to redundant captain in 1893 . In 1895 he returned to Infantry Regiment No. 29 and became company commander . In 1899 he became adjutant of the 39th Division in Colmar . Promoted to major in 1900, he was transferred to the 2nd Lower Alsatian Infantry Regiment No. 137 in Hagenau in 1902 as a battalion commander. In 1906 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel with a simultaneous transfer to the 13th Royal Saxon Infantry Regiment No. 178 in Kamenz . Promoted to Colonel at the end of 1909 , he became the commander of the Fusilier Regiment “General-Field Marshal Prince Albrecht of Prussia” (Hannoversches) No. 73 in Hanover the following year . In 1913 he was promoted to major general and was given command of the 31st Infantry Brigade in Trier .

The brigade moved as part of the VII. Army Corps in the Association of under the command of Duke Albrecht of Wurttemberg standing 4th Army in the First World War . She fought in the Battle of the Marne and in the Champagne between Le Mesnil and Perthes .

former windmill hill near Pozières

The end of October 1914 he became commander of the position battle against Reims lying and X. Army Corps belonging to the 37th Infantry Brigade appointed. Four months later, Wellmann was given command of the 18th Reserve Division of the IX, formed from Schleswig-Holsteiners . Reserve Corps under Max von Boehn . This fought first in the association of the 1st Army and then switched to the 2nd Army . As part of the 6th Army , the 18th Reserve Division fought in the Loretto Heights near Lens , then before Vimy . In 1916 the division resigned under the command of the 1st Army during the Battle of the Somme and fought, among other things, on the "Windmill Hill" near Pozières . For the achievements of his division during the first 16 days in the summer battle, Wellmann was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd class with oak leaves and swords. After the division was deployed in front of Loos , it was moved back to the Somme and fought in front of Le Transloy , Bapaume and Metz-en-Couture .

In October 1916 Wellmann moved from the western to the eastern front . There he became the commander of the 20th division fighting in the battle of Kovel am Stochod in the section between Zubilno and Zaturce in the association of the X Army Corps . As early as November, however, the division was withdrawn and relocated to the Western Front, where it was used in the 7th Army in the vicinity of Hirson , Laon , Saarburg in Lorraine and again near Laon. On January 27, the emperor's birthday, Wellmann was promoted to lieutenant general. In July 1917, the Division moved back to the Eastern Front to Kalucz ( Galicia ), where it until the next transition to trench warfare on the side of the kuk XIII. Army corps could advance across the Sereth to Chorostko .

At the end of August, the division was transferred to Riga to the 8th Army under the command of General Hutier . In mid-September Wellmann's division, which was assigned as General Staff Officer Oskar von Hindenburg - Paul von Hindenburg's only son - was transferred back to the Western Front, where it was used in the Third Battle of Flanders near Passchendaele . Shortly afterwards she was transferred to the "Arras" group of the 2nd Army . During the Battle of Cambrai on December 3, Wellmann was tasked with the command of the VII Reserve Corps , which was in front of Reims . On June 15, 1918, he took over the leadership of the XIV Reserve Corps , which was in association with the 17th Army . During the fighting at Bapaume on August 24th he was assigned to lead the I. Reserve Corps . For his achievements, Wellmann received the oak leaves for Pour le Mérite on October 26, 1918 , after he had been awarded this high medal on December 22, 1917.

After the armistice this corps belonged to the border guard West an der Lahn . At the end of his military career he found employment on the border of East Prussia with the Border Guard East as leader of General Command No. 52 . After his resignation he was transferred to the army officers on April 8, 1919 and put up for disposition on June 18, 1919 .

family

Wellmann married Elisabethkette on January 5, 1890. Two of his three sons died in World War I.

Fonts

• The officer corps of the Infantry Regiment von Horn (3rd Rheinisches) No. 29. 1815–1890. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1890
• The life of Lieutenant General Heinrich Wilhelm von Horn. With a portrait and sketches. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1890.
• With the Hanoverian 20th Infantry Division in East and West October 1916 to December 1917. Self-published, Hanover 1923.
• The I. Reserve Corps in the final battle. Bookstore of the Niederdeutsche Zeitung, Hanover 1924.
• With the 18th Reserve Division in France. February 24, 1915 to October 4, 1916. Comradely association of the officers of the former Res.-Inf.-Reg. No. 36, Hamburg 1925.
• The Infantry Regiment von Horn (3rd Rheinisches) No. 29. H. 1, 1929.

literature

• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the I. World War. Volume 3: PZ. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2011, ISBN 3-7648-2586-3 , pp. 511-513.
• Hanns Möller : The history of the knights of the order “pour le merite” in World War 1914–1918. Volume 2: M-Z. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Berlin 1935, pp. 483-486.

Web links

• Literature by and about Richard Wellmann in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Richard Wellmann: The Officer Corps of the Infantry Regiment von Horn (3rd Rheinisches) No. 29. 1815-1890. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1890, p. 390.