Robert von Massow

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Robert August Valentin Albert Reinhold von Massow (born March 26, 1839 in Gumbin , † December 16, 1927 in Wiesbaden ) was a Prussian general of the cavalry and president of the Imperial Military Court .

Life

origin

Robert came from the Pomeranian noble family von Massow . He was the son of the landowner and Prussian chamberlain August Karl Valentin von Massow (1799–1882) and his wife Wilhelmine Marie, née von Glasenapp (1816–1873). He was born in 1839 on the Gumbin estate near Stolp .

Military career

Massow graduated from the secondary school in Gdansk and then attended the cadet houses in Kulm and Berlin . On May 2, 1857, he joined the 1st Guard Uhlan Regiment of the Prussian Army as a characterized porter ensign . With the promotion to Second Lieutenant on March 12, 1859, Massow was transferred to Grenadier Regiment No. 12 . In the summer of 1863, after he had already joined the Landwehr , Massow asked to emigrate to North America. Here he was on the side of the Confederates at the American Civil War to participate.

After arriving in New York on July 4, 1863 , Massow traveled further south. However, his request for employment with the Confederate Army was refused. It was not until a letter of recommendation from his compatriot Heros von Borcke to General James Ewell Brown Stuart that it was used and Massow was then assigned to an association under John S. Mosby . With this he then took part in various skirmishes until he was seriously wounded by a shot in the lung on February 22, 1864 near Dranesville. His healing took more than six months and Massow returned to Germany in the spring of 1865 without having received any active service again.

When the war against Austria broke out in 1866 , he immediately made himself available and on June 29, 1866 received a position in the Landwehr cavalry of III. Army Corps . Just three days later he was transferred to the Reserve Landwehr Dragoons Regiment. During the war, however, Massow was not involved in any combat operations. At his initiative, Massow was accepted into the active contract on November 14, 1866 and employed in the 11th Dragoon Regiment in Belgard . After just one year he was promoted to regimental adjutant and on March 22, 1868, he was prime lieutenant . As such, he was transferred to Stettin on October 14, 1869 as adjutant of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade. With the mobilization at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War , Massow was initially assigned to the staff of the 1st Cavalry Division, but on August 13, 1870, he joined the 1st Reserve Cavalry Brigade as an adjutant. He fought with her in the course of the war at Colombey , Strasbourg , on the Ognon , at Longeau, Villersexel and Pontarlier . In the meantime, Massow was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class for his services on November 5, 1870 . In March 1871 he was appointed adjutant of the newly established 31st Cavalry Brigade. However, he stayed in this post for only a few weeks until Massow was finally promoted to Rittmeister on May 27, 1871 after the end of the war and at the same time appointed squadron chief in the Oldenburg Dragoon Regiment No. 19 . On September 19, 1871, Massow received the Iron Cross First Class.

Massow can then on February 8, 1876 in the 2nd Pomeranian Uhlan Regiment No. 9 and was commanded from there directly to Posen to take over the position of adjutant at the General Command of the V Army Corps . On November 22, 1877 he was transferred to the General Staff in Berlin, where he worked in the railway department and was promoted to major on January 25, 1878 . From December 1879 to April 1882, Massow was a member of the General Staff of the 3rd Division , then was on the General Staff of the VI until mid-December 1882 . Army Corps and until mid-April 1884 in the General Staff of the III. Army Corps . With effect from April 15, 1884 he was transferred back to the General Staff while at the same time commanding the 2nd Guard Dragoon Regiment "Empress Alexandra of Russia" . Massow was then appointed commander of the 1st Brandenburg Dragoons Regiment No. 2 stationed in Schwedt on February 14, 1885 and promoted to lieutenant colonel on July 14, 1885 . After two years he gave up the regiment in order to become head of the cavalry department in the War Ministry . Since February 24, 1887, Massow was also a member of the commission for examining and determining field service regulations . At his own request, he resigned from his position in the War Ministry on April 16, 1888 and was then given command of the 2nd Guard Uhlan Regiment . As a colonel (since August 4, 1888) he was commissioned on April 16, 1889 with the leadership of the 25th Cavalry Brigade (Grand Ducal Hessian) in Darmstadt and finally appointed brigade commander on July 14, 1889. During his time in the Hessian capital, he became major general on December 15, 1890 . On May 14, 1894, he was then transferred to Strasbourg and at the same time promoted to lieutenant general , where he was appointed commander of the 30th division .

From April 5, 1898, Massow was the commanding general of the IX. Army Corps and was promoted to General of the Cavalry on March 22, 1899 in this position. As a representative of the sick President of the Reich Military Court, he was ordered to Charlottenburg from October 20, 1903. Just nine days later, he was appointed President of the Imperial Military Court, transferred to officers à la suite in the army. However, he gave up this position almost three years later because the emperor interfered in one of his judgments. Massow was on 21 September 1906 Pension for disposition while à la suite provided the first Brandenburg Dragoons. 2nd

In 1906 Massow received a canon position in the cathedral monastery of Brandenburg for his many years of service and was appointed to the Prussian mansion as its representative .

family

Massow married Martha von Loeper (1848–1872), the daughter of the landowner Johann von Loeper, landowner on Nessin, and Emilie Steffenhagen, in Berlin on January 10, 1868, in his first marriage . His second marriage was on November 18, 1875 in Oldenburg (Oldb), the widowed Elisabeth Luise Henriette Sophie, widow of Gebhard Anton von Trotha (1840–1871), born Freiin von und zu Egloffstein (1846–1919), the daughter of the grand ducal Oldenburg Chamberlain Julius Freiherr von und zu Egloffstein , Oldenburg Lieutenant General and Adjutant General , and Sophie Freiin von Pretlack . Both had two children each and had three children together. A daughter from this connection married the Hamburg merchant Alexander von Oesterreich. Their youngest son is the actor, director and author Axel von Ambesser (actually Axel Eugen Alexander von Oesterreich).

His eldest son from his first marriage, Ewald von Massow , became lieutenant general, SS group leader and chief officer of the Reich leadership of the NSDAP .

Orders and decorations

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Yearbook of the German Nobility. Volume 3, 1899, p.615
personal data
SURNAME Massow, Robert von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Massow, Robert August Valentin Albert Reinhold von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the cavalry and President of the Imperial Military Court
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Gumbin
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1927
Place of death Wiesbaden