Rudolf Rusche

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Rudolf Gustav Albert Rusche (born December 20, 1857 in Dalbersdorf , † October 25, 1938 in Jannowitz ) was a Prussian lieutenant general in the First World War .

Life

Rusche came after his High School on October 3, 1879 as a cadet in the Dragoon Regiment "King Charles I of Romania" (the first Hanoverian) no. 9 of the Prussian army in Metz one. There he was appointed ensign on May 13, 1880 and promoted to second lieutenant on February 12, 1881 . From March 31, 1890 to March 16, 1894, Rusche was a regimental adjutant, in the meantime was on September 20, 1890 Premier Lieutenant and then commanded to the General Staff . At the same time as he was promoted to Rittmeister on March 22, 1895, he was then aggregated to the General Staff and finally assigned to this on April 18, 1895. On September 10, 1898, he was transferred to Insterburg as squadron chief in the Litthau Uhlan Regiment No. 12 .

After the assassination of the envoy Clemens von Ketteler , Rusche volunteered on July 9, 1900, to be transferred to the East Asian cavalry regiment, with which he participated as squadron chief in China in the suppression of the Boxer uprising . There he was transferred to the General Staff of the East Asian Expeditionary Corps under General Field Marshal Alfred Graf von Waldersee on November 20, 1900 and was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle, IV class with swords, for his services during the campaign .

In October 1901 Rusche returned to Germany, was reassigned to the General Staff and on October 12, 1901, while being promoted to Major to the General Staff of the 13th Division in Münster . Just six days later he was transferred here and served as the first general staff officer until July 17, 1903 . He then held the same position on the General Staff of the XV until September 30, 1906 . Army Corps in Strasbourg . From October 1, 1906, Rusche came back to the General Staff, where he was finally commissioned as head of department on January 27, 1908 and promoted to lieutenant colonel on May 18, 1908 . On March 3, 1909, Rusche returned to the troop service and was initially commissioned with the command of the 3rd Badischer Dragoon Regiment “Prince Karl” No. 22 in Mulhouse . On July 21, 1908, he was appointed commander and as such on 21. April 1911 promoted to colonel . Rusche gave up the regiment after three years and then took over the 9th Cavalry Brigade in Glogau . It was here that he was promoted to major general on April 22, 1914 .

First World War

With the outbreak of the First World War, Rusche led his brigade into the field and fought first in neutral Belgium in the battle of Namur , then in France near Saint-Quentin and on the Marne . At the end of October 1914 he moved his brigade to the Eastern Front and was deployed here in the further course of the war on the Warta , near Lodz and on the Rawka - Bzura . He also commanded his major unit during the siege of Halicz , took part in the conquest of Pinsk , fought on Stochod and finally in the position battle in the Pripet Marshes . Here Rusche briefly took over command of the 5th Cavalry Division on August 13, 1916 , before being appointed leader of a division named after him and formed by the Bernhardi Army Group on September 19, 1916 . This was pushed into the Austrian front and subsequently withstood several Russian attacks. This was also the case during the battle of Kovel . On October 1, 1916, the division association was budgeted and received the designation 92nd Division . With this Rusche then had a significant share in the defensive successes in Volhynia .

On April 22, 1917 Rusche was given command of the on the Western Front standing 3rd Reserve Division . From the end of July to the end of September 1917, his troops in Flanders were able to defend the assigned sections against attacking Allied troops. On January 27, 1918, Rusche was promoted to lieutenant general. In the following months, the division was engaged in trench warfare on the Ailette and Avre and did not attack again until the 18th Army in the battle of Noyon from June 9th to 13th, 1918. Despite the small gain in terrain, the operation did not lead to the desired goal. In July 1918 the division was thrown by the OHL as a reserve in the defensive battle near Soissons and was able to prevent the threatened breakthrough of Marshal Foch's troops here . She then fought in the Mobile Defense Battle between Marne and Vesle , and from late August to early September 1918 in the Battle of Monchy- Bapaume . Then the division was relocated to the Flanders front, but at the beginning of November 1918 could not repel the attacking enemy on the Lys and withdrew to the Antwerp - Maas position. At the suggestion of his commanding general Baron Marschall von Altengottern , Rusche was awarded the highest Prussian valor award, the order Pour le Mérite , on November 4, 1918 for his achievements on the Western Front .

After the end of the war, Rusche led his division back home and on November 24, 1918, was briefly charged with leading the Guard Reserve Corps . Less than a month later he was appointed commanding general of the Deputy V Army Corps , but on January 6, 1919, at his own request, he was released from his command, put up for disposition and retired.

Awards

literature

  • Hanns Möller : History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume 2: M-Z. Bernard & Graefe publishing house, Berlin 1935, pp. 230–232.
  • 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. 165-166.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g 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. 68.
personal data
SURNAME Rusche, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rudolf Gustav Albert Rusche (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Lieutenant General in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Dalbersdorf
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1938
Place of death Jannowitz