Rudolf von Xylander

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Rudolf von Xylander (2nd from right) at a rally at the Hermannsdenkmal on September 1, 1929

Rudolf Ritter and Edler von Xylander (born December 26, 1872 in Charleville , † February 18, 1946 in Munich ) was a German major general in World War II as well as a military historian and author of numerous books.

Life

family

He came from the old Bavarian officer family Xylander . Both his father Emil von Xylander and his grandfather Joseph von Xylander had ended their career as officers as generals. When Xylander was born, his father was still a captain . His mother was his wife Rosa, née Logan.

Xylander married Helene Frommel on July 2, 1898. The marriage resulted in a son and two daughters. Wolf-Dietrich (1903–1945) fell shortly before the end of the Second World War as Lieutenant General and Chief of Staff of Army Group Center . After the death of his first wife, Xylander married Luise Bettelhäuser on June 30, 1923 in Innleiten.

Career

Following the successful completion of the humanist Wilhelm Gymnasium Xylander occurred on 1 August 1890 as an officer cadet in the fifth Chevaulegers regiment "Archduke Frederick of Austria" the Bavarian Army in Sarreguemines one. In December his transfer took place in the 5th Field Artillery Regiment of Landau , where he appointed on March 1, 1891 after successfully passing the exam for officer Portepéefähnrich and on March 5, 1892, second lieutenant was promoted. In mid-1893 he passed an interpreting exam in English and French with distinction and was transferred to the 1st Field Artillery Regiment "Prince Regent Luitpold" on September 22nd . Subsequently, on October 1, 1897, he was assigned to the War Academy in Munich for three years, which pronounced him qualified for the general staff and, secondarily, for the subject (tactics, war history, weapons theory).

On January 24, 1900, he was promoted to lieutenant and shortly thereafter he was appointed adjutant of the 1st Field Artillery Brigade . In September he returned to his regiment, was assigned to the General Staff for a year and on September 30, 1903 was appointed captain and battery chief in the 1st Field Artillery Regiment. At the beginning of 1906 he was transferred to the general staff of the governorate of the fortress of Ingolstadt and a year later as a teacher for war history and the history of the art of war at the war academy. In 1910 he was assigned to the Great General Staff in Berlin , where he was promoted to major on March 3, 1911 . On October 1, 1912, he became adjutant to the Chief of the Army General Staff; as such, Xylander took part as an observer in the British army maneuvers in the same year.

When the First World War broke out , he joined the General Staff of the 6th Army on August 1, 1914 , and was involved in the border battles and the battles for Arras , Ypres and in the French part of Flanders. As commander of the Reserve Field Artillery Regiment 9 , he was deployed in the Carpathian Mountains in the war against Romania from August 1916 . On April 17, 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel , was appointed commander of the 1st Field Artillery Regiment on July 12, 1917 and was used again on the western front in Champagne and the Argonne . From December 1917 until the end of the war, Xylander, as General of Artillery No. 8, was under the control of all artillery in the area of Army High Command 3 .

After the end of the war, he was assigned to the General Staff's Peace Commission on March 31, 1919, and worked with General von Seeckt on military counter-proposals to the Treaty of Versailles . Then Xylander was sent to the Saar Demarcation Commission and he was given the management of the German delegation. However, under French pressure, he was recalled and he was retired with his promotion to colonel on September 3, 1921.

After his departure from the Reichswehr , he engaged in military history studies and wrote several books on this topic. From 1935 he taught war history at the Berlin War Academy .

Xylander was also active in party politics, mainly in the nationalist movement in Bavaria. He was one of the “party folk” of the Bavarian Middle Party (BMP, Bavarian regional party founded on November 24, 1918 and part of the German National People's Party since March 13, 1920 ). Left November 1922. He then belonged to the German Volkish Freedom Party founded on December 16, 1922 . Finally, on January 6, 1924, he founded the Völkisch Block in Bavaria with Rudolf Buttmann and Alexander Glaser .

At the beginning of the Second World War he was reactivated as a colonel, but initially not used. On April 24, 1941 he was appointed commander of Field Command 680 in Melun and at the same time he was assigned to the war science department of the Army High Command . In the further course of the war he went on lecture tours in occupied France, on the Kuban and in Romania. On January 31, 1943, Major General (since August 1, 1942) Xylander's use was suspended, and he was adopted into retirement.

After the end of World War II were in the Soviet occupation zone Xylanders writings German leadership in Lorraine in 1914 (Junker Berlin u. Dünnhaupt. 1935.) The war economic condition of Italy (Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg 1935) and The Conquest of Abyssinia 1935-36 Berlin (mediator. 1937.) placed on the list of literature to be discarded.

Awards

literature

  • Othmar Hackl : The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914). CH Beck´sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-10490-8 , p. 606.
  • Rudolf von Kramer, Otto Freiherr von Waldenfels: VIRTUTI PRO PATRIA. The Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order of War Deeds and Book of Honor 1914–1918. Self-published by the Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order, Munich 1966, pp. 436–438.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Othmar Hackl: The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914). CH Beck´sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-406-10490-8 , p. 606.
  2. ↑ Elina Kiiskinen: Bavarian Middle Party (BMP) - German National People's Party (DNVP), 1918–1932 / 33. In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria . February 28, 2011, accessed February 25, 2015 .
  3. ^ German Volkische Freiheitspartei (DVFP), 1922–1933. In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria . March 24, 2011, accessed February 25, 2015 .
  4. ^ Robert Probst: Völkischer Block in Bayern (VBl), 1924/25. In: Historical Lexicon of Bavaria . November 25, 2013, accessed February 25, 2015 .
  5. ↑ http://www.polunbi.de/bibliothek/1947-nslit-x.html
  6. ↑ http://www.polunbi.de/bibliothek/1948-nslit-x.html
personal data
SURNAME Xylander, Rudolf von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Xylander, Rudolf Ritter von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German major general and military writer
DATE OF BIRTH December 26, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Charleville-Mezieres
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1946
Place of death Munich