Siegmund Moritz Wilhelm von Langen

Siegmund Moritz Wilhelm von Langen (* 1706 on Hausberge near Minden ; † October 21, 1758 in Bautzen ) was a Prussian staff officer.

Life

Siegmund Moritz Wilhelm von Langen was born as the sixth of seven children of the royal chief hunter and landowner Johann von Langen and his wife Catharina Margarethe von Spiegel zum Desenberg on the Langen'schen Hof in Hausberge. He was baptized as "Simon Moritz Wilhelm" von Langen on June 23, 1706 in Minden, St. Petri .

At the age of 15, Langen entered Prussian services as a cadet in Berlin on March 19, 1721 and was assigned to the Kröcher infantry regiment . In 1736 he left the army again because the promotions he wanted were going too slowly. However, when Frederick the Great significantly enlarged the army soon after taking office, Langen also volunteered to join again. This time he was included in the newly established regiment on foot "Margrave Heinrich von Brandenburg". In 1750 he became a captain and got a company in the infantry regiment "Margrave Karl" . For Major , he is likely until after the Battle of Leuthen been promoted, in which he was wounded. With his regiment he also took part in the siege of Olomouc .

Langen became famous for his role in the Battle of Hochkirch on October 14, 1758. He and the second battalion of the “Margrave Karl” infantry regiment defended the cemetery against a seven- to eight-fold superiority. Despite hours of attacks, the Prussians did not surrender . When the battalion ran out of ammunition, Langen gave the order to break out that morning. Only a few succeeded, Langen himself was badly wounded and taken prisoner in Austria. On October 21, 1758 he succumbed to his injuries in Bautzen .

Monuments

Langen is one of the few Prussian staff officers who can be found in the row of generals on the equestrian statue of Frederick the Great by Christian Daniel Rauch in Berlin (today in the street " Unter den Linden "), which was unveiled in 1851 . In Hochkirch in 1903 an obelisk was erected between the churchyard gate and the church itself, with which Major Simon Moritz von Langen is honored, who “defended this churchyard with the 2nd battalion of the Margrave Karl regiment against tenfold superiority until his crew was destroyed”.

literature

• Johann Wilhelm von Archenholz : History of the Seven Years War in Germany . Reprint-Verlag, Holzminden 1997, ISBN 3-8262-0106-X (reprint of the Leipzig 1892 edition).
• Joachim Engelmann, Günter Dorn: The battles of Frederick the Great . Edition Dörfler, Utting 2001, ISBN 3-89555-002-7 .
• Karl A. Kubitz: A memorial to the almost forgotten hero Siegmund Moritz Wilhelm v. Langen to a brave officer of Frederick the Great, the Boldest, when he attacked Hochkirch . Reichel-Verlag, Bautzen 1902.
• Jacob von Kuniaczo, Friedrich W. von Wittenburg: Confessions of an Austrian veteran in political-military terms on the most interesting relationships between Austria and Prussia during the reign of the Great King of Prussia, Friedrich des Zweyten . LTR-Verlag, Bad Honnef 1982 (repr. Of the Breslau edition 1788/91).
• Bernhard von Poten :  Langen, Siegmund Moritz Wilhelm von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1883, p. 660.