Theodor von Weber

Theodor von Weber

Theodor August Friedrich von Weber (born July 6, 1870 in Arolsen ; † March 5, 1920 in Lübeck ) was a German lieutenant colonel and knight of the order Pour le Mérite .

Life

origin

He was the son of Lieutenant General August von Weber (1824–1888) and his wife Maria, née Knyn (1829–1880), a daughter of Theodor Friedrich Knyn .

Military career

After graduating from high school, Weber joined the 1st Baden Leib Grenadier Regiment No. 109 in Karlsruhe as an avantageur on March 11, 1889 , where he was promoted to secondary lieutenant the following year . In 1897, when he was promoted to Prime Lieutenant , he was transferred to the newly founded 8th Baden Infantry Regiment No. 169 in Lahr . From 1900 to 1901 he took part in the 2nd East Asian Infantry Regiment in the China campaign and then remained with the occupation brigade ( 1st East Asian Infantry Regiment ) until 1904 .

On his return Weber was transferred to the infantry regiment "Graf Bose" (1st Thuringian) No. 31 in Altona . There he was promoted to captain in 1906 and appointed company commander. In the same capacity he joined the Fusilier Regiment "Queen" (Schleswig-Holstein) No. 86 in Flensburg in 1911 . With the promotion to major on October 1, 1913, Weber transferred to the regimental staff.

When the First World War broke out , he was appointed battalion commander of the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 75 in Bremen on August 3, 1914 . The regiment was initially used at the border guard in northern Schleswig before it was transferred to Belgium . It got tangled in and around lions on its way into the field . The regiment received its baptism of fire at the Battle of Noyon . The first position battles followed before Orval (today part of Montigny-Lengrain). After fighting in Saint Aurin and between Beuvraigne and Laucourt, the year ended for the regiment at Thiescourt .

At the end of 1914, a theater of war of minor importance in Upper Alsace near the Swiss border developed into a potential weak point on the western front . To counteract this, a mixed brigade of units of the IX. Army and IX. Reserve corps formed. The brigade consisted of the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 75, the Regiment "von Weber" and the 2nd Battalions of Infantry Regiments No. 31, 84 and 89 . They conquered and claimed the Hartmannsweiler head . In March it was moved to Gehweiler and dissolved again in April.

At the end of October the regiment became an army reserve in Douai , before it was relocated to the Souchezbach at the "Gießler Höhe" in December . This was an offshoot of the Vimy Heights , which, like the Loretto Heights , offered the enemy a strategic advantage. At the beginning of 1916 Weber was appointed commander of the Pomeranian Jäger Battalion "Fürst Bismarck" No. 2 . On September 23, 1916 he returned, appointed commander of Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 31, to the IX. Reserve Corps ( 18th Reserve Division ) returned. During the Battle of the Somme he led his regiment at Le Transloy . In the spring of 1917 he was in the Siegfried position and in April and May of that year repulsed numerous attacks during the spring battle at Arras . In the weeks after, he led it in trench warfare in Artois , then June to August in Flanders before it went back to Artois. In November it was again in the Battle of Flanders, where it remained until March 1918. Converted to the 6th Army , the regiment prepared for war of movement . On April 9, they fought in the Battle of Armentières . Weber's promotion to lieutenant colonel followed on August 18, 1918. In September there was fighting in the Siegfried Line. For his achievements shown in the defensive battle, his superior commanding general , Lieutenant General Kurt von Morgen , submitted him to the order Pour le Mérite, which Weber received on October 8, 1918.

Weber led his regiment in the Hermann position , then back to the Antwerp-Maas position and from there back home after the armistice . Here he led its demobilization before he resigned to his peace group part, the Fusilier Regiment "Queen" (Schleswig-Holsteinisches) No. 86. In March 1919 he was appointed commander of the Reichswehr-Jäger-Battalion 9, at whose head he was until the dissolution of the Old Army. On October 1, 1919, he took over the management of the settlement center of the Lauenburg Jäger Battalion No. 9 in Ratzeburg .

After his death, Weber was on the Ratzeburger Ehrenfriedhof buried .

family

He was married to Emmy Rée, with whom he had a daughter and three sons. Two of his sons were to die in World War II .

literature

• Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order "Pour le mérite" in the World War. Volume II: M-Z. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Berlin 1934, pp. 474-475.
• Bernhard Studt: Count Bose Infantry Regiment (1st Thuringian) No. 31 in World Wars 1914–1918. = Reminder sheets, Volume 190, Gerhard Stalling Verlag, Oldenburg 1926.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldatisches Führertum . Volume 9, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1941], DNB 986919780 , p. 342, no. 2920.