Viktor von Lignitz

Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht Viktor Lignitz , von Lignitz since 1874 , (born March 21, 1841 in Küstrin , † October 15, 1913 in Kassel ) was a Prussian infantry general .

Life

origin

He was the son of the later Prussian major general Wilhelm Lignitz (1793-1881) and his first wife Luise Wilhelmine Cäcilie, née Klugmann (1821-1842).

Military career

Lignitz received his education at the cadet schools in Bensberg and Berlin . On May 8, 1858 he was transferred as a second lieutenant to the 37th Infantry Regiment (5th Reserve Regiment) of the Prussian Army in Mainz . From August 1860 he acted as adjutant of the III. Battalion and graduated from the War Academy in 1862/65 with very good success . There Lignitz also learned the Russian language , which he soon became fluent in. On April 12, 1866 he advanced to prime lieutenant and in the same year took part in the battles near Nachod , Skalitz , Schweinschädel , Gradlitz and Königgrätz during the war against Austria . For his work, Lignitz received the Order of the Red Eagle, IV class with swords.

After the peace treaty he was transferred to the newly formed Infantry Regiment No. 82 on October 30, 1866, and was ordered to take up the country in mid-March 1867 . On March 19, 1869, he was transferred to the General Staff as captain . This was followed from November 7, 1869, a service in the General Staff of the IX. Army Corps . In this position Lignitz took part in the war against France in 1870/71 . He intervened decisively in the battle of Mars-la-Tour , as Lignitz, at his own risk, sent the foremost troops of the corps onto the battlefield in support of the Prussian right wing. For this he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class. Lignitz also worked in the battles at Gravelotte , Noisseville , Orléans and Le Mans as well as in the siege of Metz . Awarded the Iron Cross First Class, it was raised to the hereditary Prussian nobility by Wilhelm I on September 20, 1874 after the Peace of Frankfurt on the proposal of Prince Friedrich Karl .

As a major , Lignitz was aggregated to the General Staff of the Army on January 11, 1876 and commanded to the German Embassy in Saint Petersburg . Here he worked as a military attaché for the next nine years and, with the permission of the emperor, took part in the war against the Ottoman Empire on the Russian side in 1877/78 . Although only intended as an observer, Lignitz took an active part in the fighting in the Balkans . The Russian Emperor Alexander II paid tribute to him by awarding him the Order of St. George IV Class and the Order of St. Vladimir IV Class with Swords. In addition, the emperor asked the Prussian king to be awarded the order Pour le Mérite , which Lignitz received on September 25, 1877. After the fighting ended, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in September 1881 and was given the rank and duties of department head in June 1882. At the beginning of June 1885 Lignitz was recalled from Saint Petersburg and ordered to serve with Kaiser Alexander Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 1 for a month . Under position à la suite he was then assigned to lead the 1st Magdeburg Infantry Regiment No. 26 . With the promotion to colonel , Lignitz was appointed regimental commander on December 3, 1885. This was followed by his transfer to Kassel on April 17, 1888 as Chief of the General Staff of the XI. Army Corps . In this capacity, Lignitz received the rank and fees of a brigade commander on August 18, 1888. On February 16, 1889, he became major general , with Lignitz only being awarded the patent for this rank on August 13, 1889. From September 20, 1890 to June 8, 1891 he acted as commander of the 15th Infantry Brigade in Erfurt , was then commissioned with the leadership of the 11th Division and on November 17, 1891, promoted to Lieutenant General, commander of this large unit in Breslau appointed. On the occasion of the festival of the Order, Lignitz received the Order of the Crown, First Class, in January 1895 .

On February 6, 1896 Lignitz was transferred to Berlin and with the leadership of the III. Army Corps instructed. At the same time he acted as a permanent member of the National Defense Commission from February 20, 1896. On April 18, 1896 Lignitz was appointed commanding general of the corps and promoted to general of the infantry on September 1, 1896. A few days later he was assigned to honorary service for the duration of the Russian emperor's visit to Danzig and Nikolaus II awarded Lignitz the Alexander Nevsky Order . In June 1901 he received the diamonds for this prestigious award. The Prussian King Wilhelm II paid tribute to Lignitz several times for his achievements in the following years by awarding him the Grand Cross of the Red Eagle Order with Oak Leaves and Swords on the Ring on January 15, 1899 and making him a knight on September 12, 1902 after the imperial maneuvers were over of the Order of the Black Eagle . With the appointment of chief of the fusilier regiment "von Steinmetz" (West Prussian) No. 37, Lignitz was put up for disposition on January 20, 1903 in approval of his resignation request with the statutory pension .

After his departure, Lignitz lived in Kassel, worked as an author of military history works and published in the military weekly paper .

family

Lignitz had married Marie von Oertzen (1863-1887) on May 28, 1886 in Kittendorf . After her untimely death, he married Milly Schönian (1868–1937) on May 15, 1889 in Kassel. She was the daughter of a councilor in Kassel. The marriage resulted in the son Julius Theodor Oskar Hugo (1890-1918), last lieutenant in the 2nd Guards Regiment on foot , and the daughter Anna Emilie Frida Marietta (* 1893), who married Corvette Captain Wilhelm von Bomhard in November 1921 .

Already during his active service, Lignitz had acquired land on Obersalzberg as a summer residence since September 1896 . The property comprised a total of 4.4 hectares . His widow sold parts of it to Hitler in 1933 and to the NSDAP in the following years .

Fonts

• From three wars. 1866, 1870/71, 1877/78. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1904.
• Scharnhorst. Behr Verlag, Berlin 1905.
• To the hygiene of war. After the experiences of the last great wars. ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1905.
• Russia's internal crisis. Vossische Buchhandlung publishing house, Berlin 1906.
• Germany's interests in East Asia and the yellow danger. Verlag des Vossischen Buchhandlung, Berlin 1907.
• The German colonies. Verlag des Vossischen Buchhandlung, Berlin 1908.
• Production, trade and settlement ability of the German colonies. Verlag des Vossischen Buchhandlung, Berlin 1908.
• The Japanese-Russian. With comparisons of war history and reflections on the war. 4 volumes, Verlag der Vossische Buchhandlung, Berlin 1908–1911.
  • The previous events and the war up to the landing of the Second Japanese Army in early May 1904. Volume I, Berlin 1908.
  • The war up to the battle of Liaoyang. Volume II, Berlin 1909.
  • The violent attack on Port-Arthur and the battles at Liaoyang and the Shiliho-Shaho. Volume III, Berlin 1910.
  • Mukden, Port-Arthur and Tsushima. Volume IV, Berlin 1911.
• The North American great power historically, commercially and politically. Verlag des Vossischen Buchhandlung, Berlin 1909.

literature

• Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldier leadership . Volume 9, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1941], DNB 986919780 , pp. 155-158, no. 2801.
• Gene. the Inf. Viktor von Lignitz. In: Military weekly paper. No. 89 of July 17, 1909, p. 2023.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Kurt von Priesdorff: Soldatisches Führertum. Volume 6, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1938], DNB 367632810 , p. 328, no. 1949.
2. ↑ Preußisches Heroldsamt (Ed.), Marcelli Janecki : Handbuch des Preußischen Adels. First volume, ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1892, p. 345.
3. ↑ Obersalzberg. Consumption conditional. In: Der Spiegel. 49/1951, pp. 10-12.