Werner Alborus Küneke from Raven

Werner Alborus Küneke von Raven (born December 18, 1784 in Groß-Holzendorf , † April 6, 1814 in Paris ) was a Prussian officer and knight of the order Pour le Mérite .

Life

Werner von Raven was born the son of the squire Gustav Ludwig von Raven (1748–1814), on Groß-Holzendorf with Ravenslust and Schönwerder and Friederike von Wedel (1749–1793). He remained unmarried and died on April 6, 1814 in Paris. His older brother Wilhelm (1770-1836) was a Prussian colonel and also a knight of the order Pour le Mérite, as well as the father of General Eduard von Raven .

Military career

Werner von Raven, as a younger son not entitled to inherit his father's property, chose a military career and became a cavalry officer with the hussars .

He was a second lieutenant in the 1st Prussian hussar regiment when Napoleon began his campaign in Russia in 1812. Since Raven's regiment belonged to the Prussian auxiliary corps under General von Yorck , he took part in this campaign from day one. On June 24th, 1812, he was particularly daring when he swam across the Memel near Schillehnen with 18 hussars and came across 25 Cossacks who attacked him immediately. He put them to flight, took two Cossacks and four horses prisoner and captured the equipage of a cavalry master.

Just a few days later he received the order to capture a magazine guarded by Cossacks with 50 hussars from his regiment and to prevent this magazine from being burned down by the Russians when they withdrew. Werner von Raven solved this problem completely. He attacked the Cossacks in the night, drove them away and took the important magazine unscathed. In this coup he was seriously wounded three times.

For this "hussar piece", General von Grawert applied to the king for Raven to be awarded the order Pour le Mérite , ... Colonel von Hünerbein learned that there was an important magazine in the place mentioned, which was occupied by a troop of Cossacks who were in command to infect it at our approach…. To prevent this, he detached Lieutenant v. Raven of the Leibhusar Regiment No. 1 with 50 horses, who behaved so well that he attacked the Cossacks, killed some of them, made the remainder prisoners, and brought about the rescue of the magazine. I humbly ask EKM, Lieutenant v. Raven, who is hopefully not life-threatening, but is nevertheless very seriously wounded, for the excellently demonstrated courage to grant the VO….

The King complied with this proposal with a letter of July 20, 1812 ... Even though I would like to say that this is the first successful affair of the current campaign and that Lieutenant v. Raven has shown himself to be beneficial for the second time, and wants to approve your application in accordance with the regulation in order to awaken a laudable emulation in the army corps.

Werner von Raven recovered from his severe wounds and continued to serve in the 2nd Hussar Regiment in Russia, where he was also a Knight of the Legion of Honor as a member of a (then still) allied French force . After the transfer of the Yorck Corps and the declaration of war by Prussia on France, he continued to serve in the Prussian army and was promoted to staff officer. He took part in the campaign of the Prussian troops in France. On March 31, 1814, he was seriously wounded in the battle near Claye near Paris . On April 6, 1814, he succumbed to his injuries in Paris.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Genealogical manual of the nobility. Volume A VII, CA Starke-Verlag, Limburg, 1965, p. 315.
2. ↑ Report of his superior to General Rauch, in Gustav Lehmann: Die Ritter des Ordens Pour le Mérite , Volume II, p. 3, no. 647.
3. ↑ Letter Grawerts to King Friedrich Wilhelm III. of July 9, 1812, in Gustav Lehmann: The Knights of the Order Pour le Mérite , Volume II, p. 3, No. 647.
4. ↑ Gustav Lehmann: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite. Volume II, p. 4.