Wilhelm von Eitzenberger

Tomb of the Eitzenberger family

Wilhelm Eitzenberger , since 1916 Knight von Eitzenberger (born March 10, 1875 in Bayreuth ; † September 13, 1956 there ) was a Bavarian officer , holder of the Military Max Joseph Order and an honorary citizen of his hometown since 1919 .

Life

He was the son of the Bavarian major a. D. Otto Eitzenberger and his wife Lisette, nee Speckner.

After successfully completing the humanistic grammar school , Eitzenberger joined the 7th Infantry Regiment "Prince Leopold" of the Bavarian Army on July 22, 1895 as an officer aspirant . After his officer examination, he was first appointed portepée ensign on January 18, 1896 . In the following years he was on 3 March 1897, second lieutenant , and on September 11, 1907, Lieutenant promoted.

As a company commander and captain (since March 27, 1913), after the outbreak of World War I, he and his regiment were initially deployed on the Western Front during the border battles and the Battle of Lorraine . At the beginning of 1915 the regiment was briefly transferred to the Eastern Front and it took part in the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnów . At the end of the year he was relocated to France and at the beginning of 1916 Eitzelberger was appointed battalion commander in the 22nd Infantry Regiment "Prince Wilhelm von Hohenzollern" . For his extraordinary military services rendered during the Battle of the Somme Eitzelberger was on July 24, 1917 by the Bavarian King Ludwig III. Awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Max Joseph Order . With the award the elevation to the personal nobility was connected and he was allowed to call himself Ritter von Eitzelberger.

In the further course of the war Eitzenberger was first used again on the Eastern Front in Galicia , Bukovina and then until the end of the war in Flanders and at the Battle of Armentières. On May 28, 1918, he was promoted to major. During the war Eitzenberger received the Military Max Joseph Order, both classes of the Iron Cross , the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords and the Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Class with war decorations.

Eitzenberger was retired from the army on October 25, 1919 and his hometown made him an honorary citizen in the same year for his services.

He died on September 13, 1956 and is buried in the family grave at the St. Georgen cemetery in Bayreuth.

The Ritter-von-Eitzenberger-Straße in Bayreuth bears his name.

literature

• Rudolf von Kramer, Otto von Waldenfels: VIRTUTI PRO PATRIA. The Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order. Acts of War and Book of Honor 1914-1918. Self-published by the Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order. Munich 1966. p. 284.