William of Livonius

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Carl Werner Wilhelm Livonius , von Livonius since 1888 (born August 28, 1840 in Herzberg an der Elster , † January 22, 1905 in Berlin ) was a Prussian officer , most recently a lieutenant general .

Life

origin

Livonius was a son of the royal Prussian postmaster and captain a. D. Daniel Karl Livonius (born October 18, 1784 in Stresow; † August 14, 1859 in Herzberg) and his wife Henriette Auguste Pauline, née Teichelmann (born September 1, 1803 in Grabow; † June 18, 1846 in Potsdam).

Military career

From the cadet corps coming Livonius was the on May 17, 1859 29th Infantry Regiment in Trier with the character of a Portepee - ensign transferred. After he had received the patent for his rank on January 14, 1860 , he was promoted to second lieutenant a short time later .

By AKO was from the II. Battalion and battalions of the 29th landwehr on 1 May 1860, the "29th combined infantry regiment ”. The combined regiment, which met for the first time on May 5th, was formed by the AKO on the same day from three battalions of the "29. Landwehr Regiment "formed. On July 4, 1860, the “29. combined infantry regiment "the 7th Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 69 . Livonius was transferred to this, whose garrison was Koblenz , on July 12, 1860 . With this he fought in the German war .

Hugo von Kottwitz with the Lübeck battalion of the 76ers
Entry of the victorious battalion on June 18, 1871
HL Then - Livonius.jpg

While being promoted to Prime Lieutenant , Livonius was transferred to the battalion of the newly formed Infantry Regiment No. 76 in Hameln on October 30, 1866 . The regiment was relocated with its musketeer battalions to Hamburg and its battalion of fusiliers to Lübeck in 1867 and was now called the 2nd Hanseatic Infantry Regiment .

As adjutant of the 17th Infantry Division Livonius was commanded to Kiel on July 18, 1870 . In the Franco-Prussian War he took part in the sieges of Metz , Toul and Paris . He also fought in the battles of Loigny , Orléans , Beaugency and Cravant and Le Mans , as well as in the battles at Dreux , La Madeleine-Bouvet , Bellême , Meung , Fréteval , Morée , Connerré and Thorigné . At the battle of Loigny, Livonius witnessed the event cited below, which only occurred at the III. Battalion and later, when it was converted to the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Hanseatic Infantry Regiment No. 162 , its name "Lübeck" was only given during the imperial maneuver of 1904, it was to form the identity-creating myth of the "Lübeck Regiment" .

On the day of the battle, it was December 2, 1870, Major General von Kottwitz , commander of the 33rd Infantry Brigade, which at that time was subordinate to the VIII Army Corps , stepped in front of the Fusilier Battalion in the morning and spurred it on “ to commemorate the bravery of the Hanseatic League! ”The battalion directed its attack to the north while the other battalions turned towards Loigny . This shock surprised the French so much that they were overrun from their flank . They fled to the town of Fougeu and were also expelled from it.

After the war he was after returning to Lübeck at the birth of his command on June 24, 1871 to captain transported and chief of Lübeck 10. Company appointed the 76th. The Lübeckische Blätter shows that as such he was one of the most popular.

For the Lübeck painter August Godtknecht made several watercolors relating to the Lübeck battalion in this war. When the pictures of the drafts were available, Livonius was entrusted with the writing of the “Chronicle of the Fusilier Battalion”. For the 25th foundation festival of the regiment, the 1871 chronicle of Charles Coleman on the return of the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Loigny should be published. On the mediation of Baron von Kottwitz, Conradt Platzmann received an audience with Grand Duke Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin for the name to be inscribed in the Livonius Chronicle of the Fusilier Battalion of the 76th Regiment . Since he had little time, the Duchess Marie von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt took a closer look at the work, found "warm words of appreciation" and invited Platzmann to dinner the next day. There the work received the highest recognition and in addition to the Grand Duke, several high-ranking personalities who were present were ready to sign their names.

In addition to the military, he was a member of the non-profit organization and the board of the St. Lorenz community . Not least because of the book he wrote about the Lübeck battalion, he was to remain unforgettable in Lübeck.

From July 25, 1874, the corresponding patent was dated May 21, Livonius was appointed adjutant to the General Command of the X Army Corps in Hanover and from November 7, 1876 in the same function to that of the III. Army Corps posted to Berlin . On July 9, 1878, Livonius was transferred to the East Prussian Fusilier Regiment No. 33 in Danzig . He was promoted to their superfluous major on September 23, 1879 and received staff officer competence on March 14, 1882 . When he was released from his command, Livonius was transferred to his former regiment, the 7th Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 69, in Trier on May 3, 1884 and appointed battalion commander. He was commissioned with the functions of the regular staff officer when he was transferred to the 8th Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 70 in Diedenhofen on February 15, 1887 . With his promotion to lieutenant colonel on March 22, 1887 he was appointed regular staff officer.

After being awarded the rank of regimental commander , Livonius was appointed commander of District Command I in Berlin on November 15, 1887. After he had been promoted to colonel on June 17, 1889 , he was transferred to the War Ministry as department head on June 22 . There he received on January 27, 1891 the rank and fees of a brigade commander. With the promotion to major general , Livonius was appointed commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade in Gumbinnen on June 18, 1892 .

On May 13, 1895, Livonius was appointed commander of Posen and in this position he received the character of lieutenant general on April 18, 1896. In approval of his leave request Livonius was on July 7, 1901 board for disposition made and spent his life in Röversdorf / Silesia .

With great sympathy, his former regiments sent deputations , he was buried in the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin in 1905 .

family

Livonius married his cousin Klara von Livonius (born March 8, 1846 in Warsaw , † December 4, 1919 in Berlin) in Hammerstein on September 25, 1866 . The marriage had four children:

  • Helene von Livonius (born September 5, 1867 in Berlin, † 1940 in Berlin) married Walther von Heyden-Nerfken on October 16, 1894
  • Olga von Livonius (born January 3, 1869 in Lübeck; †…) married Paul Kohlstock on October 6, 1890
  • Willy Franz Karl Pius (born April 17, 1871 in Hammerstein, † July 10, 1946 in Berlin)
  • Werner Karl Otto (* July 23, 1875 in Hanover; † September 19, 1914 at the Triolet-Ferme near Mons , Belgium )

His brother is the Vice Admiral a. D. Otto Livonius .

Works

  • Chronicle of the Fusilier Battalion. 2nd Hanseatic Infantry Regiment No. 76. From the establishment to the return from the campaign of 1870–71. Publishing house Nöhring. Lübeck 1891. Facsimiles of handwritten inscriptions by Kaiser Wilhelm from January 18, 1872 and Geibels from 1871 are placed before and after the book.

Awards

On September 19, 1888, Livonius was elevated to the hereditary Prussian nobility in Münchberg “in recognition of his excellent behavior in front of the enemy as well as his good services in peace” . He was also the holder of the following medals and decorations :

Reference structure

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lübeck address book for the year 1872
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Harry von Rège : Officer list of the infantry regiment No. 76. 1902, number 36, pp. 33–34.
  3. ↑ Lübeck sheets. Issue of July 2, 1871 of vol. 13, category: Local.
  4. ↑ Preface. In: Wilhelm Livonius: Chronicle of the Fusilier Battalion. 2nd Hanseatic Infantry Regiment No. 76. From the establishment to the return from the campaign of 1870–71.
  5. ↑ Lübeck sheets. Edition of May 29, 1872 of vol. 14, article: The chronicle of the fusilier battalion of the 76th regiment.
  6. ↑ a b c d Category: Local. In: Lübeckische Blätter. Edition 1892 of vol. 34.
personal data
SURNAME Livonius, Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Livonius, Carl Werner Wilhelm (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian officer, most recently lieutenant general
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH Herzberg (Elster)
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 1905
Place of death Berlin