Wilhelm von Nathusius (officer)
Wilhelm Engelhard von Nathusius (born March 24, 1856 in Königsborn , † January 10, 1937 in Kassel ) was a Prussian major general who became known in France during a military trial in 1924 .
Origin and youth
Wilhelm von Nathusius was the son of the eponymous Wilhelm Engelhard von Nathusius (1821-1890) and Marie Johanne von Nathusius, born von Meibom (1820-1878). His grandfather was the Magdeburg and Althaldensleben merchant and entrepreneur Johann Gottlob Nathusius . The mother was also from Magdeburg. Nathusius was born on his father's estate in the town of Königsborn, 15 kilometers from Magdeburg. He received his first lessons from private tutors; As a child he spoke fluent English. This was followed by a visit to the grammar school of the monastery of Our Dear Women in Magdeburg and the count's grammar school in Wernigerode .
Military career
Nathusius began his military career with the cavalry ; later he changed the type of service and became a supply officer. He was an excellent marksman and twice won first prizes in army officers' shooting as the best marksman. The first time he received a saber from the emperor, the second time a cash prize.
cavalryman
At the age of 19, Nathusius joined the Magdeburg Dragoon Regiment No. 6 of the Prussian Army in 1875 as a flag junior , which belonged to the 21st Cavalry Brigade of the 21st Division . Divisional and brigade command were in Frankfurt am Main , Regiment No. 6 was in Mainz . In 1880 this regiment moved to Diedenhofen in Lorraine , which had belonged to the German Empire since 1871 as a result of the war of 1870/71 .
In 1883 and 1884 he was Rittmeister in command of the 1st Squadron in the 3rd Badische Dragoon Regiment "Prince Karl" No. 22 in Mulhouse . Later this association was promoted to major .
Replenishment officer
In 1904 Nathusius was transferred to Forbach as commander of Train Battalion No. 16 . Such a battalion consisted of three companies at the time and had to provide the means of transport for the higher-ranking army corps . The Forbach battalion was of bad repute when it was taken over by Nathusius. The decrepit condition of the garrison had already been described in the novels Grenzpanorama and From a small garrison and had led to debates in the Reichstag .
With effect from October 1, 1912, he was granted a patent as colonel . He was also commander of the train of the VIII. , The XI. and the XVIII. Army Corps in Koblenz . In this function (train management) he was responsible for the train battalions in Koblenz ( 1st Rhenish Train Battalion No. 8 ), Kassel ( Kurhessisches Train Battalion No. 11 ) and Darmstadt ( Grand Ducal Hessian Train Battalion No. 18 ) .
On August 6, 1914, Nathusius went to war with the Koblenz General Command ( VIII Army Corps ). He took part with his association on the advance to Vitry-le-François on the Marne . At the beginning of the war, the commanding general of the corps was Lieutenant General Franz Tülff von Tschepe und Weidenbach , who was replaced by General of the Infantry Julius Riemann on October 5, 1914 . In November 1914, Nathusius fell ill with typhus . After several months in hospital he was the VI. Assigned to Reserve Corps in Champagne. In 1917 he was transferred to Flanders as KOMUT (commander of the ammunition columns and trains) of the 3rd Army . In 1918 Nathusius was promoted to major general and retired from active service.
Military trial in Lille 1924
Nathusius, who was already retired, became known to the German and international public through a trial before a court martial in France, which caused waves for a month. The proceedings took place in the period after the First World War, which was both nationalist and revanchist . Democratic and reconciliation circles in both Germany and France feared that sentencing the general to one year in prison could boost the nationalist right in the Reichstag elections of December 7, 1924 . However, this was prevented by the French President's quick pardon for the general.
family
On July 14, 1892, Nathusius married Mary Augusta Braendlin (born November 21, 1869 in Birmingham; † July 9, 1954 in Kassel) in the Johanniskirche in Halle. Their father was Franz August Braendlin, who originally came from the Margraviate of Ansbach , had emigrated to England as a young man, was "naturalized" there and founded a factory for military handguns in Birmingham . Nathusius' mother-in-law was Mary Jane Lawton, who died early. The couple had two daughters. The older daughter died at the age of four, in 1900 Doris May was born by Nathusius, who would later marry Borwin Haevernick, the son of Lieutenant General Oskar Haevernick .
Nathusius had two brothers and three sisters. Elsbeth von Nathusius was a writer. Another sister was Susanne von Nathusius , a portrait painter in Halle.
Wilhelm von Nathusius died of pneumonia in 1937 at the age of 81. He and his wife were buried in Menz near Königsborn. Today her tombstones are in the Nathusius family cemetery in Althaldensleben.
literature
- Herrmann A. L. Degener (Ed.): Who is it? Contemporaries lexicon containing biographies and bibliographies. Information about origin, family, curriculum vitae, works, favorite occupations, party affiliation, membership in societies, address. Other communications of general interest. 4th edition, Degener, Leipzig 1909
- Obituary for Wilhelm von Nathusius. In: Kasseler Post. No. 11 from January 12, 1937, year 55.
- Jochen von Nathusius, Christine Keßler: Johann Gottlob Nathusius (1760-1835) and his descendants up to the sixth generation as well as his nephew Moritz Nathusius (1815-1886) and his descendants up to the fifth generation. Ed .: Association of the families of Nathusius and Nathusius eV (Kassel): Hanover (print), Meschede and Mülheim an der Ruhr 2010 (pp. 276–277), updated new edition by: Lilly von Nathusius, Johann Gottlob Nathusius and his descendants as well his nephew Moritz Nathusius with his descendants (family chronicle), Detmold 1964
Web links
References and comments
- ↑ according to Nathusius (1840, 1861), IV line (Königsborn), Wilhelm Engelhard v. Nathusius . In: Genealogical manual of the nobility . Volume 57 of the complete series, Noble Houses B, Volume XI, C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg a. d. Lahn, 1974, p. 318.
- ↑ a b c Jochen von Nathusius, Christine Keßler: Johann Gottlob Nathusius (1760-1835) and his descendants. see LitVerz, pp. 276-277.
- ^ Society for company history, Association of German works archivists (ed.): Journal for company history. F. Steiner Verlag, 1971, p. 289.
- ↑ Guido von Frobel (ed.): Military weekly paper . tape 81 Part 2. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1896, p. 2815 ( google.de [accessed on March 6, 2019]).
- ↑ Fritz Oswald Bilse , son of a schoolboy, lived in Kirn (then the Rhine Province) and Eisenach , entered the army in 1896 and was transferred to Train Battalion No. 16 in Forbach in Lorraine in 1900. He became known suddenly when he wrote (in later editions under the pseudonym "Fritz von der Kyrburg", after the landmark of his hometown) the novel From a small garrison. A military time picture (1903) published. The book, in which Lieutenant Bilse targets the manners and customs of the garrison and the Prussian military, was a scandalous success and quickly achieved several editions. Bilse's criticism, however, was so sharp and place and characters so poorly coded that several of the officers who felt their honor had been injured brought a trial against him before the military court, which took place from November 9th to 13th, 1903 in Metz. Bilse was found guilty of defamation, dishonorable discharge from the army and sentenced to six months in prison. The novel was (temporarily) banned.
- ↑ Patent for October 1, 1912, awarded: We, Wilhelm von Gottes Gnaden, King of Prussia ..., copy is available in: Archive of the families Nathusius and von Nathusius , position VI. Königsborn, b, serial no. 2, Althaldensleben.
- ^ Painting by Susanne von Nathusius.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nathusius, Wilhelm von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Nathusius, Wilhelm Engelhard von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Prussian major general in the First World War |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 24, 1856 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Königsborn |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 10, 1937 |
| Place of death | kassel |