Wilhelm von and zu Egloffstein

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Wilhelm von Egloffstein as governor of Strasbourg
Family grave in the Eisenach deaconess cemetery

Wilhelm Ernst Karl Freiherr von und zu Egloffstein (born October 12, 1853 in Weimar ; † September 15, 1929 ) was a Prussian infantry general .

Life

origin

Wilhelm came from the noble family von Egloffstein . He was the son of the President of the Higher Regional Court in Jena Julius von Egloffstein (1809-1884) and his wife Marie, née Vitzthum von Egersberg (1817-1885). His brothers Klaus (1844–1933) and Heinrich (1845–1914) also rose to become generals of the infantry.

Military career

Egloffstein first entered the Navy of the North German Confederation as a cadet on May 3, 1870 . Shortly before the start of the war against France , he took leave of absence from the land army and joined the 1st Magdeburg Infantry Regiment No. 26 as a flag junior . For his behavior during the fighting at Beaumont Egloffstein received the Iron Cross, 2nd class. He also took part in the Battle of Sedan and the Siege of Paris and was promoted to second lieutenant on December 28, 1870 .

After the preliminary peace at Versailles , Egloffstein was released from the Navy on March 19, 1871 at his request in order to continue serving in the army. For further training he graduated from the War Academy from October 1875 to the end of July 1878 . As prime lieutenant he was in command of the General Staff for one year from mid-May 1880 . Subsequently, Egloffstein acted as regimental adjutant until November 20, 1882 and was then commanded as an adjutant to the 11th Infantry Brigade . Left in this command, he was transferred to the 1st Hanseatic Infantry Regiment No. 75 on March 14, 1885 . On April 14, 1885, he was promoted to captain and worked from September 16, 1885 to May 21, 1889 as a company commander in the Oldenburg Infantry Regiment 91 . This was followed by employment as an adjutant at the General Command of the VII Army Corps . Here Egloffstein rose to major on April 17, 1890 , joined the 3rd Guard Grenadier Regiment Queen Elisabeth on May 16, 1891 and was appointed commander of the 2nd Battalion on September 19, 1891. Under position à la suite of the regiment, he was appointed personal adjutant to Prince Albrecht of Prussia on July 8, 1893. As a lieutenant colonel, Egloffstein moved up to the regimental staff on March 22, 1897. It was on January 27, 1898. Military Cabinet commanded and appointed on March 5, 1898 position à la suite to the Division Chief in the military cabinet. In this capacity he became a colonel on January 27, 1899 . For a short time Egloffstein returned from August 24 to September 24, 1901 in the troop service in order to represent the regiment in command. On November 14, 1901, he received rank and fees as brigade commander. Egloffstein was promoted to major general on April 22, 1902 , and was in command of the 3rd Guard Infantry Brigade from June 19, 1902 to February 12, 1906 . He was then commissioned to lead the 20th division and on March 20, 1906, while being promoted to lieutenant general, he was in command of this large unit in Hanover . From this post he was released on January 26, 1910, appointed governor of Strasbourg and promoted in this position to general of the infantry on April 12, 1910. On the occasion of the festival of the order, Wilhelm II awarded him the Order of the Red Eagle 1st class with oak leaves on January 18, 1912 . In approval of his resignation request , Egloffstein was put up for disposition on March 22, 1913 with the statutory pension and at the same time in appreciation of his services à la suite of the infantry regiment "Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau" (1st Magdeburg) No. 26.

With the outbreak of World War I , Egloffstein was re-used as a ZD officer and on August 2, 1914, he was appointed commanding general of the VIII Reserve Corps . With this corps he took part in the fighting on the Western Front in association with the 4th Army until he handed over command to his successor Lieutenant General Paul Fleck in early January 1915 . Then Egloffstein remained without use. It was not until August 25, 1917 that he was appointed commanding general of the Deputy General Command of the VII Army Corps and held this position until the end of the war. On December 15, 1918, his mobilization provision was lifted.

He was a legal knight of the Order of St. John .

Strasbourg Köpenickiade

The fake telegram that prematurely ended Egloffstein's career.

Egloffstein was one of the protagonists of a carnival-style prank that exposed him to public ridicule on Ash Wednesday 1913 and led to his resignation. August Wolter, the purser aspirant , who was on leave due to psychological problems, disguised himself as a post office clerk and on the morning of February 5, 1913, had delivered a fake telegram in the governorate in which Kaiser Wilhelm II announced his alleged visit “at 12 noon on the parade ground”. Thereupon Egloffstein mobilized the entire garrison including all outer fortifications of the fortress Strasbourg and together with Max von Fabeck , the commanding general of the XV. Army Corps , whose headquarters was in Strasbourg, 18,000 soldiers and officers line up on the parade field in front of the Strasbourg Imperial Palace in anticipation of the supposed imperial visit. The city was festively flagged and a large crowd awaited the ruler until the afternoon. The imperial governor of Alsace-Lorraine, Count von Wedel, and Prince Joachim of Prussia , a son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was studying in Strasbourg at the time, had also gone to the castle in anticipation of the visit. Only later did Egloffstein find out by telegraphing inquiries in Berlin that it was a joke and that Wilhelm was actually more than 1000 kilometers away in Königsberg in East Prussia that day and inaugurated a memorial there. The episode has been compared many times with the Köpenickiade by the cobbler Wilhelm Voigt and caused a sensation in Germany and France. General von Egloffstein as the main victim then submitted his resignation, while General von Fabeck was transferred to another army corps. Wolter was sent to a madhouse . Egloffstein's careless behavior and his pension entitlements of 19,000 marks annually (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 103,000 euros) were sharply criticized in a debate in the Reichstag in April by the Social Democrat Daniel Stücklen . He was succeeded as governor of Strasbourg by General Magnus von Eberhardt .

family

Egloffstein married Elisabeth Freiin von Rotenhan (1865-1948) on October 2, 1883 in Rentweinsdorf . The marriage resulted in the son Julius (born March 26, 1885) and the daughter Marie (born March 11, 1887).

literature

  • Karl Meyer: History of the Infantry Regiment Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau (1st Magdeburgisches) No. 26. 1813-1913. E. Baensch Verlag, Magdeburg 1913, p. 442.
  • Erich von Stocken: List of officers of the Queen Elisabeth Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 3. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1910, p. 176.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Military weekly paper . No. 10 of January 21, 1912, p. 197.
  2. ↑ Dermot Bradley (ed.), Günter Wegner: Occupation of the German Army 1815-1939. Volume 1: The higher command posts 1815–1939. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1780-1 , p. 56.
  3. ^ Protocols of the Reichstag, April 18, 1913, p. 4888 .
  4. ↑ Eberhardt, Magnus von in the online version of the edition files of the Reich Chancellery. Weimar Republic .
  5. ↑ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Freiherrlichen Häuser . Seventh year, Justus Perthes , Gotha 1900, p. 157.
personal data
SURNAME Egloffstein, Wilhelm von und zu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Egloffstein, Wilhelm Ernst Karl Freiherr von und zu (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the infantry
DATE OF BIRTH October 12, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH Weimar
DATE OF DEATH September 15, 1929