|
Wilhelm Karl Florestan Gero Crescentius Herzog von
Urach,
Graf von Württemberg
(30.05.1864 - 24.03.1928)
place of birth: Principality of Monaco
Königreich
Württemberg: General der
Kavallerie
Wilhelm II Count of Württemberg,
Duke of Urach served during the Great War as commander of 26th
Infantry Division,
attached to Fabeck's XIII. Army Corps. In early 1917, von Urach headed the newly
formed Generalkommando zbV Nr.64 which formed the right wing of Army Detachment
B (Armeeabteilung
B). Urach was also the claimant
to the Württemberg
crown and in 1918 was designated as the new king of
the German protectorate of Lithuania. He never assumed his duties,
however, and died in Rapallo, Italy in 1928. He is interred at the
Schlosskirche in Ludwigsburg.
Wilhelm II von Urach was the eldest son of Wilhelm I Herzog
von Urach, Graf von Württemberg,
and his second wife Princess Florestine von Monaco. Young Wilhelm
grew up at Schloss Lichtenstein, located in the
Stuttgart area. In July of 1892, he married Bavarian Duchess Amalia
Maria, with whom he had nine children. After she died giving birth in
1912, von Urach married Bavarian Princess Wiltrud Marie Alix, daughter
of Ludwig III.
He entered military service in 1883 and was promoted to
divisional commander and Generalleutnant in 1912.
Remaining in command of the 26th Division as Germany went to war, von
Urach's troops took part in the assault on France and also
Belgium, where his sister-in-law Elisabeth von Bayern reigned as queen.
In December 1914 the division fought in the battle to cross the River
Bzura in Poland. From June to September 1915 the division moved from
north of Warsaw to positions close to the River Neman, an advance
of hundreds of miles in the campaign to occupy Poland. In October and
November 1915, he and his troops were participants in the assault of
Serbia. Returning to the Western Front, the division remained
engaged at Ypres, Belgium from December 1915 to July 1916. The division
was then largely destroyed during the Battle of the Somme from August to
November 1916. Receiving command of Generalkommando zbV Nr.64, von Urach
remained in action on the Western Front through the end of the War. His
aide-de-camp during these final months of 1918 was future Wehrmacht
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
General
der Kavallerie .... |
25.02.1917 |
|
|
Württemberg
MVO ........... |
20.02.1918
Komtur |
|
