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Oskar Freiherr von Watter
(02.09.1861 - 23.08.1939)
place of birth: Ludwigsburg, Württemberg
Königreich
Württemberg: Generalleutnant
(Art)
Württemberg
general officer and Baron Oskar Freiherr von Watter headed
54th Infantry Division during the Great War. He also commanded a
reserve corps during the War's final few months. General von Watter was
descended from old Pomeranian nobility. His cousin Theodor was likewise
a Württemberg general and
corps-level commander during the First World War.
During the two years leading up to German mobilization, Freiherr
von Watter
headed the 10th Field
Artillery Brigade in Posen. This unit went into battle on 2 August
1914 subordinate to General Robert Kosch's 10th Division and Crown
Prince Wilhelm's Fifth Field Army. By the end of August, V. Corps
commander General von Strantz had put von Watter in charge of artillery
for the entire corps. Then in September 1914, he was charged with
artillery support for between the rivers Orne and Meuse.
In February 1915, General von Watter was placed in command of the
newly-formed 54th Infantry Division. Inititially engaged in northern
France, the division was transported east to Ukraine in order to support
Army Group Gallwitz during the Narew Offensive.
Freiherr von Watter's infantry division returned to the Western Front in
September 1915 and were engaged in the Spring Offensive near
Douai. The subsequent few months saw his troops in action at Noyon,
Compiegne, and Verdun. From November 1916 through April
1917, the divisional troops were bogged down in the trenches of
Woëvre Plains, France. By the end of
July, they joined Fourth Army in Flanders to battle the British, then in
August to Cambrai to occupy trenches in the Havrincourt - La
Vacquières sector. For his energetic
leadership during this period, Kaiser Wilhelm recognized the
newly-promoted Generalleutnant von Watter with Pour le Merite in
December 1917.
Early in 1918, von Watter replaced General von Hügel
as commander of XXVI. Reserve Corps, and his new troops were soon
transferred from Savigny to Charleville. In April, the
corps became part of General von Hutier's 18th Army, remaining so until
War's end. After cessation of hostilities, von Watter led his corps back
to the Kassel region for the demobilization process. He continued as a
commanding general in the Reichswehr. He also led
Freikorps
troops in April 1920 as they killed thousands during the five-day Ruhr
Red Uprising. Oskar Freiherr von Watter passed away in 1939 and was buried at Berlin's Invaliden
Friedenhof.
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Generalleutnant ................ |
06.11.1917 |
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Pour
le Mérite .................... |
23.12.1917
(Eichenlaub: 03.11.1918) |
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