| The Prussian Machine - Generals |
Josias von Heeringen
|
||
|
|
Josias Oskar von Heeringen (9.5.1850 - 9.10.1926) place of birth: Kassel, Nordhessen (Hesse) German colonel general who served as Prussia's Minister of War from 1909 to 1913, where he became a bitter rival of Colonel Ludendorff at the general staff over the pre-war Army buildup. Prior to World War One, he also served as inspector general of the Prussian Second Army. At war's outbreak von Heeringen commanded the Seventh Army in Lorraine where he won the Pour le Merite for leading successful operations during the battle of Mülhausen and for driving the French forces from Alsace. He also received the Oakleaves a year later on 28 August 1916. Serving under von Heeringen during the Battle for the Frontiers was a young officer cadet and future WW2 field marshal, Friedrich von Paulus. Von Heeringen was relieved of his command in August 1916 and then appointed commander of Germany's Coastal Defense Forces until war's end. After the war he devoted himself to the care of war veterans and was president of the Kyfthaeuser Association.
The
German Empire's future colonel general was born in the city of Kassel to the family of
Karoline von Starckloff and Josias Sr., the major-domo serving Hesse's
last electoral prince (Kurfürst). In 1867, after
having attended military academies in Kassel and Berlin, young Josias Jr.
joined the 80th Infantry Regiment in Wiesbaden as a Fähnrich. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* * *
