The Prussian Machine  -  Generals

back to  Generals  |  home    

     Otto Liman von Sanders    






Otto Karl Viktor Liman von Sanders  
(17.2.1855 - 22.8.1929)
place of birth:  Stolp, Pommern  (Slupsk, Poland)


General of cavalry who molded the Ottoman Army into an effective fighting force. Commanded the Fifth Turkish Army during its defense of Gallipoli (1915), thus preventing allied seizure of Constantinople. Commanded Fourth, Seventh and Eighth Turkish Armies in Syria and Palestine (1918) and replaced Falkenhayn as commander of Army Group Yildirim (1918). In Palestine he was defeated by the British under Allenby and the Arabs under T.E. Lawrence. Due to ancestry (his father was the Jewish banker Isaac Liepmann), he was considered by  fellow generals such as von Seeckt to be unfit to command a German corps. Liman died on 22 August 1929 in Munich at the age of 74.
 
Assignments and Commands  (pre-War)
12.10.1875 Leutnant
16.06.1900 Husaren-Regiment Graf Goetzen (2. Schlesisches) Nr. 6 - Leobschütz  (Cdr)
14.06.1906 15. Kavallerie-Brigade - Köln  (Cdr)
00.00.1908 Generalmajor
03.04.1911 4. Kavallerie-Inspektion - Saarbrücken  (Inspector General)     (replaced Ludwig Schotten)
18.12.1911 22. Infanterie-Division - Kassel     (replaced Oertzen)
00.00.1911 Generalleutnant
00.00.1913 German Military Mission in Turkey
00.01.1914 Turkische Armee - Istanbul  (Inspector General)
13.01.1914 General der Kavallerie
   
Assignments and Commands  (during Great War)
03.08.1914 Osmanische 1. Armee
06.12.1914 Osmanische 2. Armee
25.03.1915 Osmanische 5. Armee
01.03.1918 Heeresgruppe "Yildirim"  (Palestine)     (replaced Falkenhayn)
   
Pour le Merite:  23 August 1915  (Oakleaves: 10 January 1916)
à la suite:  Ulanen-Regiment Nr.19;  Kürassier-Regiment Nr.5;  II.See-Bataillon;  Chef des Grenadier-Regiments Nr.119
highest rank:  General der Kavallerie





*     *     *