The Prussian Machine  -  Generals

back to  Generals  |  home    

     Alexander von Linsingen    





Alexander Adolf August Karl von
Linsingen 
(10.2.1850 - 5.6.1935)
place of birth:  Hildesheim  (Hannover)


Joined Prussian Army in 1868, rising to corps commander by 1909. He was one of the very few commanding generals who never served on the general staff, but rather had always been a troop commander. Linsingen led II. Corps at the Marne and then transferred to the Eastern Front in 1914. Took command of the South Army (1915) in Galicia, where he received the Pour le Merite for capturing 60,000 Russian prisoners during the Battle of Stryi. In June 1916, his Army Group faced General Brusilov's offensive, losing the Austrian Fourth Army and its headquarters at Luck, but ultimately checking the Russian advance near Kovel. After Russia was defeated, he became military governor of Berlin (1918) where he opposed revolutionary activities there. After the War, he faced Nazi-inspired discrimination due to his less than "Aryan pure" heritage. Von Linsingen died on 5 June 1935 in Hannover and is buried there at the St. Nikolai Friedhof.


 
Assignments and Commands  (pre-War)
00.00.1868 Infanterie-Regiment ,,Graf Barfuß (4. Westfälisches) Nr. 17 - Mörchingen
14.10.1869 Leutnant
19.07.1870 Franco-Prussian War - 1870/71
11.05.1871 unknown
27.09.1877 Oberleutnant
21.11.1882 Hauptmann
00.00.1888 31. Infanterie-Division - Saarbrücken  (Adjutant)
00.00.1889 Leib-Grendadier-Regiment ,,König Friedrich Wilhelm III (1. Brandenburgisches) Nr. 8 - Frankfurt an der Oder 
20.08.1889 Major
00.00.0000 XIV. Armeekorps - Karlsruhe  (Adjutant)
00.00.1890 Infanterie-Regiment Hamburg (2. Hanseatisches) Nr. 76 - Hamburg  (Bn Cdr) 
18.06.1895 Oberstleutnant
18.11.1897 Grenadier-Regiment ,,König Friedrich der Große (3. Ostpreußisches) Nr. 4 - Rastenburg  (Cdr) 
18.11.1897 Oberst
16.06.1901 81. Infanterie-Brigade - Lübeck  (Cdr) 
16.06.1901 Generalmajor
22.04.1905 Generalleutnant
11.08.1909 II. Armeekorps - Stettin  (Cdr)
   
Assignments and Commands  (during Great War)
02.08.1914 II. Armeekorps  =  1. Armee
11.01.1915 Süd-Armee
06.07.1915 Heeresgruppe Linsingen aka Bug-Armee
07.04.1918 Generaloberst
01.06.1918 Oberkommando in den Marken - Berlin
   
Pour le Merite:  14.5.1915  (Oakleaves:  6 July 1915)
à la suite:  Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 2;  Chef des Infanterie-Regiments Nr. 74  (5.10.1916)
highest rank:  General der Infanterie mdR als Generaloberst




*     *     *