Adolf von Bonin

Adolf Albert Ferdinand Karl Friedrich von Bonin
(11.11.1803 - 16.4.1872)
place of birth: Heeren, Westfalen (Duchy of Mark)

Prussian general von Bonin entered military service in 1821 as a lieutenant with the 2nd Guards Regiment. In 1838, he was selected to serve as an aide-de-camp to King Friedrich Wilhelm III, a duty he likewise carried out in the service of Friedrich Wilhelm IV and Kaiser Wilhelm I.

During the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, General von Bonin's First Army Corps was subordinate to the Crown Prince's Second Army. His troops were hit hard during the Battle of Trautenau and as a result were not a factor at Königgrätz. Chief of General Staff Graf von Moltke was thus very critical of von Bonin, labeling him as an incompetent.

After the peace treaty was signed in 1867, von Bonin was nonetheless transferred to Dresden to command Prussian troops in the Kingdom of Saxony. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 saw General von Bonin functioning as Governor General of Lorraine, after which he returned to his previous posting as Adjutant General to Prussian Kaiser Wilhelm I. Soon thereafter, von Bonin died in April of 1872 in Berlin.