August von Mackensen |
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Anton Ludwig August von Mackensen (December 6, 1849 – November 8, 1945) , born August Mackensen, was a German soldier and field marshal.[1] He commanded with success during the First World War and became one of the German Empire's most prominent military leaders.
Mackensen was born December 6, 1849, in Haus Leipnitz, near the village of Dahlenberg in the Kingdom of Saxony (now the federal state of Saxony in the Federal Republic of Germany), to Louis and Marie Louise Mackensen. His father sent him a Realgymnasium in Halle an der Saale in 1865, with the apparent hope that Mackensen would follow him in his profession.[2]
He began his military service in 1869 as a volunteer with the 2nd Life Hussar regiment. During the Franco-Prussian War he was promoted to second lieutenant and recommended for the Iron Cross, Second Class. After an interlude at Halle University, Mackensen formally entered the German Army in 1873, with his old regiment. In 1891 he joined the General Staff in Berlin, where he was heavily influenced by the new chief, Alfred von Schlieffen. He was ennobled on January 27, 1899, becoming August von Mackensen.[3] When Schlieffen retired in 1906 Mackensen was regarded by some as a possible successor, although the job went to Helmuth von Moltke.
At the beginning of World War I Mackensen commanded XVII Army Corps as part of the Eighth Army under first General Prittwitz and then General Hindenburg and saw action in the battles of Gumbinnen and Tannenberg. Late in 1914 Mackensen took command of the new Ninth Army and was awarded the Pour le Mérite for actions around Łódź and Warsaw. Until October of 1915 Mackensen saw action in Galicia, and assisted in the capture of Przemysl and Lemberg.
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Main article: Serbian Campaign (World War I) |
In October of 1915 Mackensen led a renewed Austro-German campaign against Serbia and finally crushed effective military resistance there. After marching in Belgrade he erected a monument to the Serbian soldiers that heroically died defending Belgrade saying "We fought against an army that we have only heard about in fairy tales".
He followed this up in 1916 with a temporarily successful campaign against Romania (under the command of General Falkenhayn). He was in command of a multi-national army of Bulgarians, Ottoman Turks, and Germans. Despite this, his offensives were very successful, breaking every army that faced his own.
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Main article: Romanian Campaign (World War I) |
After this campaign, he was awarded the "Schwarzer Adler" (black eagle), the highest-ranking order of knighthood in Prussia and he was promoted to field marshal. From 1917 on, he was the military governor of Romania. His last campaign was an attempt to destroy the reorganised Romanian army (after the Kerensky Offensive was thrown back). But the attempt failed (Battle of Mărăşeşti), with both sides taking heavy losses. At the end of the war, he was captured by General d'Esperey's French army in Hungary and held as a military prisoner until November 1919.
In 1920 Mackensen retired from the army. Although standing in opposition to the new established republican system, he avoided public campaigns. Around 1924 he changed his mind and began to use his image as war hero to support conservative, monarchic groups. He became very active in pro-military conservative organizations, particularly Stahlhelm and the Schlieffen Society.
During the German elections of 1932 he supported Hindenburg over Hitler, but following the latter's accession to power Mackensen became a visible, if symbolic supporter of the Nazi regime. He did, however, protest the killings of Generals von Bredow and von Schleicher and the atrocities committed in Poland. By the early 1940s Hitler and Goebbels suspected Mackensen of disloyalty but could do nothing.[4] Mackensen remained a committed monarchist (notably, he appeared in full uniform at Kaiser Wilhelm II's funeral in 1941).
Mackensen died on November 8, 1945, after the Second World War, at the age of 95, his life having spanned Old-Prussia, the Kaiserreich, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, and post-war Allied occupation.