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Georg von der Marwitz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johannes Georg von der Marwitz (7 July 1856–27 October 1929) was a Prussian cavalry general, who commanded several German armies during the First World War.
He was born in Stolp (now Slupsk) in Pomerania and entered the German Army in 1875. From 1883 to 1886 he attended the War Academy. Until 1900 he commanded a cavalry regiment, at which point he became chief of staff of XVIII Corps. Before the outbreak of the First World War he was the Inspector-General of Cavalry.
Marwitz was assigned to the Western Front in 1914, and participated in the battle of Haelen. After this first battle Marwitz was transferred to the Eastern Front to take command of the newly-formed XXXVIII Reserve Corps, which he led in the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes in the early winter of 1915. He was then transferred south and fought with Austria-Hungary against the Russians, and was awarded the Pour le Mérite on 7 March 1915.
After recovering from an illness in the fall of 1915 Marwitz served on the Western Front as the commander of the VI Corps, before returning to the East until the successful halting of the Russian Brusilov Offensive in June of 1916. On 6 October 1916 he became adjutant to Kaiser Wilhelm II, which post he left in December of 1916 to take command of the Second Army on the Western Front. In November of 1917 he defended against the British in the Battle of Cambrai, which saw the first use of tanks en masse. In September of 1918 he took command of the Fifth Army, which command he held until the end of the war.
After the end of the war and defeat of Germany Marwitz withdrew from public life. Georg von der Marwitz died at Wundichow in 1929 at the age of 73.