Johannes Georg von der Marwitz (7 July 1856–27 October 1929) was a
PrussianThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
cavalryCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
generalA general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...
, who commanded several
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
armiesThe German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Traditionally the German military forces have been composed of Army, the Navy, and an Air Force after World War I. It was reinstalled in 1955 as the West German Army and as a part of the newly formed...
during the First World War on both the Eastern and Western fronts.
Marwitz was born in Stolp (Słupsk) in the
Province of PomeraniaThe Province of Pomerania was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 until 1946. Since then it has been part of Germany and Poland....
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.
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Johannes Georg von der Marwitz (7 July 1856–27 October 1929) was a
PrussianThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
cavalryCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
generalA general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...
, who commanded several
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
armiesThe German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Traditionally the German military forces have been composed of Army, the Navy, and an Air Force after World War I. It was reinstalled in 1955 as the West German Army and as a part of the newly formed...
during the First World War on both the Eastern and Western fronts.
Early military career
Marwitz was born in Stolp (Słupsk) in the
Province of PomeraniaThe Province of Pomerania was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 until 1946. Since then it has been part of Germany and Poland....
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.
World War I
Marwitz was assigned to the Western Front in 1914, and participated in the
Battle of HaelenThe Battle of Haelen was a cavalry battle on the Western Front at the start World War I. It took place on August 12, 1914 between German forces led by Georg von der Marwitz and the Belgians army led by Leon De Witte and resulted in a tactical victory for the Belgians.-Strategic Context:Haelen was...
. 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 LakesThe Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes, also known as the Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes, was the northern part of the Central Powers' offensive on the Eastern Front in the winter of 1915...
in the early winter of 1915. He was then transferred south and fought with
Austria-HungaryAustria–Hungary, also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the k.u.k. Monarchy, or Dual State, was a monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in Central Europe...
against the
RussiansThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, and was awarded the
Pour le MériteThe Pour le Mérite, known informally during World War I as the Blue Max , was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order until the end of World War I....
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 Eastern Front until the successful halting of the Russian
Brusilov OffensiveThe Brusilov Offensive was the Russian Empire's greatest feat of arms during World War I, and among the most lethal battles in world history. Professor Graydon A. Tunstall of the University of South Florida called the Brusilov Offensive of 1916 the worst crisis of World War I for Austria-Hungary...
in June 1916. On 6 October 1916 he became adjutant to
Kaiser Wilhelm IIWilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia , ruling both the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918....
, a post which he left in December 1916 to take command of the Second Army on the Western Front. In November 1917 he defended against the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
in the Battle of Cambrai, which saw the first use of
tankA tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility and tactical offensive and defensive capabilities...
s
en masse. In September 1918 he took command of the Fifth Army, which he held until the end of the war.
Postwar
After the war, Marwitz withdrew from public life. He died at Wundichow in 1929 at the age of 73.
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