Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein
This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2013) ) |
Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein | |
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Born | 24 April 1870 Nuremberg, Kingdom of Bavaria |
Died | 16 October 1948 Munich, Allied-occupied Germany | (aged 78)
Allegiance | German Empire Weimar Republic |
Service/ | Imperial German Army Reichsheer |
Years of service | 1888–1929 |
Rank | General der Artillerie |
Commands held | Eighth Army (Ottoman Empire) |
Battles/wars |
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Awards | Pour le Mérite, Iron Cross First class |
Friedrich Siegmund Georg Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein (also
Early life
Kress came from a
World War I
Palestine
Kress joined
More than a year passed when the Ottomans tried a second attack on the Suez. With Djemal Pasha directing affairs from his base in Damascus, Kress von Kressenstein led a larger Ottoman army across the Sinai desert, again. This attack ran into a strong British defensive fortification at Romani, 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of the canal. The Ottoman army prepared a major set-piece assault on Romani, scheduled for 3 August 1916 (see the Battle of Romani for a detailed description). The attack was beaten off and again the Ottomans retreated back to their bases in Palestine.
The British responded with an attack of their own. They captured some small Ottoman forts in the Sinai, built a railroad and water pipe across the desert and then launched an assault on the Ottoman fort at Gaza. Kress von Kressenstein was in charge of the Ottoman defences along with General Tala Bey. In the First Battle of Gaza (March 1917), the British were defeated, largely due to their own errors. In the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917, the British were defeated again, the credit for this victory largely going to Kress von Kressenstein.
The British removed their unsuccessful generals and replaced them with General Allenby. The Ottomans also replaced their top leadership, bringing in the former Chief of the German General Staff, General von Falkenhayn. Kress von Kressenstein was kept on as commander of the Ottoman 8th Army defending Gaza and he was also awarded Prussia's highest order, the Pour le Mérite.
In November 1917, the British under General Allenby breached the Ottoman defensive positions at the Battle of Beersheba and the Third Battle of Gaza. Kress von Kressenstein was able to withdraw his defeated troops in fairly good order to new defensive positions in the north.
Caucasus
In the middle of 1918, with the Ottoman-German alliance breaking down, Kress von Kressenstein was sent with a
Later life
Kress von Kressenstein retired from the German army in 1929 and died in Munich in 1948.
He wrote in several articles about his experiences in Palestine and the Caucasus, and published in 1938 a full book about the war in the Sinai and Palestine.
At least two of his articles have been translated to English. 'The Campaign in Palestine from the Enemy's Side', published in the Royal United Services Institute Journal, and his 1936 article about the 'war in the desert', in which he discussed also the use of poison gas in the war, both in the Sinai Desert during WW1 and in the Italian conquest of Ethiopia (called Abyssinia at the time). His memoirs My Mission in Caucasus were published posthumously in 2001 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
In popular culture
He was played by Ralph Cotterill in the film The Lighthorsemen (1987).
Decorations and awards
- Pour le Mérite (Prussia)
- Knight of the Military Order of Max Joseph (Bavaria)
- Officer of the Order of Military Merit (Bavaria)
- Knight of the House Order of Hohenzollern
- Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd class (Prussia)
- Military Merit Cross, 3rd class with war decoration (Austria-Hungary)
- Imtiyaz MedalWith Swords and Clasp (Ottoman Empire)
- Order of the Medjidie, 4th class (Ottoman Empire)
- Gallipoli Star, (Ottoman Empire)
See also
- Sinai and Palestine Campaign
Notes
- Regarding personal names: Freiherr is a former title (translated as Baron). In Germany since 1919, it forms part of family names. The feminine forms are Freifrau and Freiin.
- "Kress" is part of the family name, not a given name; hence, "Kress von Kressenstein" is the full family, or last, name.
References
- ^ "Friedrich Freiherr Kreß von Kressenstein". prussianmachine.com. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
- ^ "Kreß von Kressenstein, Friedrich Freiherr | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)". encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
Bibliography
- Fromkin, David (1989). A Peace to End All Peace. Avon Books.
- Kreß von Kressenstein, Friedrich (1921). "Überblick über die Ereignisse an der Sinaifront von Kriegsbeginn bis zur Besetzung Jerusalems durch die Engländer 1917" [Overview of the events on the Sinai front from the beginning of the war up to the occupation of Jerusalem by the English in 1917]. Zwischen Kaukasus und Sinai. Jahrbuch des Bundes der Asienkämpfer (in German). 1: 11–54. OCLC 183365288.
- Kreß von Kressenstein, Friedrich (1923). "Achmed Djemal Pascha". Zwischen Kaukasus und Sinai. Jahrbuch des Bundes der Asienkämpfer (in German). 3. OCLC 183365288.
- Kreß von Kressenstein, Friedrich (September 1936). "Kriegführung in der Wüste" [War in the Desert]. Wissen und Wehr. Monatsschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Wehrpolitik und Wehrwissenschaften (in German). 17 (9). Berlin: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn: 565–590. OCLC 643162877.
- Kreß von Kressenstein, Friedrich (1936). War in the Desert. Translation of the article "Kriegführung in der Wüste" in Wissen und Wehr, Sept., 1936. Translated by Colonel OCLC 5722728.
- Kreß von Kressenstein, Friedrich (1938). Mit den Türken zum Suezkanal [With the Turks to the Suez Canal] (in German). Berlin: Vorhut-Verlag Otto Schlegel. OCLC 604167577.
- Kreß von Kressenstein, Friedrich (1943), Meine Mission im Kaukasus [My mission in Caucasus] (PDF) (in German), archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016, retrieved 27 April 2018
External links
- Media related to Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein at Wikimedia Commons
- "Biography of Kreß von Kressenstein from First World War.com" (downloaded January 9, 2006)
- "The Great War and the only Triumphant Campaign of 1917" Archived 18 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine About Allenby's Palestine campaign of 1917 (downloaded January 9, 2006; link updated 10/20/2011)
- "Journal of the T. E. Lawrence Society – Autumn 1997" Lists Von Kressenstein's monograph on the campaign.
- Online version of My Mission in Caucasus with document appendix (subscription required)