Hermann von François
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Hermann von François | |
---|---|
Imperial German Army | |
Years of service | 1875–1918 |
Rank | General der Infanterie |
Commands held | 49th (Hessian) Brigade 13th Division I Corps 8th Army XXXXI Reserve Corps VII (Westphalian) Corps |
Battles/wars | World War I
|
Awards | see below |
Relations |
|
Other work | memoirist, historian |
Hermann Karl Bruno von François (31 January 1856 – 15 May 1933) was a German General der Infanterie during World War I, and is best known for his key role in several German victories on the Eastern Front in 1914.
Early life and military career
Born in
François, who had enrolled as an officer cadet, was by 1875 based in Potsdam as Leutnant of the Prussian 1st Guard Regiment of Foot. From 1884 - 87, he attended the Military Academy at Berlin, and by 1889 had been promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) and had joined the General Staff.
By the early 1890s, François was posted to the XV Corps as a general staff officer based in Strasbourg. After a brief stint as company commander in 151. Infanterie-Regiment of the 31st Division, François devoted all his energies to the General Staff. In 1894 he was promoted to major and transferred to the 8th Division in Mannheim. By 1899, François was the Chief of Staff for the IV Corps, commanded by General der Infanterie Paul von Hindenburg and based in Magdeburg.
In 1901, François's mother, Marie took the family to
In 1908, François was promoted to Generalmajor and placed in command of the 49th Infantry Brigade in Darmstadt. François was promoted to Generalleutnant in 1911 and given command of the 13th Division for a brief period before his promotion to General der Infanterie and posting to command of I Corps under the 8th Army based in Königsberg.
World War I
François began the war stationed in the
When war broke out in August 1914, François' corps faced the right wing of a two-pronged Russian invasion of East Prussia, led by Paul von Rennenkampf's Russian First Army. On 17 August the overall German theater commander, General Maximilian von Prittwitz, nervously eying the advance of the Russian left wing far to the south, ordered Von François to retreat while under heavy attack from Rennenkampf.
François, reluctant to surrender any of his beloved Prussia, and naturally pugnacious, also felt breaking off while engaged would be deadly, and so he ignored Prittwitz' order, responding with the famous reply "General von François will withdraw when he has defeated the Russians!" He counterattacked Rennenkampf's massive army, bringing on the
After winning the battle, François obeyed Prittwitz's order and withdrew 15 miles (24 km) to the west, where three days later he fought Rennenkampf to a draw at the Battle of Gumbinnen. Von François' aggressiveness resulted in the cautious Rennenkampf halting his advance westward.
Following that battle and a change of overall commanders (Prittwitz was judged to have lost his nerve by the German High Command), François' corps was transferred by rail to the southwest, to confront the Russian Second Army advancing into southern East Prussia under the command of General Alexander Samsonov. Although not trusted by the new German commanders Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff due to his previous disobedience, François played the decisive role in the upcoming Battle of Tannenberg. On 27 August François attacked the lead elements of Samsonov's army and began to make steady advances into their rear. Ludendorff, fearing a Russian counterattack by Rennenkampf, now ordered him to break off the advance. However, François twice ignored his direct orders and played a decisive role in the following encirclement and defeat of Samsonov's army.
When Hindenburg and Ludendorff went south to lead the 9th Army in Russian Poland, François remained with his corps in East Prussia and led it with much success in the
After some time spent "on the shelf", François received the command of the
Post-war
After the war ended, François returned home and wrote several books on military history, including the best-seller (in Germany) Marneschlacht und Tannenberg in 1920.
Orders
- Order of the Crown, 1st class (Prussia)
- Service award (Prussia)
- Honour Commanders Cross (Ehrenkomturkreuz) of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern
- Commander 2nd class of the House Order of Albert the Bear
- Commander First Class of the Order of the Zähringer Lion
- Military Merit Order, 2nd class (Bavaria)
- Commander First Class of the Order of Philip the Magnanimous (Hesse)
- Honour Cross First Class of the House Order of Lippe
- Honorary Cross Second Class of the Reuss Honor Cross
- Commander 2nd class of the Ducal Saxe-Ernestine House Order
- Cross of Honour of Schwarzburg, 2nd class
- Order of Merit, 1st class (Chile)
- Commander of the Order of the Redeemer (Greece)
- Commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (House of Savoy)
- Order of the Black Eagle
- Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd class
- Pour le Mérite with Oak Leaves
- Pour le Merite (14 May 1915)
- Oak Leaves (27 July 1917)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle with Oak Leaves and Swords (14 October 1918)
References
- The Kaiser's Warlords: German Commanders of World War I, by Ronald Pawly, Patrice Courcelle, 2003.