Hermann von Strantz

Hermann von Strantz
Hermann von Strantz during WWI
Born	13 February 1853 Nakel an der Netze, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	3 November 1936 (aged 83) Dessau, Germany
Allegiance	Prussia  German Empire
Service/branch	Imperial German Army
Years of service	1870–1919
Rank	General of Infantry
Commands held	2nd Foot Guards Regiment 2nd Guards Infantry Brigade 25th Division V Corps Armee-Abteilung Strantz 50th (3rd Lower Silesian) Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	Franco-Prussian War World War I
Awards	Pour le Mérite

Hermann Christian Wilhelm von Strantz (13 February 1853 in Nakel an der Netze – 3 November 1936 in Dessau) was a Prussian officer, and later General of Infantry during World War I. He was a recipient of Pour le Mérite.

World War I

In 1914, von Strantz was commanding V Corps with headquarters in Posen. In peacetime the Corps was assigned to the VIII Army Inspectorate but on mobilisation V Corps was assigned to the 5th Army forming part of centre of the forces for the Schlieffen Plan offensive in August 1914 on the Western Front.^[1]

Armee-Abteilung^[2] Strantz (named for von Strantz while he was in command, but later renamed to Armee-Abteilung C) was formed on 18 September 1914 from the left (southern) wing of the 5th Army. It initially commanded V Corps and III Bavarian Corps, controlling half a dozen divisions. Strantz remained as commander of V Corps concurrently but was deputised in this post by a Divisional Commander.

Strantz remained as commander of the Armee-Abteilung until 2 February 1917 when he retired from active service (German: zur Disposition gestellt).^[3]

Awards

• Iron Cross II Class (1870)
• Iron Cross I Class (1914)
• Pour le Mérite (22 August 1915)
• Order of the Crown
• Order of the Zähringer Lion
• Bavarian Military Merit Order
• Order of the Red Eagle
• Belgian Order of Leopold
• Order of Albert the Bear
• Legion of Honour

References

1. Cron 2002, p. 393
2. Cron 2002, p. 84 Armee-Abteilung or Army Detachment in the sense of "something detached from an Army". It is not under the command of an Army so is in itself a small Army.
3. The Prussian Machine Accessed: 25 October 2012

Bibliography

• Cron, Hermann (2002). Imperial German Army 1914-18: Organisation, Structure, Orders-of-Battle [first published: 1937]. Helion & Co. ISBN 1-874622-70-1.
• Ellis, John; Cox, Michael (1993). The World War I Databook. Aurum Press Ltd. ISBN 1-85410-766-6.
• [Feldzeitung] Zwischen Maas und Mosel. Armee-Abteilung von Strantz, hrsg. vom Oberkommando der Armee-Abteilung von Strantz, Siegburg ca. 1914-1917
• Holm Kirsten, Das sowjetische Speziallager Nr. 4 Landsberg/Warthe, hrsg. von der Stiftung Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora, Göttingen 2005 ISBN 389244952X
• Hans Friedrich von Ehrenkrook, Genealogisches Handbuch der adeligen Häuser. Adelige Häuser A Band IV. (= Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Band 22 der Gesamtreihe), Glücksburg 1960.
• Hanns Möller: Die Geschichte der Ritter des Ordens „pour le merite“ im Weltkrieg 1914-1918 - Abschnitt: General der Infanterie von Strantz; Deutsches Wehrkundearchiv 2007, DW-34001-00

External links

• Biography on "The Prussian Machine"