August von Mackensen

Anton Ludwig Friedrich August von Mackensen (6 December 1849 – 8 November 1945), born August Mackensen, was a German field marshal.[2] He commanded successfully during the First World War of 1914-1918 and became one of the German Empire's most prominent and competent military leaders. After the armistice of November 1918 the victorious Allies interned Mackensen in Serbia for a year. He retired from the army in 1920; in 1933 Hermann Göring made him a Prussian state councillor. During the Nazi era (1933-1945), Mackensen remained a committed monarchist and sometimes appeared at official functions in his First World War uniform. Senior NSDAP members suspected him of disloyalty to the Third Reich, but nothing was proven against him.

August von Mackensen
Nickname(s)The Last Hussar
Born(1849-12-06)6 December 1849
Haus Leipnitz, Province of Saxony, Kingdom of Prussia, German Confederation
Died8 November 1945(1945-11-08) (aged 95)
Habighorst, Province of Hanover, Allied-occupied Germany[1]
Allegiance Kingdom of Prussia
 German Empire
 Weimar Republic
Service/branch Prussian Army
 Imperial German Army
Reichsheer
Years of service1869–1920
Rank Generalfeldmarshall
Commands heldArmy Group Mackensen
Battles/warsFranco-Prussian War
World War I
AwardsGrand Cross of the Iron Cross
Pour le Mérite with Oak Leaves
Order of the Black Eagle
RelationsEberhard von Mackensen (son)
de:Hans Georg von Mackensen (son)
Signature

Early life

Mackensen was born in Haus Leipnitz, near the village of Dahlenberg (today part of Trossin) in the Prussian Province of Saxony, to Ludwig and Marie Louise Mackensen. His father, an administrator of agricultural enterprises, sent him to a Realgymnasium in Halle in 1865, seemingly in the hope that his eldest son would follow him in his profession.[3]

Mackensen began his military service in 1869 as a volunteer with the Prussian 2nd Life Hussars Regiment (Leib-Husaren-Regiment Nr. 2). During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, he was promoted to second lieutenant and won the Iron Cross Second Class for leading a charge on a reconnaissance patrol north of Orleans.[4] After the war, he left the service and studied at Halle University but returned to the German Army in 1873 with his old regiment.

He married Doris (Dorothea) von Horn, the sister of a slain comrade, in 1879. Her father, Karl von Horn, was the influential Oberpräsident of East Prussia; they had two daughters and three sons. In 1891, Mackensen was appointed to the General Staff in Berlin, bypassing the usual three-year preparation in the War Academy. His chief, Helmuth von Moltke, found him a "lovable character"[5] He was recalled from the regiment to serve as an adjutant to the next chief, Alfred von Schlieffen (in office 1891-1906), whom he regarded as a great instructor on how to lead armies of millions.[6]

Mackensen's coat of arms (uncoloured)

He impressed Kaiser Wilhelm II, who ordered that Mackensen be given command from 17 June 1893 of the 1st Life Hussars Regiment (Leib-Husaren-Regiment Nr. 1) to which he became à la suite when he left its command on 27 January 1898 and so he often wore the distinctive death's head uniform thereafter.[7] Mackensen was surprised by his next posting, as adjutant to Wilhelm II, because he was the first commoner to hold that position. For the next three-and-a-half years he shadowed the Kaiser, meeting the high and mighty of Germany, the rest of Europe, and the Middle East. His sons shared gymnastics classes with the Kaiser's. He was ennobled on the Kaiser's 40th birthday, 27 January 1899, becoming August von Mackensen.[8] Next, he received the command of the newly created Life Hussar Brigade (Leib-Husaren-Brigade) from 1901 to 1903, and from 1903 to 1908, he commanded the 36th Division in Danzig.[9] He became a widower in 1905 and, two years later, married Leonie von der Osten, who was 22 years old. When Schlieffen retired in 1906, Mackensen was considered as a possible successor, but the position went to Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. In 1908, Mackensen was given command of the XVII Army Corps, headquartered in Danzig.[10] The Crown Prince was placed under his command, and the Kaiser asked Mackensen to keep an eye on the young man and to teach him to ride properly.[11]

First World War

Eastern Front
Mackensen in a hussar uniform
Main article: Eastern Front (World War I)

Already aged 65 at the outbreak of war in 1914, Mackensen's XVII Army Corps became part of the German Eighth Army in East Prussia, under General Maximilian von Prittwitz and, 21 days later, under General Paul von Hindenburg. Mackensen had his corps moving out on a 25 km march to the Rominte River within fifty minutes of receiving his orders on the afternoon of 19 August 1914, after the Imperial Russian Army invaded East Prussia.[12] He led the XVII Corps in the battles of Gumbinnen, Tannenberg and the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes, which drove the invading Russians out from most of East Prussia.

On 2 November 1914, Mackensen took over command of the Ninth Army from Hindenburg, who became Supreme Commander East (Oberbefehlshaber Ost). On 27 November 1914, Mackensen was awarded the Pour le Mérite, Prussia's highest military order, for successful battles around Łódź and Warsaw.

By April 1915 the Russians had conquered all of western Galicia, the Austro-Hungarian partition Poland, and they were pushing toward Hungary. In response to the desperate pleas, the German supreme commander Erich von Falkenhayn, agreed to an offensive against the Russian flank by an Austro-German Army under a German commander. The reluctant Austro-Hungarian supreme command agreed that the tactful Mackensen was the best choice for commanding the coalition army. Army Group Mackensen (Heeresgruppe Mackensen) was established, containing a new German Eleventh Army, also under his command, and the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army. As chief of staff, he was assigned Hans von Seeckt, who described Mackensen as an amiable, "hands-on commander with the instincts of a hunter.".[13] His army group, which had an overwhelming advantage in artillery, smashed through the Russian lines between Gorlice and Tarnow and then continued eastward. Never giving the Russians time to establish an effective defense, it retook most of eastern Galicia by recapturing Przemyśl and Lemberg.[14] The joint operation was a great victory for the Central Powers, which had advanced 310 km (186 mi), and the Russians pulled out of all of Poland soon afterward.

Mackensen was awarded oak leaves to his Pour le Mérite on 3 June 1915 and promoted to field marshal on 22 June. He also received the Order of the Black Eagle, Prussia's highest-ranking order of knighthood, as well as numerous honorus from other German states and Germany's allies, including the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph, the highest military honour of the Kingdom of Bavaria, on 4 June 1915.

Serbian Campaign
World War I monument erected by Mackensen to the Serbian defenders of Belgrade. The inscription reads "Here Lie Serbian Heroes" in German and Serbian.


In October 1915, a new Army Group Mackensen (Heeresgruppe Mackensen, which included the German Eleventh Army, the Austro-Hungarian Third Army and the Bulgarian First Army), launched a renewed campaign against Serbia. The campaign crushed effective military resistance in Serbia but failed to destroy the Serbian army, half of which managed to withdraw to Entente-held ports in Albania and, after recuperation and rearmament by the French and the Italians, re-entered fighting on the Macedonian front. When Mackensen returned to Vienna, he was honoured by a dinner and a personal audience with Emperor Franz Joseph, and he was decorated with the magnificently jeweled Military Merit Cross 1st Class with Diamonds, a unique award for a foreigner.

Von Mackensen appears to have had great respect for the Serbian army and Serbians generally. Before departing to the Serbian front in 1915, he had spoken to his men:

"You are not going to the Italian, Russian, or French front. You are going into battle against a new enemy - dangerous, tough, fearless and sharp. You are going to the Serbian front and Serbia. Serbs are people who love their freedom, and who will fight to the last man. Be careful this small enemy does not cast a shadow on your glory and compromise your successes".[15]

Romanian Campaign
Main article: Romania during World War I
Mackensen reviewing Bulgarian troops followed by Crown Prince Boris (c. 1916)

After Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary on 15 August 1916, Mackensen was given command of a multinational army, with General Emil von Hell as chief of staff, of Bulgarians, Ottomans, Austro-Hungarians and Germans. They assembled in northern Bulgaria and then advanced into Dobruja. By 8 September, they had taken the two major forts on the right bank of the Danube, the first in a single day by a force that was outnumbered by the besieged, who were overwhelmed by Mackensen's artillery.[16] Then, a German and Austro-Hungarian army group, commanded by Falkenhayn broke into Wallachia through the Vulkan Pass in the Transylvanian Carpathian Mountains while Mackensen crossed the Danube by seizing bridgeheads on the left bank to shield the Austro-Hungarian engineers who built the long pontoon bridge. The Romanian Army and its Russian allies were forced back between those pincers. After three months of war two thirds of the territory of Kingdom of Romania was occupied by the Central Powers. The capital city of Romania, Bucharest was captured by the Central Powers on 6 December 1916, on his 67th birthday. He rode in on a white horse and moved into the Romanian royal palace.[17]

For that performance, on 9 January 1917, Mackensen was awarded the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, becoming one of only five recipients of this honor in the First World War. Since he now wore every Prussian medal, the Kaiser decided to name a battlecruiser after him, which became the first in a new class.[18] Mackensen became the military governor of the large part of Romania (mainly Wallachia) that was occupied by the Central Powers. He proposed making a German prince King of Romania but the initiative fell through. His last campaign was an attempt to destroy the Romanian Army, which had been reorganised after the Kerensky Offensive. During the Battle of Mărăşeşti, both sides took heavy losses, but the Romanian army emerged victorious. Mackensen maintained that he had never been defeated in battle, and he surely was the most consistently successful senior general on either side in World War I. By December 1917, the Russian Army had collapsed, and Romania was forced to sign the Armistice of Focșani, followed by the Treaty of Bucharest. After the armistice, he and the 200,000 men whom he led back home were rounded up in Hungary by General Louis Franchet d'Espèrey's Allied army by its Serbian units, and he was held as a military prisoner in Futog, Serbia, until November 1919.[19] He was one of the 896 Germans on the Allied list of accused war criminals, which eventually was allowed to lapse.

Postwar career

By 1920, Mackensen retired from the army. Although standing in opposition to the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles and the newly established parliamentary system of the Weimar Republic, he initially avoided public campaigns. Around 1924, he changed his mind and began to use his image as a war hero to support right-wing monarchist and nationalist groups. He routinely appeared in his old Life Hussars uniform and became very active in pro-military Conservative Revolutionary movement organisations, particularly Der Stahlhelm and the Schlieffen Society, advocating the stab-in-the-back myth and openly endorsing the murder of Minister Matthias Erzberger in 1921.

Mackensen and Hitler in 1935 during the Heldengedenktag in Berlin

During the German presidential election of 1932, Mackensen supported Paul von Hindenburg against Adolf Hitler, whose political skills he nevertheless admired. After Hitler gained power in January 1933, Mackensen became a visible, if only symbolic, supporter of the Nazi regime. One of his ceremonial visits brought him to Passau, where he received a hero's welcome.[20] Occasionally mocked as the "Reich Centrepiece", Mackensen's distinctive public profile, in his black Life Hussars uniform, was even recognised by the Hausser-Elastolin company, which produced a 7-cm figure of him in its line of Elastolin composition soldiers.[21] His fame and familiar uniform gave rise to two separate Third Reich units adopting black dress with Totenkopf badges: the Panzerwaffe, which claimed the tradition of the Imperial Cavalry, and the Schutzstaffel. In October 1935, the government vested Mackensen with the Brandenburg demesne of Brüssow in recognition of his merits.

Mackensen at the Kaiser's funeral

Mackensen's relationship to the Nazis remained ambiguous: embodying the Prussian traditions adopted by Hitler's regime, he appeared in his black uniform at public events organised by the German government or the Nazi Party, such as the Day of Potsdam on 21 March 1933. On the other hand, he objected to the killing of Generals Ferdinand von Bredow and Kurt von Schleicher during The Night of the Long Knives purge of July 1934, to the Nazi Kirchenkampf measures against the Confessing Church and to the atrocities committed during the invasion of Poland in September 1939. By the early 1940s, Hitler and Joseph Goebbels suspected Mackensen of disloyalty but refrained from taking action.[22] Mackensen remained a committed monarchist and in June 1941 appeared in full imperial uniform at Kaiser Wilhelm's funeral at Doorn, in the Netherlands.[23] He publicly condemned the 20 July plot of 1944.

According to a radio news report dated 15 April 1945, filed by CBS News correspondent Larry LeSueur for World News Today, Mackensen was briefly captured by the British Second Army at his home during the closing weeks of the Second World War. Upon the arrival of the British, apparently not commenting whatsoever on the general rout, the 95-year-old Mackensen merely asked the new powers-that-be that "freed foreign workers" be prevented "from stealing his chicken".[24]

Mackensen died on 8 November 1945 at the age of 95, his life having spanned the Kingdom of Prussia, the North German Confederation, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, The Third Reich, and the post-war Allied occupation of Germany. He was buried in the Celle cemetery.

Family
Mackensen's family at his 80th birthday

In November 1879, Mackensen married Dorothea von Horn (1854–1905), and they had five children:

In 1908, after the death of his first wife, Mackensen married Leonie von der Osten (1878–1963).

Mackensen and his family were Lutheran Protestants in the Evangelical Church of Prussia.

Quote

On 4 February 1940, Mackensen wrote to Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch:

"As a man becomes older, he has to watch carefully that age has not reduced his creativity. After reaching the age of 90, I have decided not to involve myself any longer with matters that are not concerned with my private life. However, I am still the most senior German officer. Many turn to me, sometimes with wishes, but more often with their concerns.
During these weeks our concern is with the spirit of our unique and successful Army. The concern results from the crimes committed in Poland, looting and murder that take place before the eyes of our troops, who appear unable to put an end to them. An apparent indifference has serious consequences for the morale of our soldiers and it is damaging to the esteem of our Army and our whole nation.
I am sure that you are aware of these events and that you certainly condemn them. These lines intend to convey my daily growing concern at the reports that constantly reach me, and I have to ask you to take up this matter with the highest authority. The messages I receive are so numerous, many come from high ranking persons and from witnesses. As the most senior officer I cannot keep them to myself. In transmitting them to you, I fulfil my duty to the Army. The honour of the Army and the esteem in which it is held must not be jeopardised by the actions of hired subhumans and criminals. Hail Victory."[25]

Honours

The University of Halle-Wittenberg appointed him to Honorary Doctor of Political Sciences and the Gdańsk University of Technology granted him the title Doktoringenieur.

Mackensen-class battlecruiser, named after Mackensen, was the last class of battlecruisers to be built by Germany in the First World War, the lead ship, SMS Mackensen, was launched on 21 April 1917.

Mackensen was an Honorary Citizen of many cities, such as Danzig, Heilsberg, Buetow, and Tarnovo. In 1915, the newly built rural village of Mackensen in Pomerania was named after him. In various cities, streets were named after him. In 1998 the Mackensenstrasse in the Schöneberg district of Berlin was renamed Else Lasker-Schüler-road, based on an erroneous claim that Mackensen was one of the "pioneers of National Socialism".[26]

Notes
  1. David T. Zabecki, Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History, p. 808
  2. Some historians refer to him as "Anton Mackensen", but that is unusual. See Lamar Cecil, "The Creation of Nobles in Prussia, 1871-1918" in The American Historical Review, Vol. 75, No. 3. (February, 1970), pp. 794; Gerard E. Silberstein, "The Serbian Campaign of 1915: Its Diplomatic Background" in The American Historical Review, Vol. 73, No. 1. (October 1967), 60.
  3. Theo Schwarzmüller, Zwischen Kaiser und "Führer". Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen. Eine politische biographie. (Munich: Deutsche Taschenbuch Verlag, 1995), 17–29.
  4. Schwartzmüller, Theo (1997). Zwischen Kaiser und "Führer". Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh. p. 34.
  5. Schwarzmüller, 1997, p. 49.
  6. Schwarzmüller, 1997, p.65.
  7. Günter Wegner, Stellenbesetzung der deutschen Heere 1815-1939 (Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, 1993), vol. 3, pp. 97–98.
  8. Schwarzmüller, 1997, p.6 5.
  9. Wegner, 1993, p. 131 and p. 463.
  10. Wegner, 1993, p. 80.
  11. Jonas, Klaus W (1961). The life of Crown Prince William. London: Routledge and Kegan. p. 70.
  12. Showalter, Denis. E. (1991). Tannenberg: clash of empires. Hamden, CT: Archon. p. 178.
  13. Schwarzmüller, 1997, p. 105.
  14. DiNardo, Robert L. (2010). The Gorlice-Tarnow campaign, 1915. Praeger.
  15. Schwartzmüller, 1997, pp. 124-125.
  16. Stone, Norman (1998) [1971]. The Eastern Front 1914-1917. London: Penguin. pp. 277–281.
  17. Gilbert, Martin (1994). The First World War: A Complete History. New York: Henry Holt and Company. p. 302. ISBN 080501540X.
  18. G. Müller, The Kaiser and his court, London, Macdonald, 1951 p. 222
  19. Schwartzmüller, 1997, p. 170 and p. 178.
  20. Anna Rosmus Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 111f.
  21. (Figure #651/1)[See: Hausser Elastolin Spielzeug 1939-40 (toy catalog)]
  22. Norman J. W. Goda, "Black Marks: Hitler's Bribery of His Senior Officers during World War II", in The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 72, No. 2. (June, 2000), 430–432.
  23. Anna Rosmus Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 112f.
  24. 1945 Radio News, "1945-04-15 CBS World News Today" at around 14:25, at archive.org.
  25. Field Marshal von Manstein, a Portrait (The Janus Head - Marcel Stein)
  26. luise-berlin.de
gollark: Every 500 XP you get, the XP bar goes half the remaining distance to the end, but it never gets there.
gollark: Have an XP counter, but just have, say, an 0.1% chance of going up a level every second.
gollark: Actually, just do it entirely randomly.
gollark: If you're just trying to make it even more annoying and complex, why not use... `sin(tan(x))` or something ridiculous like that?
gollark: But... why would oyu want that?

References
  • Cecil, Lamar. "The Creation of Nobles in Prussia, 1871-1918." In The American Historical Review, Vol. 75, No. 3. (Feb., 1970), pp. 757–795.
  • DiNardo, Richard L. (2015). Invasion: The Conquest of Serbia, 1915. Santa Barbara: Praeger.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Foley, Robert. German Strategy and the Path to Verdun. Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  • Goda, Norman J. W. "Black Marks: Hitler's Bribery of His Senior Officers during World War II." In The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 72, No. 2. (June, 2000), 413-452.
  • Hedin, Sven. Große Männer denen ich begegnete, Zweiter Band, Wiesbaden, F.A. Brockhausen, 1953.
  • Mombauer, Annika. Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  • Schwarzmüller, Theo. Zwischen Kaiser und "Führer." Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen. Eine politische Biographie. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1995.
  • Silberstein, Gerard E. "The Serbian Campaign of 1915: Its Diplomatic Background." In The American Historical Review, Vol. 73, No. 1. (October 1967), pp. 51–69.
  • Hausser Elastolin Spielzeug 1939-40' (toy catalog)
  • Die Deutsche Wochenschau 16 December 1944 Danish language version. 2:42 min: celebration of 95th birthday of August von Mackensen on December 6, 1944.
Military offices
Preceded by
General der Infanterie Georg von Braunschweig		 Commander, XVII Corps
27 January 1908 – 1 November 1914		 Succeeded by
General der Infanterie Günther von Pannewitz
Preceded by
Generaloberst Paul von Hindenburg		 Commander, 9th Army
2 November 1914 – 17 April 1915		 Succeeded by
General der Kavallerie Prince Leopold of Bavaria
Preceded by
General der Infanterie Max von Fabeck		 Commander, 11th Army
16 April 1915 – 8 September 1915		 Succeeded by
General der Artillerie Max von Gallwitz
Preceded by
New Formation		 Commander, Army Group Mackensen (Poland)
22 April – 8 September 1915		 Succeeded by
Dissolved
Preceded by
New Formation		 Commander, Army Group Mackensen (Serbia)
9 September 1915 – 30 July 1916		 Succeeded by
Otto von Below
Preceded by
New Formation		 Commander, Army Group Mackensen (Romania)
28 August 1916 – 7 May 1918		 Succeeded by
Dissolved
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