Gneisenau–Neidhardt, August Wilhelm Antonius

Field Marshal August Wilhelm Antonius Neidhardt von Gneisenau
(27.10.1760 - 23.08.1831)


Chief of Staff of the Prussian Army from 1813-15, participant in the Battle of Waterloo 1815, key reformer of the Prussian Army.
A century after the Field Marshal's death, another famous German Chief of Staff Heinz Guderian, characterized Gneisenau succinctly: Blücher's Chief of Staff, a brave defender of Kolberg, a brilliant soldier full of temperament, an excellent strategist and advisor to his commander in many victorious and lost battles.


August Wilhelm Antonius Neidhardt came from a family with military traditions. He was born on 27 October 1760 in Schildau near Torgau as the son of a Saxon artillery lieutenant. The nickname Gneisenau (after the castle - the family's property in Austria) was adopted by the later field marshal in 1780.


After graduating from Jesuit school, the young August entered the University of Erfurt in October 1777, where he began his studies in military mathematics, artillery systems, cartography and fortification systems.
After a year he left his studies and enlisted in the Erfurt garrison of the Austrian Hussars, in whose ranks he participated in the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778-1779. After the signing of the Peace of Teschen, he entered the service of the Margrave Karl Alexander of Brandenburg. Here he is officially enlisted in the hunting battalion for the first time, under his new double name Neidhardt von Gneisenau.
Like other German princes, Margrave Karl Alexander suffered from financial problems. One solution to these difficulties was the hiring of soldiers to Great Britain, during the American War of Independence .
In 1782, Lieutenant Colonel Gneisenau is sent to North America. As the war was almost over, Gneisenau spent most of his time with the garrison in Quebec. His stay overseas gave him a unique opportunity to learn the realities of war and to study linear tactics of warfare. Already at the end of 1783 he returned to the infantry unit at Bayreuth .


The monotonous service did not suit him, and in November 1786 he left the service of Margrave Karl Alexander and joined the Prussian army, where he was assigned to the staff. In the following year he is transferred to the Löwenberg regiment, with simultaneous promotion to lieutenant. In 1790 he is back on the staff and promoted to staff captain. Until 1794 he teaches at the war school, with a short break when he is assigned to the Fusiliers during the second partition of Poland.


In 1796 Gneisenau married the wealthy Caroline von Kottwitz, with whom he later fathered three sons and four daughters. He also again devoted himself intensively to his neglected studies, in which he mainly focused on military tactics of infantry, cavalry, artillery and military geography.


During the Napoleonic Wars, he is promoted to major and takes part in the lost battle of Saalfeld (10.10.1806) and, on the staff of Prince von Hohenlohe, in the defeat at Jena (14.10.1806). Shortly afterwards, he becomes commander of a brigade that is part of Anton Wilhelm Lestocq's corps.
In April 1807 he is appointed commander of the defence of the Kolberg fortress (now Kolobrzeg, Poland). To defend it, Gneisenau used not only the regular army but also a hastily organized citizen militia. Although the town was protected by only a few redoubts and semi-permanent buildings, the Prussian garrison managed to defend itself until the Franco-Prussian armistice of 2 July 1807, which ended the Battle of Kolberg. The defence of this fortress, which Gneisenau was determined to keep in Prussian hands at all costs, became the most important battle of his life and created the myth of a brilliant and invincible commander. It later became a favourite subject of German propaganda. Gneisenau thus opened the way to a military career and the highest ranks. Prussia at that time needed to awaken its pride, and August-Wilhelm Neidhardt von Gneisenau was to become its symbol.


Shortly after his successful tour of duty in Pomerania, on 25 July 1807, Gneisenau was drafted into the reorganisation commission of the Prussian army headed by Gerhard von Scharnhorst. This commission worked for the next seven years and pushed through key reforms of the Prussian army. From 1813, it introduced conscription in Prussia regardless of social status and banned foreign mercenaries from joining the army. She contributed to the abolition of physical punishment and useless drill, in favour of practical military training. It contributed to the promotion of able and educated members of the army by removing the privileges of the nobility for the performance of officer functions.


For the defense of Kolberg, Gneisenau received the Order of Pour le Mérite from the King of Prussia and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 26 August 1807. In 1808 he was appointed inspector of all the forts and chief of the engineer corps. A year later he is promoted to colonel and works in the artillery department of the Prussian War Ministry.


In 1809 Gneisenau is forced to resign and removed from military affairs.
He travelled to Russia, Sweden and England, but mostly stayed in Klaipeda, Kaliningrad and on his estate in Silesia. He did, however, maintain close contacts with the reformers (Scharnhorst, Boyen and Blücher).


During Napoleon's campaign against Moscow, Gneisenau returned to Prussia and actively supported the policy leading to Prussian independence. He is called to the Council of State and is the author of the plan for Prussian independence: the "Plan zur Vorbereitung eines Volksaufstandes". In March 1812 he is sent on a secret mission to Austria. Its aim was to drag Archduke Charles to the anti-Poleon side.


In 1813, Gneisenau was promoted to the rank of major general and took part in the Battle of Lützen as the second chief of staff of Gebhard von Blücher the Silesian army. The matching and, most importantly, effective cooperation of the Blücher-Gneisenau duo can be boldly compared to such leader-chief of staff pairs as Napoleon- Berthier or Hindenburg- Ludendorff. In June, Gneisenau became Governor-General of Silesia, and after Scharnhorst's death he took over as Blücher's Chief of General Staff, 1813-1815. For his bravery at the Battle of Leipzig, Gneisenau received the Iron Cross First Class and promotion to the rank of lieutenant general.


In 1814, Gneisenau is the author in his simplicity of an ingenious plan, marching on Paris instead of fighting the again undefeated Napoleon. After the demise of the First French Empire, he received the noble title of count, together with Kleist, Bülow and York.
In the campaign of 1815, he was instrumental in consolidating the Prussian army after the Battle of Ligny (16.06.1815), in which Blücher was defeated by Napoleon. However, he managed to retreat in an orderly fashion and retain most of his army for further fighting. Gneisenau managed to convince the senior generals, including the field marshal, of the necessity of a rapid advance of the remaining army to Waterloo. Despite the great distance from the battlefield, the Prussian corps literally arrived by force of will at the decisive moment to help the English army. Blücher thus fulfilled a promise made on the eve of the battle to Wellington himself. After the French right flank was attacked and the Prussian cavalry charged against the Guards themselves, the English and Prussians counter-attacked, pursuing and conquering the fleeing French army. The Battle of Waterloo (18.06.1815) ended in the defeat of Napoleon's army.


Ten days after the Battle of Waterloo, on 28.06.1815, he was awarded the highest Prussian decoration - Order of the Black Eagle. This was in recognition of his participation in this important battle.


From December 1815 he took command of the VIII Corps in Koblenz as an infantry general. Because of his liberal views, Gneisenau had to resign his command in Koblenz in 1816 and withdraw from public life - officially, ill health was given as the reason, not political reasons.


In 1817 he returned to the state service and became a member of the Council of State. In 1818 he became governor of Berlin.
On 18 June 1825, the tenth anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo is celebrated and Gneisenau is appointed field marshal. At that time he had long held conservative views, but was still suspected of revolutionary ideas, and his correspondence was therefore constantly checked. In March 1831 he took command of the eastern corps of the Prussian army, Carl von Clausewitz becoming his chief of staff. During the Polish, anti-Russian November Uprising (1830-1831), he was sent to the Grand Duchy of Poznan as commander-in-chief of the so-called Prussian Army of Observation, with the task of monitoring further developments in the Kingdom of Congress Poland.


The cholera epidemic, introduced into Poland by Russian troops, took its toll on the population without distinction. It did not escape the highest military ranks; the Russian Field Marshal Ivan Ivanovich Dibich-Zabalkansky, the Chief of Staff General Carl von Clausewitz, and Field Marshal August Neidhardt von Gneisenau died in Poznan on 23 August 1831. The Field Marshal's remains were buried in a mausoleum in Sommerschenburg, Saxony-Anhalt.



The marshal's sons August (later major), Hugo (later major) and Bruno (later infantry general) continued the military tradition of their famous father. Daughter Agnes married Wilhelm von Scharnhorst, Hedwig married Count Friedrich von Brühl in 1828 and daughter Emilie married Count Stauffenberg. Only Ottilie remained unmarried.
Hitler's assassins Berthold and Claus Stauffenberg were thus his great-grandchildren, thanks to the marshal's daughter Emilie.


The name of the famous field marshal is borne by streets in dozens of German cities. It has become a tradition to name warships of the German Navy after Gneisenau. The first ship with this name was the corvette SMS "Gneisenau" - (in service 1880-1900), followed by the armoured cruiser SMS "Gneisenau" - (in service 1907-1914), perhaps the most famous ship with this name was the battleship of the III. The most famous ship of the Empire Gneisenau - (in service 1938-1945), the last ship was the escort destroyer of the Hunt II class - "Gneisenau" - (in service 1958-1977).



Sources:


Gerhard Thiele: Gneisenau. Leben und Werk des königlich-preußischen Generalfeldmarschalls
Potsdam Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg 1999
ISBN 3-932981-55-3
www.gneisenau.de
www.wikipedia.de/ August_Neidhardt_von_Gneisenau