Maximilian von Prittwitz

Maximilian von Prittwitz
General Von Prittwitz
Born	27 November 1848 Bernstadt
Died	29 March 1917 Berlin
Allegiance	Prussia German Empire
Service/branch	Army
Years of service	1866 - 1914
Rank	Generaloberst
Battles/wars	Austro-Prussian War, Franco-Prussian War and World War I

Maximillion Von Prittwitz (27 November 1848 – 29 March 1917) was a German General.

Family

Prittwitz came from an extremely old aristocratic Silesian family in Bernstadt. His father was Gustav von Prittwitz, a Prussian general, and his mother was Elizabeth von Klass.

He married Olga von Dewitz (30 August 1848 - 9 January 1938), the daughter of a landowner, Kurt von Dewitz on 19 May 1874.

Military career

After attending school in Oels, he joined an infantry regiment and fought in the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War. He rose steadily through the ranks of the German military for the next forty years, until he was appointed Generaloberst (4 star or full general) in 1913.

At the outbreak of World War I, he was made commander of the German Eighth Army, and was tasked with defending East Prussia from an expected Russian attack.

When the Russian advance threatened his rear, Prittwitz suggested a retreat to the west of the Vistula River. This meant the abandonment of East Prussia, which the German General Staff found unacceptable. Prittwitz was promptly replaced as Eighth Army commander by Paul von Hindenburg in late August 1914. Hindenburg, and his chief of staff, Erich Ludendorff, then destroyed the two invading Russian armies at the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of the Masurian Lakes.

Prittwitz retired to Berlin, where he lived for three years before dying of a heart attack. He was buried in the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin.

References

• Who's Who: Maximilian von Prittwitz

Military offices
Preceded by Formed from I Army Inspectorate (I. Armee-Inspektion)	Commander, 8th Army 2 August 1914-23 August 1914	Succeeded by Generaloberst Paul von Hindenburg