Berthold von Deimling

Berthold von Deimling
Birth name	Berthold Karl Adolf Deimling
Birth date	21 March 1853
Place of birth	Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Confederation
Death date	3 February 1944 (aged 90)
Place of death	Baden-Baden, Greater German Reich
Allegiance	German Empire
Service/branch	Army of Baden Prussian Army Schutztruppe Imperial German Army
Years of service	1871–1917
Rank	General der Infanterie
Commands held	4. Badisches Infanterie-Regiment „Prinz Wilhelm“ Nr. 112 Schutztruppe of German South West Africa 58th Infantry Brigade 29th Division XV Corps
Battles/wars	Herero Wars World War I Battle of Mulhouse First Battle of Ypres Battle of Verdun Battle of the Somme
Awards	Pour le Mérite
Relations	∞ 1879 Elisabeth Martha von Otto

Berthold Karl Adolf Deimling, since 1905 von Deimling (21 March 1853 – 3 February 1944), was a German officer of the German Empire since 1873, finally General der Infanterie and Knight of the order "Pour le Mérite" during World War I.

Career (chronology)

• Public school in Hornberg (Black Forest)
• 1871 Abitur in Freiburg im Breisgau
• 1.10.1871 One-year volunteer (Einjährig-Freiwilliger) in the Army of Baden, which was under the rule of he Prusian Army since 25 November 1870, the regiments kept their standards and flags and were referred to as "Badisches Regiment", their crests showed the griffin as the Baden state coat of arms.
  • Member of the 5. Badisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 113 in Freiburg
• 12.4.1873 Sekonde-Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)
  • 1874 Transferred to the 1st Company/1st Battalion/Infanterie-Regiment „Herzog von Holstein“ (Holsteinisches) Nr. 85 in Rendsburg
    • as of Rangliste 1878 in the 2nd Company
    • 21.8.1875 Adjutant of the 1st Battalion
  • 1.10.1879 Preußische Kriegsakademie (War Academy) in Berlin
  • 17.7.1882 Return to the Infantrie-Regiment „Herzog von Holstein“ (1. Holsteinisches) Nr. 85 in Rendsburg
• 13.11.1883 Premier-Leutnant (1st Lieutenant)
  • 14.4.1885 Adjutant of the 23. Infanterie-Brigade (23. Division) in Gleiwitz
  • 17.4.1886 7th Company/1. Oberrheinisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 97 in Saarburg
  • 1.5.1886 Commanded to the Grand General Staff or Großer Generalstab in Berlin
    • attached to the Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 97 until 20.9.1890
• 13.6.1888 Hauptmann (Captain)
  • 14.2.1891 1. Division in Königsberg (on Hans von Werder's and Gerhard von Pelet-Narbonne's general staff)
  • 19.9.1891 Commander of the 7th Company/Infanterie-Regiment „von Borcke“ (4. Pommersches) Nr. 21 in Thorn
  • 25.3.1893 1. Infanterie-Division in Königsberg (Ia on von Pelet-Narbonne's, Ernst von Petersdorff's and Ferdinand von Stülpnagel's general staff)
• 19.12.1893 Major
  • 18.4.1895 XVI. Armeekorps in Metz (Ia on Gottlieb Graf von Haeseler's general staff)
  • 27.1.1898 Commander of the 3rd Battalion and on the regimental staff of the 4. Badisches Infanterie-Regiment „Prinz Wilhelm“ Nr. 112 in Mühlhausen
• 22.7.1900 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
  • 22.7.1900 Mobilization Section Head (2. Abtheilung) in the Großer Generalstab in Berlin
• 18.10.1902 Oberst (Colonel)
  • 18.7.1903 Commander of the 4. Badisches Infanterie-Regiment „Prinz Wilhelm“ Nr. 112 in Mühlhausen
  • 19.5.1904 Commander of the new 2. Feldregiment (mounted field regiment) of the Colonial Protection Forces (Kaiserliche Schutztruppe) in German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika); the Schutztruppe was commanded by Generalleutnant von Trotha.
    • 19.5.1904 Combatant during the Herero Revolt in 1904
  • 11.5.1905 Placed at disposal (zur Disposition gestellt)
  • 1.11.1905 Section Head in the Großer Generalstab in Berlin
    • received the rank Oberst mit dem Range eines Brigade-Kommandeurs (Colonel with the rank of Brigade Commander)
  • 21.5.1906 Commander of the Kaiserliche Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika
• 22.3.1907 Generalmajor
  • 1.4.1907 convalescent leave; Ludwig Gustav Adolf von Estorff took over the Schutztruppe
  • 18.11.1907 Commander of the 58. Infanterie-Brigade in Mühlhausen im Elsaß
  • 22.3.1910 Commander of the 29. Infanterie-Division in Freiburg; replaced Emil von Schickfus und Neudorff (1854–1927)
• 22.3.1910 Generalleutnant
  • 1.4.1913 Commander of the XV. Armeekorps in Straßburg, Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen (replaced Max von Fabeck)
• 22.3.1914 General der Infanterie
  • 2.8.1914 Western Front as Commander of the XV. Armeekorps with the 7. Armee
  • 25.5.1917 Offizier von der Armee
  • 17.9.1917 Placed at disposal (zur Disposition gestellt); de facto retired

Criticism

As general of the infantry during World War I, Deimling commanded the XV Army Corps on the Western Front: in Alsace, by the Aisne, in Ypres, Flanders, Verdun, by the Somme and in the Vosges. Due to his radical deployment of soldiers that resulted in great losses, he became known as the “Butcher of Ypres.” In 1915, he ordered the use of chlorine in great quantities for the first time. In 1916, Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859-1941) awarded Deimling the medal “Pour le Mérite,” honoring his capture of Fort Vaux near Verdun. However, military failure and high-handedness caused conflicts with the Supreme Army Command (Oberste Heeresleitung). His forced early end of military service in 1917 resulted in alienation from the military establishment. However, he did not immediately abandon the military’s standpoint on the war with their calls for perseverance. Only when the course of war proved disastrous for Germany in the last months of war did he advocate for a negotiated peace and distance himself from the empire as a whole. Immediately during the German Revolution, Deimling switched from being a militarist to being a committed republican by reason. He became a military advisor for the workers’ and soldiers’ councils, and finally a democrat and a pacifist in an attempt to compensate for his insignificance as a retired officer. In 1919, he became a member of the left-liberal German Democratic Party (Deutsche Demokratische Partei), co-founder of the Reichsbanner Black-Red-Gold (1922), member of the German Peace Society and the German League for Human Rights. Both through journalism and at partially spectacular mass rallies, Deimling warned against a second war and advocated for a general disarmament, arbitration, the fulfillment of the Treaty of Versailles and an understanding with France. His ideas about a “defensive pacifism” were headstrong and contentious inside the peace movement. He demanded that the League of Nations should form an army to have a supranational force. He opposed conscientious objection. However, ultimately Deimling remained a politicizing general without a political office. After 1933, he tried to curry favor with the National Socialists. Nonetheless, just like his former colleagues in the military, the National Socialists ostracized Deimling for his temporary pacifist commitment.

Many German officers critized the strategic mistakes by Berthold von Deimling (XV. Armee-Korps) on the Western Front, e.g. Hugo Freiherr von Freytag-Loringhoven wrote:

" [...] unspeakable sins were committed there, and not only at Ypres, but right at the beginning already on the Aisne [...] streams of German blood have been irresponsibly wasted.” He later stated that Kaiser Wilhelm II had since 1916 "allowed himself to be shut out far too much".

Post-war

After WWI, in 1919, von Deimling immediately agreed, in contrast to his comrades, to work with the leftist soldiers' councils (Soldatenräte). He was considered by most as a Nestbeschmutzer (nest polluter; a person who deliberately speaks negatively about the community to which they belong in order to harm it), which surely promoted his commitment to the democratic military organisation Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, with it's main opponents being the Communist Party of Germany and their far-left paramilitary organization Rotfrontkämpferbund on the left, and the NSDAP and their Sturmabteilung on the right. The third opponent were the 'reactionary' traditional nationalist parties. The officer associations excluded him from their ranks and dismissed the Reichsbannergeneral" from their society as well.

Family

His parents were the garrison auditor in Karlsruhe and later District Court Councilor from Freiburg im Breisgau Kreisgerichtsrat Gottfried Berthold Deimling (1823-1876) and his wife Anna, née von Stöcklern zu Grünholzeck, a daughter of the Oberpostdirektionsrat in Freiburg Carl Theodor von Stöcklern zu Grünholzeck (1787-1866) and Wilhelmine, née Schwenck. He had five siblings: Ferdinand, Jenny, Josephine, Carolina "Lina" and Adolf. His uncles were the pedagogue Otto Deimling (b. 10 September 1821; d. 11 March 1875) and Lieutenant General Friedrich Ludwig von Deimling (1833–1906).

Marriage

On 25 September 1879, Sekonde-Leutnant Deimling married his fiancée, the landowner's daughter (Gut Carlsberg) Elisabeth Martha von Otto in Eisleben (b. 14 October 1855 in Karlsruhe), daughter of Alexander von Otto and Wilhelmine, née von Sperling, whom he had met in Rendsburg in 1875. Deimling's wife suffered from an early age of hearing loss and is said not to have been very stable in terms of health, but tenacious and upright. Elisabeth Martha von Deimling died on am 14 March 1944, only weeks after the death of her husband Berthold.

Children

The marriage produced four daughters between 1880 and 1885:

• Elisabeth Anna Wilhelmine (b. 17 July 1880 in Eisleben)
• Anna Maria Margarete Jenny (b. 11 November 1882 in Kiel)
• Marie Josephine Charlotte (b. 20 January 1884 in Kiel) ⚭ 1910 Wolf Eginhard von Kruse auf Neetzow (1887–1950), Owner of Schloß Neetzow and master of Neetzow, Klein-Below, Krusenfelde, Kagenow, Domäne Krien and since 1935 Wietzow (expropriated by the communists in September 1945)
  • The marriage was divorced shortly after the First World War. The von Deimling grandson, Joachim von Kruse (1912–1993; author of Das Schloß im Mond, 1987), grew up alternately with his single mother in Berlin and on his father's estate, so that he hardly saw his grandfather Berthold while he was alive.
• Charlotte Pauline (b. 11 March 1885 in Kiel)

Gallery

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Awards, decorations and honours

• Red Eagle Order (Roter Adlerorden), 4th Class on 12 September 1894
• Prussian Centenary Medal (Zentenarmedaille), 1897
• Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion (Orden vom Zähringer Löwen), Knight's Cross I. Class (BZL3a/BZ3a)
• Prussian Long Service Cross for 25 years (Königlich Preußisches Dienstauszeichnungskreuz)
• Prussian Order of the Crown (Preußischer Kronenorden), 3rd Class on 13 May 1897
• Military Merit Order (Bavaria), Knight's Cross I. Class (BMV3a)
• Officer's Cross of the Italian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (JMuL4/JM4)
• Fürstlich Schwarzburgisches Ehrenkreuz, II. Class (SEK2)
• Baden Government Jubilee Medal of 1902 (Regierungs-Jubiläums-Medaille von 1902)
• Albrechts-Orden of Saxony, Commander (Komtur) II. Class (SA2b)
• Commander's Cross of the Italian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (JM3)
• Franz-Joseph-Orden, Commander (ÖFJ2)
  • later reclassified as ÖFJ2b, Commander without Star
• Red Eagle Order, 3rd Class with the Bow on 18 January 1904
• Prussian Order of the Crown, 2nd Class with Swords on 3 November 1904
• Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion, Commander 2nd Class with Swords (BZ2b⚔)
• Military Merit Order (Bavaria), 2nd Class with Swords (BMV2⚔)
• Mecklenburgisches Militärverdienstkreuz, II. Klasse (MMV2)
• Swords to his Saxon Albrechts-Orden, Commander (Komtur) II. Class (SA2b⚔)
• Friedrichs-Orden, Commander's Cross (Kommenturkreuz), 2nd Class with Swords (WF2b⚔)
• Südwest-Afrika Denkmünze with five battle clasps
• Red Eagle Order, 2nd Class with Oak Leaves on 18 January 1909
• Star with Swords on Ring to his Prussian Order of the Crown, 2nd Class with Swords on 18 January 1910
• Star to his Red Eagle Order, 2nd Class with Oak Leaves on 18 January 1913
• Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion, Grand Cross (BZ1)
• Prussian Order of the Crown, 1st Class with Swords on Ring on 15 June 1913
• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown with Swords (WK1⚔) on 20 November 1914
• Military Merit Order (Bavaria), 1st class with Swords (BMV1⚔) on 31 March 1915
• Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order, Commander (1st Class) with Star on 31 July 1915
• Albrechts-Orden of Saxony, Grand Cross with the Golden Star and Swords (SA1mgSt⚔) on 15 December 1915
• Pour le Mérite on 28 August 1916
• Red Eagle Order, Grand Cross with Swords on 23 June 1917
• Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer

Honours

• Elevation to the hereditary nobility on 9 November 1905 by Kaiser Wilhelm II
• Member of the board of directors of the Upper Baden branch of the German Colonial Society
• Honorary Chairman of the Freiburg Navy Association (Ehrenvorsitzender des Freiburger Marinevereins), 1912
• Regimentschef (Colonel-in-Chief) of the 1. Unter-Elsässisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 132 on 25 May 1917

Writings

• Die Kolonie Kiautschou in den ersten beiden Jahren ihrer Entwickelung: Vortrag. In: Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft: Verhandlungen der Abteilung Berlin-Charlottenburg, 1899/1900, Heft 2, pp. 44–66
• Südwestafrika: Land und Leute, unsere Kämpfe, Wert der Kolonie: Vortrag, gehalten in einer Anzahl deutscher Städte. Eisenschmidt, Berlin [1906] (Digitalisat)
• Antisemitismus und die Juden im Heer (essay), February 1916
• Aus der alten in die neue Zeit. Lebenserinnerungen. Ullstein, Berlin 1930

External links

• Berthold von Deimling
• Berthold von Deimling, baden18-45.de (Archive)
• Berthold von Deimling, namibiana.de
• Deimling, Berthold Karl Adolf von (seit 1905), Neue Deutsche Biographie 3 (1957)