Felix von Bendemann

Felix von Bendemann
Birth name	Felix Eduard Robert Emil Bendemann
Birth date	8 August 1848(1848-08-08)
Place of birth	Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, German Confederation
Death date	31 October 1915 (aged 67)
Place of death	Halensee near Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Allegiance	Prussia North German Confederation German Empire
Service/branch	Royal Prussian Navy Norddeutsche Bundesmarine Kaiserliche Marine
Years of service	1864–1907/1915
Rank	Admiral zur Disposition
Battles/wars	Franco-German War Boxer Rebellion (de)
Awards	Iron Cross Prussian Order of the Crown Order of the Red Eagle
Relations	∞ 1873 Helene Sophia Sturz

Felix Eduard Robert Emil Bendemann, since 1905 von Bendemann (1848–1915), was a German naval officer of the Royal Prussian Navy (German: Königlich Preußische Marine), the North German Federal Navy (German: Marine des Norddeutschen Bundes) and the Kaiserliche Marine, finally a highly decorated Admiral. He retired on 18 May 1907, but remained, as a special honour by Kaiser Wilhelm II, zur Disposition and à la suite of the Seeoffizerkorps until his death during WWI, but was never activated for service again.

Military career (chronology)

Felix' mother Lida, painted by his father in 1847.

Konteradmiral Heinrich Prinz von Preußen (1862–1929), Letter to Konteradmiral Felix Bendemann on 13 January 1897

During the Boxer Insurrection Boxer gangs advanced on Beijing in May and June 1900. On 11 June, the first Boxer was seen in the Legation Quarter. In order to protect themselves, the "Eight-Nation Alliance" was founded on 10 June 1900, 2,000 sailors and marines (916 British, 455 Germans, 326 Russians, 158 French, 112 Americans, 54 Japanese, 41 Italians, and 26 Austrians) were put under the command of the British Vice-Admiral Edward Hobart Seymour, his chief of staff was Kapitän zur See Ernst Adolf Julius Guido von Usedom, captain of the SMS "Hertha". On 22 June 1900, the defeated Seymour (62 dead and 232 wounded) had to retreat to Tientsin, finally the German troops, deployed by Felix Bendermann, arrived, and Seymour called out "The Germans to the front!". This was to become their finest hour. They threw themselves against the enemy and managed to cover the successful retreat. In September 1900 Generalfeldmarschall Alfred Ludwig Heinrich Karl Graf von Waldersee was given command of the alliance. He was officially proposed by the emperor of Russia, and seconded by the Japanese, as the first Allied Supreme Commander of modern times.

Ernst Fritze und Felix Bendemann

• 9 June 1864 Kadett of the Crew of 1864
• 1868 Unterleutnant zur See (2nd Lieutenant at Sea)
  • When the news of the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War arrived, Bendemann was a sub-lieutenant at sea and watch officer (Wachoffizier) on the gunboat SMS Meteor under Kommandant Kapitänleutnant Knorr off the Florida coast. Together with the SMS Meteor, he fought a naval battle with the French Aviso Bouvet on 9 November 1870 near Havanna off the coast of Cuba, earning Bendemann the Iron Cross II. Class.
• 18 April 1871 Leutnant zur See without patent (ernannt), later receiving a patent with effect from 1870
  • Inspektion Officer in the Naval School (Kaiserliche Marine-Schule) in Kiel
  • S. M. Dampfkanonenboot "Nautilus" (Rangliste 1873)
• 17 February 1874 Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant Captain)
  • II. Cötus at the Marine-Schule (Rangliste 1874)
    • He had taken part in a postgraduate training course at the Naval Academy in Kiel. Victor Valois, Otto von Diederichs and Gustav von Senden-Bibran attended this course with him until 1874.
  • afterwards serving on the S. M. Korvette "Gazelle"; Lieutenant Captain Bendemann and Lieutenant Wachenhusen were responsible for the oceanographic measurements, such as deep-sea soundings, temperature, and specific gravity measurements, determining the chemical composition of seawater and observations of currents and tides. Bendemann had been one of the first graduates of the new naval academy in Kiel.
    • From June 21, 1874 to April 28, 1876, the Gazelle under the command of the later Vice-Admiral Georg Freiherr von Schleinitz undertook an almost two-year and 48,797 nautical mile expedition, which she set out from Kiel along the African west coast to the Cape of Good Hope the Kerguelen, to Mauritius, to the South Seas, to Australia, through the Strait of Magellan and via the Azores back to Kiel. For this expedition, the armament was halved and living and working rooms for scientific work were created on the battery deck. The expedition primarily served to research the soil profiles of the South Atlantic and the major ocean currents at the equator and near New Guinea. In addition, the zoologist Theophil Studer, the ship's doctor Friedrich Carl Naumann and the assistant doctor Carl Hüesker undertook extensive zoological, botanical and anthropological research. In addition, the Gazelle brought an astronomical expedition led by Karl Börgen to observe the transit of Venus on December 9, 1874 to Kerguelen and then to Mauritius.
  • 1876/77 Kommandant of the gunboat SMS Sperber
  • 2nd Adjutant of the Naval Station of the Baltic Sea in Kiel
  • Officer on the SMS Prinz Adalbert in East Asia
    • The Prinz Adalbert sailed on October 14, 1878 on a two-year world voyage under the command of Captain Archibald MacLean in Kiel. On board were Prince Heinrich of Prussia, who served as a sea cadet and was also supposed to perform representational duties on the voyage, as well as Lieutenant Captain von Seckendorff, Grand Admiral Hans von Koester and the marine painter Carl Saltzmann. During the journey along the German coast, Prince Heinrich was accompanied on board by his brother, who later became Kaiser Wilhelm II. The voyage led via South America through the Strait of Magellan and Hawaii to Japan in May 1879, where Prince Adalbert combined with the other naval ships Luise, Wolf and Cyclop to form a squadron, over which MacLean, as the senior local captain, also took command. In East Asia, the main cities and their governments were then visited in order to strengthen German interests. Prince Heinrich, as representative of the German Emperor, took on the representational tasks. In the spring of 1880, the squadron was moved to Shanghai, where the conflict between China and Japan over the Ryukyu Islands caused unrest among the population. However, due to its high draft, the Prinz Adalbert could not operate in the region and remained in Hong Kong from May to June 1880. After the arrival of another ship, the Vineta, Prince Adalbert started his journey home. The stops on the journey were Johor, Simon's Town and the island of St. Helena, where the crew visited Napoleon's place of exile.
• 15 April 1880 Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander)
  • Member of the Artillery Examination Board in the Admiral Staff
  • October 1884 – April 1887 Kommandant of SMS Olga
    • In August 1884, the Admiralty planned to use Olga for training purposes, but unrest in the German colony of Kamerun necessitated the formation of a West African Squadron; they assigned Olga to the squadron, along with its flagship, the corvette Bismarck, and the corvettes Ariadne and Gneisenau. Olga was accordingly commissioned on 1 October for service with the squadron, and she left Wilhelmshaven on 30 October. She anchored off Douala on 18 December in company with Bismarck. The ships sent landing parties ashore and took part in battles with local forces in the town on 20 and 21 December. The ships' shallow draft allowed them to proceed upriver to provide gunfire support to the men fighting on land. Once the fighting ended, Olga conducted a survey of the Wouri River. She was sent to Togoland to suppress unrest in that colony in early February 1885 (punitive expedition against Lome on 2 February 1885) before returning to Kamerun in mid-March. She was relieved by the gunboat Habicht on 2 April; at that point, she left western Africa and returned to Germany, arriving in Kiel on 25 May 1885. After arriving, Olga went into the shipyard for a major overhaul. She then began her training ship duties, initially in German waters, and then in the training squadron with Stein. This activity lasted until 14 September, when she was again assigned to the African station. This time, the squadron was sent to German East Africa. Olga left Germany on 29 October and arrived in East African waters on 29 December, meeting Bismarck, the flagship of Konteradmiral Eduard von Knorr. Already on 9 February 1886, the squadron was ordered to leave Africa for the central Pacific Ocean. While there, Olga surveyed the coast of New Mecklenburg (administrative division of German New Guinea) independently from the rest of the squadron. The ships regrouped in Hong Kong on 23 July, where they underwent maintenance work. While cruising in East Asian waters later that year, Knorr received orders to take the squadron back to German East Africa. The squadron arrived on 25 December, and Olga was tasked with patrolling the coast of Wituland and raising the German flag in Manda Bay (in what is now Kenya) in January 1887. She was also sent to force the extradition of the murderers of the German explorer Karl Ludwig Jühlke, and transported the men from Kismayo to Zanzibar. In early March 1887, the squadron left East Africa and went to Cape Town, South Africa, due to rising tensions between Germany and France. There, they awaited further orders that might come in the event of war between the two countries. Due to the use of this squadron, Cameroon was recognized by England and France as a German colony.
• 22 October 1887 Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea)
  • Commander of the I. Werftdivision in Kiel
  • Chief of Staff of the Kommando der Marinestation der Ostsee in Kiel
  • Chief of Staff of the Command of the Maneuver Fleet
  • November 1893 to September 1894 Kommandant of the new SMS Brandenburg
    • Trials continued into 1894, and while conducting forced draft tests in Strander Bucht on 16 February 1894, the ship suffered the worst machinery accident in the history of the Kaiserliche Marine. One of the main steam valves from the starboard boilers exploded, killing forty-four men in the boiler room and injuring another seven. The cause of the explosion was a defect in the construction of the valve. Prince Henry, aboard the nearby transport ship Pelikan, immediately ordered the ship to come to Brandenburg's aid, and took off the dead and wounded men. Repair work was completed by 16 April 1894, allowing Brandenburg to return to trials which lasted until the middle of August, and included a cruise through the Kattegat. On 21 August, the ship joined II Division, though a reorganization of the fleet saw the ship transferred to I Division, along with her three sister ships. I Division was based in Wilhelmshaven in the North Sea.
  • Torpedo Inspector (Inspektion des Torpedowesens) in Kiel
• 27 January 1895 Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral)
  • Chief of the II Division of the I Squadron
  • 14 March to 13 December 1899 Chief of the Admiralty of the Imperial Navy
• 5 December 1899 Vize-Admiral (Vice Admiral)
  • 1 January to 16 February 1900 Voyage to Singapore
  • 17 February 1900 to 14 February 1902 Commander of the Cruiser Squadron (Chef des Kreuzergeschwaders); Flagship: SMS Hertha (February to August 1900), then SMS Fürst Bismarck (August 1900 to April 1909)
    • When Bendemann took command of the Cruiser Squadron (East Asia Squadron), he found it unprepared for the challenges presented by the brewing Boxer Rebellion. He actually had to borrow charts from the Russians and maps from the British in order to operate in the Yellow Sea. Nevertheless, he forcefully advanced the idea of taking the Taku Forts and the ships under his command were able to make a noteworthy contribution in the Battle of Taku Forts (1900). On 8 June 1900, he brought the large cruisers SMS Hansa, SMS Hertha and the small cruisers SMS Gefion and SMS Irene before the Taku Fort (together with warships of other nations) to land detachments of marines or naval infantry (Seebataillone) for the protection of their citizens in Tientsin. Kapitänleutnant Otto Weniger, the first officer (I.O.) of SMS Gefion, then became commander of a landing corps of 500 marines, which took part in the failed Seymour Relief Expedition for the relief of the Peking delegations later in June.
  • 15 February 1902 to 26 September 1903 Return from Singapore and Placed at Disposal
  • 17 August to 18 September 1902 At the same time, acting Chief of the Naval Station of the Baltic Sea
• 14 November 1903 Admiral
  • 27 September to 13 November 1903 Acting Chief of the Naval Station of the North Sea
  • 14 November 1903 to 18 May 1907 Chief/Commander of the Naval Station of the North Sea
  • 18 May 1907 De facto retired (officially at disposal / zur Disposition) and placed à la suite of the Sea Officers Corps

50 years service

• 9 June 1914 Admiral z. D. von Bendemann was celebrated over a week in Berlin with "high honors" for his golden anniversary, 50 years of service for King, Kaiser and Vaterland
  • even the Scranton Wochenblatt (Scranton, Pennsylvania) reported the celebrations on 18 June 1914

Family

Lineage

Felix was the son of the artist, painter and Art Academy (Kunstakademie) director Prof. Dr. h. c. Eduard Julius Friedrich Bendemann (1811-1889) and his wife Lydia "Lida", née Schadow (1821-1895), daughter of the famous sculptur Johann Gottfried Schadow. His grandfather was the Jewish banker Anton Heinrich Bendemann, whose name was Aaron Hirsch Bendix (1775–1866) until he was baptized as a Christian convert in 1805. His grandmother was Fanny Eleonore, née von Halle (1778–1857). Felix, who is considered by some as a quarter Jew (Vierteljude), although more likely a eighth Jew (Achteljude) had six siblings (all four brothers were passionate patriots and fought in the Franco-German War):

• Arnold Gottfried (b. 1 December 1839 in Dresden; d. 8 June 1882) Major (since 13 May 1880) of the Prussian Army, member of the Study Commission of the Vereinigte Artillerie- und Ingenieur-Schule in Berlin; in the Dano-Prussian War of 1864 he became Knight of the Pour le Mérite on 7 June 1864 (on the occasion of the storming of the Düppeler Schanzen on 18 April 1864 as second lieutenant) and received the the Knight's Cross of the Austrian Order of Leopold, in the War 18707/71 he earned the Iron Cross, 2nd Class; ⚭ Hedwig Krüger (their son is the engineer Friedrich Bendemann)
• Marie Henriette (b. 20 June 1841 in Dresden; d. 16 January 1874) ⚭ Otto Euler (1835–1925), Judicial Council or Justizrat (their son is the painter Eduard Euler)
• Ernst Julius (b. 1 January 1844 in Dresden) ⚭ Alwine Jung
• Fanny Mathilde Susanne (b. 31 March 1846 in Dresden)
• Rudolf Christian Eugen (b. 11 November 1851; d. 3 May 1884), History and genre painter, orientalist

Gallery (Arnold Gottfried Bendemann)

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Marriage

Leutnant zur See Bendemann married on 17 April 1873 in Berlin his fiancée Helene Sophia Sturz (b. 15 November 1847 in Erlangen; d. 21 June 1913 in Halensee), daughter of the Consul General for Brazil in Berlin (1843 to 1859), later for Uruguay (1863 to 1865), Johann Jakob Sturz (b. 7 December 1800 in Frankfurt am Main; d. 4 December 1877 in Friedenau near Berlin), who in 1865 suggested the construction of a Kiel Canal. The couple had six children:

• Walter James Emil (b. 27 August 1874 in Kiel), Hauptmann a. D. of the Prussian Army; living in München, he wrote the book "Familie und die Nachfahren des Bildhauers Johann Gottfried Schadow" (1932, Zentralstelle für Deutsche Personen- und Familiengeschichte e. V. in Leipzig)

• Eduard Heinrich (1877–1959), painter, art historian ⚭ 31 March 1906 in Hannover (o¦o 1928) Margarete Susman (1874–1966), German journalist, essayist and poet; Son: Erwin Heinrich Beato von Bendemann (b. 21 December 1906 in Charlottenburg; d. 17 March 2006 in Epsom, Surrey), in WWII as Henry Irwin Bentham member of the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (C.S.D.I.C.), later language teacher in London and journalist

• Irma Helene (b. 20 December 1881 in Berlin)
  • ⚭ 20 March 1906 in Wilhelmshaven (o¦o 1921) Paul Wolfram (1871–1946), Kapitän zur See of the Kaiserliche Marine and Konteradiral of the Reichsmarine
  • ⚭ 1921 Herbert Friedrich Oskar Kahle (b. 1883), merchant in Berlin

• Lida Melina (b. 1 December 1883 in Berlin; d. 1954) ⚭ 16 April 1907 in Wilhelmshaven Hugo Alexandre Luchsinger (1875–1932), merchant (Luchsinger & Cia.) in Zürich and Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) as well as diplomat (12.5.1926 to 1928 Honorar-Konsul Schweizerisches Konsulat in Porto Alegre); their sons were: Hugo Felix Rudolf Luchsinger (b. 1 September 1908) and Ulrich Hilarius Paul Walter Luchsinger (b. 15 January 1910 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf), jurist (Dissertation Universität Bern 1939, Zürich 1940) and Swiss diplomat (17.1.1949 to 15.11.1950 Vizekonsul Swiss Consulate in Frankfurt)

• Felix Rudolf (b. 15 June 1885), entered the Kaiserliche Marine on 1 April 1903, promoted to Oberleutnant zur See on 27 March 1909, 1914 in the I. Werft-Division, later he served on the dreadnought SMS Großer Kurfürst, earning the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. One source claims, that after being serverely wounded in the first stages of WWI, he was discharged as Kapitänleutnant. Another sources states he was ⚔ on 20 July 1915. His name cannot be found in the Rangliste 1916.
  • ⚭ Wilhelmina Hedwig Eleonore Büscher (b. 1901)

• Ruth Eugenie Kornelie Margarete (b. 2 February 1889 in Kiel) ⚭ 11 September 1915 Dr. jur. Gerhard Otto Julius Sachau (b. 1882), Oberleutnant der Reserve and Direktor of the Deutsche Bank und Disconto-Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main, son of Prof. Dr. phil. et jur. Carl Eduard Sachau (1845-1930)

Awards, decorations and honours

• Iron Cross (1870), 2nd Class
• War Commemorative Medal of 1870–1871 (Kaiserliche Kriegsdenkmünze 1870/71; KD70/71) on 20 May 1871
• Prussian Long Service Cross for 25 years (Königlich Preußisches Dienstauszeichnungskreuz) on 7 June 1884 (time outside of the Reich or during war counted double)
• Order of the Red Eagle, 4th Class on 18 January 1885
• Prussian Order of the Crown (Preußischer Kronenorden), 3rd Class with Swords on 5 May 1885
• Friedrichs-Orden, Commander's Cross (Kommenturkreuz), 2nd Class with Swords (WF2b⚔) on 18 July 1885
• Orden „Der strahlende Stern“, 2nd Class, 2nd Grade / Grand Officer (ZstSt2b/ZStII2/ZSt2) on 16 April 1887
• Order of the Red Eagle, 3rd Class with the Bow on 5 May 1888
• Russian Order of Saint Anna, II. Class (RA2) on 19 November 1889
• Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav, Commander II. Class (NO2b) on 15 August 1890
• Prussian Order of the Crown, 2nd Class with Swords on Ring on 10 September 1890
• Knight of the Austrian-Hungarian Order of the Iron Crown, 2nd Class (ÖEK2) on 18 November 1890
• Anniversary Oak Leaves "25" 1870/1895 to his Iron Cross (1870), 2nd Class
• Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class with Oak Leaves on 19 January 1896
• Prussian Centenary Medal (Zentenarmedaille) on 22 March 1897
• Order of Leopold (Belgium), Grand Officer (BL2a) on 18 August 1897
• Star to his Prussian Order of the Crown, 2nd Class with Swords on Ring on 16 January 1898
• Star with Swords to his Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class with Oak Leaves on 3 September 1900
• China Medal in Bronze (China-Denkmünze) with the clasp "TAKU"
• Saxon Albrechts-Orden, Grand Cross with Swords (SA1⚔) on 10 June 1901
  • as of Rangliste 1906 declared Grand Cross with the War Decoration (SA1.KD)
• Russian Order of Saint Anna, I. Class with Swords (RA1⚔) on 15 April 1902
  • he automatically also received the Order of Saint Stanislaus (House of Romanov), 1st Class with Swords (RSt1⚔), which was subordinated to the Order of Saint Anna.
• British Order of St Michael and St George, Grand Cross (GM1) on 13 July 1902
• Knight of the Austrian-Hungarian Order of the Iron Crown, 1st Class with the War Decoration (ÖEK1.KD) on 13 July 1902
• Prussian Order of the Crown, 1st Class with Swords on Ring on 27 January 1903
• Order of the Red Eagle, 1st Class with Oak Leaves and Swords on Ring on 22 January 1905
• Oldenburg House and Merit Order of Duke Peter Frederick Louis (Oldenburgischer Haus- und Verdienstorden des Herzogs Peter Friedrich Ludwig), Grand Cross of Honour (Ehren-Großkreuz) on 5 May 1906 (OV1)
• Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, 1st Class (JVAS1/JV1) on 11 October 1906
• Order of the Red Eagle, Grand Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords on Ring on 20 January 1907
• Kolonial-Denkmünze mit der Spange (with the clasp) "Kamerun 1884" on 13 June 1912

Honours

• Raised to the Prussian nobility (knighted) on 27 January 1905
• Inducted as member 390 of the Gesetzlose Gesellschaft zu Berlin in 1909
• 'Mount Bendemann' (Bendemann-Berg) and 'Bendemann Harbour' (Bendemann-Hafen) on Dyaul Island (German New Guinea) were named in his honor by his friend Wilhelm Knappe, who was once Imperial Commissioner (Reichskommissar) of the Marshall Islands and Generalkonsul of Shanghai during the Boxer Rebellion.