Albrecht Reinecke

Albrecht Reinecke
Oberst Reinecke
Birth name	Albrecht Friedrich Erich Emil Reinecke
Birth date	3 June 1871(1871-06-03)
Place of birth	Osnabrück, Kingdom of Hanover, German Empire
Death date	16 February 1943 (aged 71)
Place of death	Berlin-Lichterfelde, German Reich
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic
Service/branch	Prussian Army Imperial German Army Reichswehr
Years of service	1889/90–1925
Rank	Generalmajor
Commands held	Straßburger Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 84 5. Artillerie-Regiment
Battles/wars	Boxer Rebellion World War I
Relations	∞ 1911 Bertha Pagenstecher (3 children) ∞ 1930 Gertrud(e) Heine

Albrecht Friedrich Erich Emil Reinecke (3 June 1871 – 16 February 1943) was a German officer since 1901, finally Generalmajor of the Reichswehr as well as president of the "Bolivar-Humboldt-Stiftung" and the "Ibero-Amerikanisches Institute Berlin" for Generalmajor Wilhelm Faupel, who was ambassador to Franco from 1936 to the end of 1937. Apparently he was again at the disposal of the Wehrmacht during World War II, but this cannot be confirmed with certainty.

Career (chronology)

• October 1889 or April 1890 Fahnenjunker (Officer Candidate)
• 22 August 1891 Sekondeleutnant (2nd Lieutenant) in the 7. Batterie/Feld-Artillerie-Regiment „von Scharnhorst“ (1. Hannoversches) Nr. 10 in Celle
  • 1 January 1899 Rank renamed Leutnant
• 17 October 1899 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
  • Winter of 1900/01 retired from the army (which was officially mandatory), joined the East Asian Field Artillery Regiment (Ostasiatisches Feldartillerie-Regiment of the Ostasiatisches Expeditionskorps under Alfred Graf von Waldersee) and took part in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion (de) in China
    • Here he met Wilhelm Faupel, with whom he became friends. He also fought alongside Hauptmann Maximilian Gustav Freiherr von Reitzenstein, Leutnant Wilhelm Josef Franz Leeb, Leutnant Alfred Fletcher, Leutnant Fritz von Buch and many more.
  • 1902/03 Return to Germany and transferred to the 1. Posensches Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 20 in Posen
• 27 January 1906 Hauptmann (Captain)
  • In the spring of 1913 he was transferred to the regimental headquarters of the 2. Badische Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 30 in Rastatt.
• 1 October 1913 Major
  • Adjutant of the General Command XV. Army Corp in Straßburg
  • 8 June 1916 to 15 January 1919 Commander of the Straßburger Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 84

Reichswehr

• 1920 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
  • Staff Officer Stabsoffizier der Artillerie (Stoart), Gruppenkommando 1 in Berlin
• 1 April 1921 Oberst (Colonel)
  • 1 April 1923 Commander of the 5. Artillerie-Regiment in Fulda as sucessor to Oberst Konstantin Rembe
  • He handed over the regiment to Colonel Hugo Grimme on 31 December 1925
• 31 December 1925 Charakter als Generalmajor
  • Retired on this day

Death

According to the death register, Albrecht Reinecke died in 1943 of general calcification of the veins and cerebral hemorrhage.

Family

Albrecht Reinecke was the son of Hans Wilhelm Ludwig Philipp Reinecke (1819–1894) and his wife Adolfine Charlotte Karoline Adelgunde Bertha, née Pagenstecher (1836–1910). Father Philipp Reinecke was a privy councilor and monastery official (Geheimer Regierungsrat und Klosteramtmann).

Marriages

Bertha

On 4 April 1911, Hauptmann Reinecke married his second cousin, Wilhelmine Bertha Marie Pagenstecher (b. 1 March 1887; d. 1927), who was sixteen years his junior, in Bremen. She was the daughter of Gustav Adolf Karl Georg Pagenstecher (1842-1926; originally from Cologne), wealthy merchant and member of the Bremen Parliament, commercial judge and President of the Chamber of Commerce. Reinecke was thus Schwippschwager (spouse's brother-in-law) of the later Generaloberst Ludwig Beck, who married Amalie Christine Auguste Luise Pagenstecher (b. 6 May 1893 in Bremen; d. 16 November 1917 in Oberstdorf) on 12 May 1916, who died the next year in wake of parturition almost eleven months after the birth of Gertrud Beck (b. 30 January 1917).

Children

Albrecht and Bertha had three children:

• Elisabeth (b. 1913; d. 1945)
• Gustav-Albrecht Ludwig Philipp (b. 26 Februar 1921 in Berlin-Schmargendorf; ⚔ on 29 August 1944 on the Eastern Front)
  • Shortly after his father's death, Gustav-Albrecht transferred from the 22nd Artillery Regiment to the 3rd battery of the 716th Heavy Artillery Battalion. In the same year he was reintegrated with his battery within the 4th Battalion into the 22nd Artillery Regiment. Gustav-Albrecht Reinecke fell as a captain and battery commander in the area between Siscani and Husi in Romania.
• Renate Irma Annemarie Frieda (b. 18 April 1925 in Berlin-Schmargendorf; d. April 1945)

Gertrud

In 1927, his first wife Bertha died. On 22 October 1930, he married Gertrud Amalie Heine, daughter of Paul Bruno Ernst Werner Heine, who was sixteen years his junior, in Bremen. His second wife Gertrud and his two daughters Elisabeth and Renate died at the end of April 1945 during the Battle of Berlin. His widow was last seen around 8 p.m. on 24 April 1945. The Red Army had taken this part of the city coming from Stahnsdorf and Kleinmachnow by this time. According to the death register, she had numerous gunshot wounds all over her raped body and both her legs were broken. Albrecht Reinecke's daughter, Renate, who graduated from Gymnasium, also had numerous gunshot wounds all over her body.

Awards and decorations

Written by Generalmajor Albrecht Reinecke and Oberstleutnant a. D. Wilhelm Steiglehner

• Prussian Centenary Medal 1897 (Zentenarmedaille)
• China Commemorative Medal (China-Denkmünze) for combatants
• Prussian Order of the Crown (Preußischer Kronenorden), 4th Class with Swords
• Red Eagle Order (Roter Adlerorden), 4th Class (RAO4)
• Chilean Order of Merit (Chilenischer Verdienstorden), 2nd Class (CV2)
• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
• Prussian Long Service Cross for 25 years (Königlich Preußisches Dienstauszeichnungskreuz)
• Saxon Albrechts-Orden, Knight 1st Class with Swords (SA3a⚔)
• Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Swords and the Crown (BMV4⚔Kr/BM4⚔mKr)
• Prussian Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (HOH3⚔)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords