Walther Graf von Königsmarck

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Walther Graf von Königsmarck
Walther Otto Adolf Graf von Königsmarck.jpg
Birth name Walther Otto Adolf Graf von Königsmarck
Birth date 28 July 1869
Place of birth Estate Karnzow, Province of Brandenburg, Kreis Ostprignitz, Regierungsbezirk Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, North German Confederation
Death date 2 October 1915 (aged 46)[1]
Place of death Hamburg–Bergedorf, German Empire
Allegiance German Empire German Empire
Service/branch War and service flag of Prussia (1895–1918).png Prussian Army
Iron Cross of the Luftstreitkräfte.png Imperial German Army
Rank Rittmeister
Battles/wars Boxer Rebellion (de)
World War I
Awards Iron Cross

Walther Otto Adolf Graf von Königsmarck (28 July 1869 – 2 October 1915) was a German officer of the Prussian Army and the Imperial German Army, finally Rittmeister with the Imperial German Air Service during World War I as well as renowned equestrian.

Life

Expedition participants 1897, Río Aisén, Chile (from left): Per C. H. Dusén (Swedish botanist, 1855-1926), capitán asimilado Walter Siegfried Bronsart von Schellendorf (1871-1963), Friedrich Emil Johannes "Hans" Steffen (German geographer, 1865-1936), capitán asimilado Walther Otto Adolf Graf von Königsmarck and Oskar von Fischer (Dane, topographer and astronomer); source: Geograph Hans Steffen.
Das Gutshaus bzw. Schloß Karnzow, ursprünglich aus dem Jahr 1730 (Königsmarck).jpg

Graf von Königsmarck started his military career with the Life Guard Hussar Regiment (Leib-Garde-Husaren-Regiment in Potsdam) where he was promoted to Portepee-Fähnrich (Officer Cadet) and was then commissioned to Sekondeleutnant (2nd Lieutenant) serving in the 2nd and later 4th Squadron. As of rank list 1894, he was a member of the 1. (Leib-)Eskadron, the elite Life Guard Squadron. As of rank list 1896, the well-known gentleman rider (Herrenreiter) left the regiment for c. two years.[2] He was released as a training officer ("instructor") to build up the Chilean army according to the Prussian model, where he was given the Chilean rank of captain (capitán asimilado). He served under Captain Bernhard Emil Körner (who received the rank as Chilean Lieutenant Colonel, later General) from 18 August 1895 to 18 August 1897 together with Carl Heinrich Zimmermann (1864–1949), Johannes Felix Friedrich von Erckert,[3] Walter Heinrich Diomed Bronsart von Schellendorff (1873–1942), Friedrich von Lettow-Vorbeck (1872–1945) and others.

As of rank list 1898, he had returned to the regiment and served with the 5th Squadron. As of rank list 1899, he was adjutant of his regiment. On 27 January 1899, he had been promoted to Premierleutnant (1st Lieutenant). In 1900, he once again was forced to resign when he joined the joined the horse depot (Pferdedepot/Etappenkommando) of the East Asian Expeditionary Force (Ostasiatisches Expeditionskorps). He returned to the Prussian Army and his regiment in 1902 serving in the 2nd Squadron. In 1904, he was again was forced to resign, now joining the horse depot of the Schutztruppe of German South-West Africa joining the fight against the Herero revolt led by Generalleutnant Lothar von Trotha.

On 19 October 1905, Graf von Königsmarck was promoted to Rittmeister and appointed commander of the horse depot.[4] After his return to Germany in 1907, he was transferred to the Kürassier-Regiment „von Driesen“ (Westfälisches) Nr. 4 in Münster and appointed commander of the 2nd Squadron. He had resigned as of rank list 1909, receiving pension and the right to wear the uniform of the regiment. The focus of his life was now on equestrian sports, he never married. When WWI broke out, he made himself available again and was trained as an observation officer of the Fliegertruppe in Johannisthal.

Death

Walther Graf von Königsmarck was killed during a test flight from Hanover to Hamburg on the Elbe-Trave Canal as a result of a hard landing in thick fog near Bergedorf, while the pilot escaped with minor injuries.

Family

Descent

Walther was the son of lord of the manor (Berlitt, later also Carnzow) 1st Lieutenant (ret.) Adolf Hans Joseph Graf von Königsmarck (1830–1878) and his wife Elisabeth Rosalie Hermine Friederike Therese von Kleist (1841–1921). He had three siblings.[5]

Fritz Graf von Königsmarck

Walther's older brother Friedrich "Fritz" Wilhelm Adolf Graf von Königsmarck (b. 27 February 1868), also a gifted Herrenreiter, inherited the estate Carnzow/Karnzow (which his father had bought 1864) and later began his military career with the 1st Squadron/Königs-Ulanen-Regiment (1. Hannoversches) Nr. 13 in Hanover. In WWI, he was promoted to Major. At least one newspaper reported in October 1915, that Rittmeister Fritz Graf von Königsmarck was ⚔ on 6 October 1915 at the Eastern Front, but this was a mistake. It was the young cousin Eberhard Kurt Christoph Graf von Königsmarck (b. 24 October 1897 at Gut Radem) who had fallen on that day as 2nd Lieutenant in the Garde-Dragoner-Regiment "Kaiserin Alexandra von Rußland" Nr. 2.

The castle in Karnzow, rebuilt and expanded by Fritz from 1921 to 1923, served as a storage location for the Kunsthalle Bremen (thousands of Bremen drawings, paintings and prints) during the Second World War. He was probably murdered on his estate on 6 Mai 1945 by the Red Army, who then plundered everything. Other sources say he committed suicide. The communists of the GDR used the estate as the "Ernst Thälmann" convalescent home until 1990. The castle was restored from 2000 to 2001.

Awards, decorations and honours

Honours

  • On the bronze equestrian monument in Karlshorst (trotting track), Berlin, which was inaugurated in 1925, Walther is listed among the 97 gentlemen riders and 20 professional riders who did not survive the First World War. The monument was renovated in 2007.

Gallery

  • Königsmarck, Deutscher Ordens-Almanach, 1908.png
  • Herrenreiter Walther Otto Adolf Graf von Königsmarck.jpg
  • Herrenreiter Fritz Graf von Königsmarck.jpg
  • Rittmeister Fritz Graf von Königsmarck (fehlerhafte Todesmeldung, es war sein Vetter Leutnant Eberhard Kurt Christoph Graf von Königsmarck).png
  • Rittmeister Fritz Graf von Königsmarck.png
  • Three cousins von Königsmarck.jpg

References

  1. ↑ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Gräflichen Häuser, 1916, p. 494
  2. ↑ Rangliste der Königlich Preußischen Armee, 1896, p. 306
  3. ↑ Der chilenische Orden des Hauptmann Friedrich von Erckert
  4. ↑ Rangliste der Königlich Preußischen Armee, 1907, p. 1183
  5. ↑ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Gräflichen Häuser, 1916, p. 494
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