Wilhelm Graf von Gluszewski-Kwilecki

Wilhelm Graf von Gluszewski-Kwilecki
Lieutenant Colonel Wilhelm von Gluszewski as commander of the Leib-Grenadier-Regiment „König Friedrich Wilhelm III.“ (1. Brandenburgisches) Nr. 8
Birth name	Marian Wilhelm Thilo Alexander Gluszczewski
Birth date	21 June 1867(1867-06-21)
Place of birth	Bukowitz, Kreis Schwetz, Province of Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Confederation
Death date	30 May 1954 (aged 86)
Place of death	Bad Tölz, Bavaria, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic
Service/branch	Prussian Army Imperial German Army Preliminary Reichswehr
Rank	Major General (Tannenberg-General)
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	Iron Cross Pour le Mérite
Relations	∞ 1894 Klara Vorwerk

Marian Wilhelm Thilo Alexander Gluszczewski, as of 1907 von Gluszewski, as of 1927 Graf von Gluszewski-Kwilecki (21 June 1867 – 30 May 1954), was a German officer of the Prussian Army and the Imperial German Army, finally Colonel and Knight of the order Pour le Mérite in World War I. On 27 August 1939, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Second Battle of Tannenberg, he received the Charakter (brevet) as honorary Major General of the Wehrmacht.

Life

• 1 May 1878 Joined the Cadet House in Culm
  • 1 May 1882 Cadet Company Leader as (Kadett-)Unteroffizier
• 1 May 1883 to 18 March 1886 Royal Prussian Main Cadet Institute (Preußische Hauptkadettenanstalt Groß-Lichterfelde)
• 18 March 1886 Joined the 9th Company/3. Magdeburgisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 66 in Magdeburg
  • 1 October 1889 to 28 February 1890 Commanded to the Military Gymnastics Institute (Militärische Turnanstalt)
  • 1 October 1890 to 28 February 1891 Commanded to the Military Gymnastics Institute as assistant instructor
• 16 May 1891 to 1 October 1894 Commanded to the 1st Company/Non-Commissioned Officer School in Biebrich
• 1 October 1894 9th Company/3. Magdeburgisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 66 in Magdeburg
• 1896 4th Company/3. Magdeburgisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 66 in Magdeburg
• 16 February 97 Appointed leader of the 2nd Company/Non-Commissioned Officer School in Neubreisach à la suite of the 3. Magdeburgisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 66
• 16 June 1900 Appointed leader of the 1st Company/Non-Commissioned Officer School in Wohlau à la suite of the 4. Magdeburgisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 67 in Metz
• 19 September 1901 Appointed commander of the 11th Company/III. Battalion/7. Badisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 142 in Mühlhausen
• 16 March 1905 Appointed leader of the 1st Company/Non-Commissioned Officer School in Potsdam
• 19 November 1908 Appointed commander of the 6th Company/2. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß in Berlin
• 22 May 1912 Staff/2. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß in Berlin
• 27 January 1913 Transferred to the Staff/Garde-Jäger-Bataillon in Potsdam
• 2 August 1914 Appointed commander of the new Garde-Reserve-Jäger-Bataillon
  • The battalion was sent with the Guard Reserve Corps, first to Belgium and then to the Eastern Front as reinforcements in August 1914.
• 1 June 1916 to January 1919 Commander of the Leib-Grenadier-Regiment „König Friedrich Wilhelm III.“ (1. Brandenburgisches) Nr. 8
  • 24 November 1917 Pour le Mérite on the Italian front
    • The award was given for the joint German-Austrian offensive on the Isonzo River, which began on 24 October 1917. The 5th Infantry Division fought in the Tolmein sector. On 26 October 1917, Lieutenant Colonel von Gluszewski, contrary to divisional orders, stormed the key Italian position on Monte Hum on his own initiative. In addition to a great deal of booty, 80 officers and 3,500 men were captured. In the following days, the regiment took Monte Giovanni, Monte Soigh, and the tenaciously defended, imposing Castel del Monte, 614 m high, capturing another 4,500 prisoners. As the regiment continued its advance, it increased the number of prisoners it took to over 10,000. The success was attributed to the energetic leadership of its commander.
• January to 30 September 1919 Last commander of the elite Garde-Jäger-Bataillon during demobilization
• 1 October 1919 to 31 December 1920 Commander of the Reichswehr-Infanterie-Regiment 6
• 31 December 1920 Retired

Familie

Wilhelm was the unequal (unebenbürtig), other sources state illegitimate son of Gustav Eduard Carl Alexander Graf von Gluszczewski (1837–1870) from Neuenheiligen. Alexander Graf von Gluszczewski was an officer of the Prussian Army and was married to Bertha Gräfin von Gluszczewski. It is possible that he impregnated Wilhelm's mother during a visit to Bukowitz where his relative Sanitätsrat Dr. von Gluszczewski was living. 1st Lieutenant Alexander Graf von Gluszczewski of the I. Battalion/3. Westfälisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 16 was ⚔ on 16 August 1870 in the Battle of Mars-la-Tour during the Franco-German War.

Wilhelm's younger brother Alexander Gluszczewski (later also written Gluszewski; 1870–1918) was also a Prussian career officer (commissioned on 18 June 1892 with the 3. Magdeburgisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 66), was promoted to Major on 22 March 1915 and remained missing during the Hundred Days Offensive at the end of the First World War as commander of the Grand Ducal Hessian Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 221 after retreating battles in front of and in the Hermann Position east of Cambrai on 8 October 1918.

Wilhelm von Gluszewski was well-acquainted with Harry Graf Kessler from his time in Potsdam, who mentioned him in his diary and visited him in 1914 in his position in Russian Poland.

Marriage

On 28 September 1894 in Wiesbaden, 1st Lieutenant Gluszczewski married his fiancée Clara/Klara Vorwerk (b. 4 February 1876 in Hamburg). The couple divorced on 6 November 1922 in Berlin. They had two sons:

• Heinz Wilhelm (b. 31 December 1895 in Magdeburg; d. 8 May 1980 in Garmisch-Patenkirchen), cavalry officer and member of the Fliegertruppe
  • Heinz, who his comrades called "Glu", joined the 3. Garde-Ulanen-Regiment in Potsdam, was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant with patent from 8 February 1914 and transferred to Imperial German Air Service during WWI. There he served as a pilot with the Jagdstaffel Nr. 4 (Jasta 4) in the Richthofengeschwader (Fighter Wing No. 1). He later became head of the foreign department at Henschel Aircraft Works (de). For some years until after WWII, Heinz lived with his family in Vina del Mar/Chile.
  • ∞ Berlin 7 November 1928 Margarete Sofie Simon (b. 12 May 1895 in Krefeld)
• Gerhard Alexander (b. 21 July 1897 in Neubreisach, Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen)

Nobility

On 15 October 1907 at Hubertusstock Hunting Castle, Kaiser Wilhelm II elevated Captain Wilhelm Gluszczewski to Prussian nobility as "von Gluszewski", the spelling of the name has now been slightly changed. After WWI in the 1920s, Wilhelm von Gluszewski applied for the use of his father’s title of count. This was granted (actually "not objected to") on 5 February 1927 by the Nobility Examination Committee of the Honorary Protection Association of the German Nobility (Ehrenschutzbund des Deutschen Adels) in the form of "Graf von Gluszewski-Kwilecki". The Counts of Kwilecki belonged to the Silesian nobility, which, however, had died out on the male side.

Promotions

• 18 December 1881 (Kadett-)Gefreiter
• 22 March 1882 (Kadett-)Unteroffizier
• 18 March 1886 Sekondeleutnant (2nd Lieutenant)
• 17 October 1893 Premierleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
• 16 June 1900 Hauptmann (Captain)
• 22 May 1912 Major
• 18 April 1917 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
• 30 November 1920 Charakter als Oberst (Honorary Colonel)
• 27 August 1939 Charakter als Generalmajor (Honorary Major General)

Awards and decorations (excerpt)

• Prussian Centenary Medal 1897 (Zentenarmedaille)
• Red Eagle Order (Roter Adlerorden), 4th Class (PRAO4/PrA4)
• Prussian Long Service Cross for 25 years (Königlich Preußisches Dienstauszeichnungskreuz)
• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
• House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (HOH3⚔)
• Pour le Mérite on 24 November 1917 as Lieutenant Colonel and Commander of the Leib-Grenadier-Regiment „König Friedrich Wilhelm III.“ (1. Brandenburgisches) Nr. 8
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords

Gallery

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