Wilhelm von Haasy

Wilhelm Ritter von Haasy
Birth name	Wilhelm Anton von Haasy
Birth date	20 May 1867(1867-05-20)
Place of birth	Passau, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Death date	3 May 1946 (aged 78)
Place of death	Passau, Bavaria, Allied-occupied Germany
Allegiance	Kingdom of Bavaria German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Royal Bavarian Army Imperial German Army Vorläufige Reichswehr
Years of service	1885–1914 1914–1918 1919–1920
Rank	Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant)
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	Iron Cross House Order of Hohenzollern Pour le Mérite Military Order of Max Joseph

Wilhelm Anton von Haasy, with effect from 1917 Ritter von Haasy (1867–1946), was a German officer of the Bavarian Army, the Imperial German Army in World War I and the Reichswehr, finally Major General. On 27 August 1939, Tannenbergtag, he received the Charakter (brevet) as honorary Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht.

Career (chronology)

Militär-Handbuch des Königsreich Bayern, 1914

Bayerns goldenes Ehrenbuch 1914–1918, p. 26

Wander-Preis

• Bavarian Cadet Corps (Kadettenkorps)
• 22 July 1885 Portepee-Fähnrich (Cadet Officer)
  • joined the Königlich Bayerisches 13. Infanterie-Regiment „Franz Joseph I., Kaiser von Österreich und Apostolischer König von Ungarn“
  • Attended the war school in Munich
• 7 April 1887 Sekondeleutnant/Second-Lieutenant (2nd Lieutenant)
  • 15 June 1891 Regimentsadjutant
• 27 February 1895 Premierleutnant (1st Lieutenant) without patent; other sources state 22 February 1895
  • on 6 June 1895 received patent with effect from 11 June 1895
    • 13 December 1899 Appointed Hofjunker by Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria
    • 26 March 1901 Under position à la suite of the regiment appointed to the adjutant of the fortress government Ingolstadt (unter Stellung à la suite des Regiments zum Adjutanten des Festungsgouvernement Ingolstadt ernannt)
• 28 October 1902 Hauptmann (Captain)
  • 9 March 1903 Company Commander in the Infanterie-Leib-Regiment
• 23 October 1910 Major
  • January 1911 Staff Officer of the Infanterie-Leib-Regiment
  • 27 March 1913 to 18 March 1914 Battalion Commander in the Königlich Bayerisches 22. Infanterie-Regiment „Fürst Wilhelm von Hohenzollern“
  • Commander of the III. Bataillon/Königlich Bayerisches 17. Infanterie-Regiment „Orff“
    • After mobilization at the outbreak of the First World War, von Haasy and his battalion fought for the first time in the Battle of Lorraine (Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen). Then came the fighting at Nancy-Épinal, before he moved to northern France with the battalion and fought here on the right wing of the army in the Battle of the Somme. At the end of October 1914, he took part in the Battle of Ypres. During the fighting south of St. Eloi, von Haasy was wounded through a bullet in the right lower leg. After a brief stay in the military hospital (Lazarett), he returned to his troops on 13 December 1914, which at that time were already engaged in trench warfare.
  • 23 April 1915 Commander of the Königlich Bayerisches 5. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment/5. (Königlich Bayerisches) Reserve-Infanterie-Brigade/4. Königlich Bayerische Division/II. Königlich Bayerisches Armeekorps/6. Armee at the Western Front
• 23 November 1915 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
  • It was not until the summer of 1916 that the regiment left its positions and saw action in the Battle of the Somme near Longueval and the Foureaux Forest. His troops managed to defend the Foureaux forest, which was a key position in the German defense, for 17 days. After the fighting was over, the regiment was back in trench warfare in Flanders. In June 1917, von Haasy was then involved in the heavy fighting around Messines. Here he defended the positions assigned to him against the attacking English, but had to retreat on orders from the command. In the fall of 1917, the regiment was deployed on the left wing of the 7th Infantry Brigade in the Third Battle of Ypres. After English formations had captured German positions in the area of ​​the 23rd Reserve Division, von Haasy succeeded in counterattacking and leading a successful attack on the heights north of Broodseinde. It was also possible under his leadership during the battles for Passchendaele to recover the Flanders position (Riegelstellung).
  • 6 June 1918 Pour le Mérite from Kaiser Wilhelm II; The award was given for "Operation Georgette", more precisely for the Battle of the Kemmelberg (Schlacht um den Kemmelberg). Lieutenant Colonel von Haasy and his regiment succeeded in taking the villages of Dranoutre and Locre on 25 and 26 April 1918. The line reached could also be held against counterattacks.
• 28 May 1918 Oberst (Colonel)
  • As a result of heavy casualties during the defensive battle south of Arras to north of Albert in August 1918, his regiment was disbanded by 16 September 1918 and the remnants distributed to the 4th Division.
  • 1918 Leader for a short time of the Königlich Bayerische 7. Infanterie-Brigade
  • 5 October 1918 Commander of the Königlich Bayerisches 18. Infanterie-Regiment „Prinz Ludwig Ferdinand“ (succeeding his brother Franz, who had had an accident)
    • In the last weeks of the war he took part in the battles in the Woëvre plain with the regiment in Army Section C (Armee-Abteilung C). After the Compiègne armistice, von Haasy led his regiment back home, where it was demobilized in Ochsenfurt on 11 December 1918. With parts of the regiment that had not yet been demobilized (possibly Freikorps), von Haasy was tasked with suppressing the leftist unrest in Würzburg on 8 and 9 April 1919. Subsequently, he was also involved in the liberation of Munich (Bavarian Soviet Republic).
  • 23 May 1919 Transferred to the Provisional Reichswehr, where he served as an infantry commander in the 23rd Reichswehr Brigade in Würzburg
• 30 September 1920 Charakter als Generalmajor
• 27 August 1939 Charakter als Generalleutnant

Civilian life

After his farewell in 1920, Haasy was court cavalier (Hofkavalier) to the Princesses Hildegard and Helmtrud of Bavaria for many years. He was also for a time administrator (Verwalter) at Wildenwart Castle. His close contacts also included Wiltrud Marie Alix Herzogin von Urach, née Prinzessin von Bayern (1884–1975), wife of Wilhelm (II.) Herzog von Urach, Graf von Württemberg at Lichtenstein Castle. He remained in constant contact with the veterans of “his” 5th Reserve Infantry Regiment. In 1940, he donated a challenge prize (Wander-Preis) for the regiment association.

Family

Wilhelm was the son of the Passau state court director (Landgerichtsdirektor) Franz Joseph Xaver von Haasy (1827–1910) and his second wife (∞ 18 July 1865) Wilhelmine, née Oehl (1840–1914). Their family was elevated to nobility of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (Reichsadelstand) by the Roman-German Emperor in 1764 and incorporated into Bavarian nobility by King of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph on 5 January 1813. He had four siblings:

• Franz Alois Joseph (b. 28 April 1864; d. 18 May 1864)
  • from the first marriage of Wilhelm's father (∞ 18 July 1865) with Franziska Weniger (b. 14 December 1834; d. 15 September 1864), who couldn't live with the early death of her son
• Burkhard Friedrich Karl (1866–1904), Hofjunker, Königlich Bayerisches 16. Infanterie-Regiment „Großherzog Ferdinand von Toskana“, finally Hauptmann and Company Commander in the Königlich Bayerisches 15. Infanterie-Regiment „König Friedrich August von Sachsen“; member of the Deutsch-Österreichischer Alpenverein
• Franz Xaver Friedrich (1868–1936), Hofjunker, Oberstleutnant and Commander of the Königlich Bayerisches 18. Infanterie-Regiment „Prinz Ludwig Ferdinand“
  • ∞ 11 June 1908 Karoline Viktoria Maria Droßbach (daughter Gertrud Maria Johanna, b. 28 January 1910)
• Hermann Alois (b. 29 December 1870), Second-Lieutenant in the 5. Feld-Artillerie-Regiment, Oberleutnant a. D., chemist (Diplom-Chemiker), Dr. phil.
  • ∞ Amance Lebert (d. 17 January 1904)

Awards and decorations

• Austrian Inhaber-Jubiläums-Medaille in Silver (ÖIJMs)
• Jubiläumsmedaille für die bayerische Armee (1905)
• Red Eagle Order (Roter Adlerorden), 4th Class (PRAO4/PrA4)
• Military Merit Order (Bavaria), 4th Class (BMV4)
• Order of Franz Joseph, Knight's Cross (ÖFJ4)
• Bavarian Long Service Cross (Königlich Bayerisches Dienstauszeichnungskreuz), II. Class for 24 years (BD2)
• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
• Military Merit Order (Bavaria), 3rd Class with the Crown and Swords (BMV3mKr⚔)
• House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (HOH3⚔) on 27 July 1917 (Bavarian acceptance approval came later, c. 28 August 1917)
• Pour le Mérite on 6 June 1918 as Oberstleutnant and Commander of the Königlich Bayerisches 5. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
• Military Merit Order (Bavaria), Officer's Cross with Swords (BMV.O⚔)
• Wound Badge (Verwundetenabzeichen 1918) in Black
• Military Order of Max Joseph, Knight's Cross (BMJ3) after 1921 (postwar) with effect from 4 October 1917 (Militär-Max-Joseph-Orden)
  • now known as Ritter von Haasy
• Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer