HERWARTH VON BITTENFELD, KARL EBERHARD (1796-1884), Prussian general
field-marshal, came of an aristocratic family which had supplied many
distinguished officers to the Prussian army. He entered the Guard
infantry in 1811, and served through the War of Liberation (1813-15),
distinguishing himself at Lutzen and Paris. During the years of peace he
rose slowly to high command. In the Berlin revolution of 1848 he was on
duty at the royal palace as colonel of the 1st Guards. Major-general in
1852, and lieutenant-general in 1856, he received the grade of general
of infantry and the command of the VIIth (Westphalian) Army Corps in
1860. In the Danish War of 1864 he succeeded to the command of the
Prussians when Prince Frederick Charles became commander-in-chief of the
Allies, and it was under his leadership that the Prussians forced the
passage into Alsen on the 29th of June. In the war of 1866 Herwarth
commanded the "Army of the Elbe" which overran Saxony and invaded
Bohemia by the valley of the Elbe and Iser. His troops won the actions
of Huhnerwasser and Munchengratz, and at Koniggratz formed the right
wing of the Prussian army. Herwarth himself directed the battle against
the Austrian left flank. In 1870 he was not employed in the field, but
was in charge of the scarcely less important business of organizing and
forwarding all the reserves and material required for the armies in
France. In 1871 his great services were recognized by promotion to the
rank of field-marshal. The rest of his life was spent in retirement at
Bonn, where he died in 1884. Since 1889 the 13th (1st Westphalian)
Infantry has borne his name.
See _G. F. M. Herwarth von Bittenfeld_ (Munster, 1896).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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