Bernhard Gottfried Max Hugo Eberhard, Graf von Schmettow, usually shortened to Eberhard Graf von Schmettow, (17 September 1861 – 21 January 1935) was a German general of World War I.
Biography
Eberhard von Schmettow was born in Halberstadt, Prussia, as son of Maximilian Graf von Schmettow on 17 September 1861. In 1881 he joined an Uhlan regiment of the Prussian Army and spent the next 25 years as cavalry and staff officer; also serving as an aide-de-camp to Emperor Wilhelm II. He became commander of the 1st Life Cuirassier Regiment in 1906, of the 5th Cavalry Brigade in 1911 and of the Guards Hussar Brigade in 1912. Von Schmettow was promoted to Generalmajor in January 1913.[1]
In early 1917 Schmettow and his corps were transferred to the Western Front and made up of the 6th and 7th Cavalry Divisions. Shortly afterwards the corps changed, dismounting and exchanging most of the mounted units as cavalry was less needed, and was renamed 65th Corps or Gendkdo z.b.V. 65 ("General Command for Special Use 65").[2] Schmettow fought in the 2nd and the 3rd Battle of the Aisne. Close to the end of the war the corps, by now consisting of the 5th, 50th and 216th Infantry Divisions as well as the 4th Guards Infantry Division, participated in the Second Battle of the Marne. For his services in the latter Schmettow received the oak leaves to his Pour le Merite.
After the armistice General von Schmettow resigned his commission and ended his military service on 22 February 1919; passing away in Görlitz on 21 January 1935.
Family
He was married to Agnes von Rundstedt - sister of the famous Wehrmacht Field Marshall - and had three daughters and two sons. Eberhard also was a cousin of contemporary and fellow cavalry general Egon Graf von Schmettow.
One of his sons, Leutnant Maximilian von Schmettow, fell at Cunel in 1918. His other son, Rudolf von Schmettow, served in his father's regiment and later became a general-leutnant in the Wehrmacht. He commanded German troops in the Channel Islands, where his honourable, chivalrous and sensible influence was eventually recognised as key to the relative absence of extremism and oppression during the occupation.
^ abc"Militärisches Gefolge Seiner Majestät des Kaisers und Königs", Rangliste de Königlich Preußischen Armee (in German), Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Sohn, 1912, p. 104 – via hathitrust.org
^Cron, Hermann (2006). Imperial German Army, 1914-18: Organisation, Structure, Orders of Battle. Helion & Company Ltd. p. 95. ISBN1874622299.
^"Verdienst-Orden Philipps des Großmütigen", Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste (in German), Darmstadt: Staatsverlag, 1914, p. 138 – via hathitrust.org
^Bille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1926) [1st pub.:1801]. Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1926 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1926] (PDF). Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish). Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri. p. 49. Retrieved 23 October 2021 – via da:DIS Danmark.
