Kress von Kressenstein

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JohnW
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Kress von Kressenstein

#1

Post by JohnW » 02 Mar 2004, 06:11

All,

I am looking for information concerning this chap. I know that he served with the Turks during the war, but what did he do before and after? What ranks did he achieve ad whatwhat decoration was he awarded? Thanks.

John

Kaan Caglar
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#2

Post by Kaan Caglar » 02 Mar 2004, 17:26

Hello John,
Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein (1870-1948), a Bavarian born artillery-officer, formed a part of Liman von Saunders' military mission to Turkey in January 1914, and spent the majority of the war in the service of the Ottoman Empire.
With the formal Ottoman alliance with Germany in August 1914 - mere months away from Turkey's formal entry into the war - Kressenstein was appointed military adviser to Djemal Pasha, Fourth Army commander.
It was Kressenstein who advocated and disastrously planned the wholly unsuccessful attack on the Suez Canal in January 1915 which opened hostilities on the Palestine Front, damaging Djemal's reputation rather than his own.
Recovering somewhat in stature as a consequence of his successful defence in Sinai at the head of the so-called 'Desert Force', notably at Romani and El Arish in 1916, Kressenstein was subsequently posted to the defence of the garrison at Gaza.
In March and April 1917 Kressenstein led the successful defence of Gaza during the First and Second Battles of Gaza, although he came close to defeat on the first occasion, almost certainly being saved as a consequence of inept command decisions made by his British counterpart, General Sir Charles Dobell.
The British failure at Gaza directly led to the removal of both Dobell (by region Commander-in-Chief Sir Archibald Murray) and of Murray himself (by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George). Sir Philip Chetwode replaced Dobell and Sir Edmund Allenby arrived to take up Murray's position. Kressenstein meanwhile was awarded the Pour le Merite for his actions on 4 September 1917.
Allenby immediately proved a more resourceful and formidable opponent. Having prepared in great secrecy he unleashed the Third Battle of Gaza at the end of October 1917 that secured the British breakthrough in Palestine and led to the fall of Jerusalem in early December.
Replaced in command at Gaza on 5 November 1917 by former German Chief of Staff Erich Falkenhayn, Kressenstein was given command of the Turkish Eighth Army in defence of the coastal sector of the front until the summer of 1918, when he was transferred to command a German military mission in the Caucasus.
He returned to Germany with the end of the war in 1919, remaining in the army until his retirement as Lieutenant General in 1929.
He died in Munich in 1948.
Image
Both the picture and info taken from here
Best Regards
Kaan


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Stauffenberg II
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#3

Post by Stauffenberg II » 04 Mar 2004, 14:44

Hi John & Kaan!

Some minor data to add:

24.04.1870-06.04.1948 (thanks to AJK)

Friedrich Freiherr Kreß von Kressenstein took over the command of 7th (GE) Division in March, 1924 (from Gen. Lt. Otto von Lossow).

01.04.1924-31.12.1927: 7th (GE) Division, München
01.01.1928-30.11.1929: (GE) Group 2*, Kassel

* actually a Corps Command

ret.: 30.11.1929

Unfortunately I don´t know when he was promoted Gen. d. Art. (3-Star-General) but he was.

Now the strange part: All retired full 3-Star-Generals (Supreme Commanders, Group Commanders) were included in the German rank lists (honorarily). But not Kreß. I have the 1931 and the 1932 edition and he is the only guy missing. I have no explanation, why he didn´t receive that honor.

His impressive award list (thanks to USAF1986):

· Kingdom of Prussia, Order pour le merite (04.09.1917)
· Kingdom of Prussia, Red Eagle-Order, 4th Class with Crown
· Kingdom of Prussia, Crown-Order, 2nd Class with Swords
· Kingdom of Prussia, House-Order of Hohenzollern, Knight’s Cross (with Swords)
· Kingdom of Prussia, Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class
· Kingdom of Bavaria, Military-Max Joseph-Order, Commander´s Cross
· Kingdom of Bavaria, Military-Merit Order, Officer´s Cross
· Kingdom of Saxony, Albert-Order, Knight´s Cross 1st grade
· Kingdom of Württemberg, Friedrich-Order, Knight´s Cross 1st grade
· Grand Duchy of Baden, Order of the Zähringen Lion, Knight´s Cross 2nd grade with oakleaves
· Free City of Hamburg, Hanseatic Cross
· Austrian Empire and Kingdom of Hungary, Military-Merit Cross, 2nd Class with war decoration
· Ottoman Empire, Imtiaz-Medal, gold with swords
· Ottoman Empire, Osmanie-Order, 2nd class with swords
· Ottoman Empire, Medschidie-Order, 2nd class with swords
· Ottoman Empire, Liakat-Medal, gold with swords
· Ottoman Empire, Iron Crescent

Regards,
Stauffenberg II

Kaan Caglar
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#4

Post by Kaan Caglar » 04 Mar 2004, 15:59

Ow some minor data? 8O Awesome as always Stauffenberg II..
Thank you
Kaan

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Stauffenberg II
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#5

Post by Stauffenberg II » 04 Mar 2004, 16:22

A little bit off topic ... but for those interested in the Middle East War ... a must see is the last info provided by Glenn2438 & Jörg at:

http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/ottoman.htm

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VJK
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#6

Post by VJK » 07 Mar 2004, 18:34

Hi!

One more little snippet of information: in 1921 Kreß von Kressenstein was Chef des Wehramtes.

Here's another pic of him.

Regards,

VJK
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Glenn2438
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Kress

#7

Post by Glenn2438 » 07 Mar 2004, 18:54

Kreß was promoted to General der Artillerie on the 1st of January 1928 and retired on the 30th of November 1929 with permission to wear the uniform of Artillery Regiment 7. It is strange that he was not further listed in the published Ranglisten!

Regards
Glenn

JohnW
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Kress von Kressenstein

#8

Post by JohnW » 08 Mar 2004, 08:18

All,

Thanks to all for the information. Very impressive.

John

Tosun Saral
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#9

Post by Tosun Saral » 21 Aug 2007, 16:35

Kress with Col. Gott and pet dog at Palastina front
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Bill Woerlee
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#10

Post by Bill Woerlee » 28 Oct 2007, 09:46

Mates

To present this further information about Kress, I ask the indulgence of the moderators to allow me to introduce material that is not within the parameters of this particular forum but certainly tells of the later history of Kress.

Here is another little known fact about Kress - if he had ordered his men to have been a little bit more robust in their shooting, he could have saved the world the misery of World War 2. It is Kress' moderation that enabled Adolf Hitler to gain near martyr status after the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.

Curse the man for his alleged bleeding heart. Nothing like a massacre in time to save nine. Here is an article from the Times of 8 March 1924 at p. 9:

Image

The situation in Bavaria was bad and going to worse. Here is a description of the crisis and the role played by Kress in the whole affair. This following article explains why Kress was placed in the position of suppressing the Bierhalle Putsche.

Again, this article is from the Times, this time 22 October 1923, p. 12:

Image

Under Hitler, Kress became the overall commander of the cavalry units prior to him retiring.

All up, quite a remarkable fellow and obviously well thought of throughout the German Army.

Cheers

Bill

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Chris Dale
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#11

Post by Chris Dale » 27 Jan 2008, 14:11

"Under Hitler, Kress became the overall commander of the cavalry units prior to him retiring."

Didn't Glenn state that Kress retired from the army in 1929, before Hitler came to power?

Thanks for the great newspaper cuttings though.

Cheers
Chris

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