Robert Paul Theodor von Kosch was born in the Prussian Silesian town of Glatz (now Kłodzko, Poland) on April 5, 1856. The son of Hermann and Agnes Kosch, Robert was the youngest of ten children.
MILITARY RISE
After his time in the Cadet corps, the young Kosch graduated with the rank of second lieutenant and joined the Fourth Lower Silesian Infantry Regiment Number 51 (based in Breslau) on April 23, 1874. Three years later, he began his studies at the Prussian War Academy.
On April 3, 1880 (two days shy of his 24th birthday), Robert Kosch married Gertrude Noeggerath. Eventually, the couple would have three daughters.
Exactly one year later, Kosch was posted as battalion and regimental adjutant with the Lower Alsatian Infantry Regiment Number 132 in Strassburg. In 1885, he attained the rank of first lieutenant. Kosch then went to Berlin in April 1887 and joined the Greater German General Staff. By year’s end, he became a captain.
For the next seventeen years, Kosch was given a number of regimental and staff assignments. He also earned two promotions: first to major in March 1896, then lieutenant colonel in May 1902.
Nearly three years later (April 22, 1905) Kosch was made a full colonel and took command of the Landwehrbezirk II in Berlin. On February 16, 1907, he was named commander of the Eighth Brandenburg Infantry Regiment (General-Feldmarschall Prinz Friedrich Karl von Preußen) Number 64 based in Prenzlau. Kosch was promoted again on August 19, 1909 (this time to major general) and assigned to the 78th Infantry Brigade in Brieg. On April 22, 1912, Kosch was made a lieutenant general. Less than two months later, he was appointed commander of the Tenth Infantry Division in Posen.
MULTI-FRONT WARRIOR
After the outbreak of the Great War, Kosch led his division (now part of Crown Prince Wilhelm’s German Fifth Army) into the area near Verdun on the Western Front. But the ensuing Battle of the Marne in early September 1914 stopped the German advance on Paris, marking the start of four years of bloody trench warfare.
On October 9, 1914, Kosch was transferred to Lithuania on the Eastern Front. There, he replacing Hermann von Francois as the commander of I Army Corps. After the victories at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes, I Corps opposed the numerically-superior Russian “steamroller”. But after initial tactical setbacks, Kosch and his men helped win the snowy Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes in late February 1915. For this victory, Kosch was awarded the Pour le Mérite.
In June of that same year, Kosch was appointed commanding general of X Reserve Corps, replacing Johannes von Eben. As the Russians retreated eastward, he led his corps in battles on the Dniester, at Gnila Lipa, and at Krasnostaw.
Kosch then transferred to the Balkans where he fought against the Serbs later that autumn. He had the 101st and 103rd Infantry Divisions under his command, and these two units routed Serb forces during heavy combat in the mountainous region. Kosch was once again recognized by the Kaiser… and he received the oak leaves to his “Blue Max” on November 27, 1915.
In the latter half of February 1916 the Battle of Verdun began… where Kosch was one of the participants. Six months later, he became General der Infanterie.
Ten days after his promotion (August 28, 1916), Kosch assumed command of the newly-formed General Commando Number 52 (part of the Danube Army). This unit was used in the Bulgarian sector of the Danube River. The multi-day battle at Argesch (late November to early December 1916) culminated in a Rumanian defeat. It led to the occupation of Bucharest and the crumbling of Rumania’s western and northwestern front sectors.
Kosch then replaced Erich von Falkenhayn as head of the German Ninth Army on the first of May 1917. It was a temporary post; he would assume command until the arrival of Johannes von Eben on June 10th.
After the dissolution of the Danube Army in March 1918, Kosch and his men from General Commando Number 52 participated in the occupation of the Ukraine and the struggles against the Red Army. On May 1, 1918, he was appointed commander of all troops in Taurida and the Crimea.
After the November armistice was signed, Kosch commanded the Border Guard East, (effectively all German forces east of Berlin). Soon, these men were demobilized… and their leader retired from the German Army on January 10, 1919.
Robert Kosch died in Berlin three days before Christmas in 1942 at the age of eighty-six. He was laid to rest in the Invalidenfriedhof.
AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
– Order of the Red Eagle, First Class with Oak Leaves and Swords (August 6, 1918)
– Golden Grand Cross of the Albert Order with Swords (August 22, 1917)
– Pour le Merite (February 20, 1915) with Oak Leaves (November 27, 1915)
– Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold with Swords (September 13, 1917)
– Order of Saint Alexander (March 14, 1917)
– Frederickscross (October 17, 1916)
– Hanseatic Cross (June 10, 1916)
– Iron Crescent (January 20, 1916)
– Order of the Iron Crown, First Class with War Decoration (August 31, 1915)
– Iron Cross of 1914, First and Second Class
– Order of the Crown, Second Class (January 18, 1909)