EARLY YEARS
Ernst Friedrich Otto von Oven was born in Haus Velmode (in the Westphalian district of Hamm) on February 3, 1859, one full week after the birth of the future Kaiser Wilhelm II. At the age of nineteen, young Ernst joined the Oldenburg Infantry Regiment Number 91 as an ensign. He was promoted to second lieutenant on February 14, 1880.
After attending the Prussian War Academy, Oven was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the summer of 1889. Soon, he joined the Greater General Staff in Berlin. Oven was promoted yet again… this time to captain in 1893.
After another promotion to major in 1899, Oven was named battalion commander of the Eighth Thuringian Infantry Regiment Number 153 (based in Altenburg) in 1903. Two years later, he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. Soon, Oven joined the staff of the Infantry Regiment “Prinz Louis Ferdinand von Prussia” (Second Magdeburg) Number 27 based in Halberstadt.
On August 7, 1908, Ernst von Oven was made a full colonel. Less than three months later, he was named commander of the Fusilier Regiment “General Field Marshal Graf Moltke” (First Silesian) Number 38 based in Glatz. In late April 1912, Oven became a major general and commanded the 38th Infantry Brigade (part of the 19th Division) based in Hannover.
THE GREAT WAR
Ernst von Oven commanded the 21st Infantry Division upon mobilization for the Great War in the summer of 1914. His troops were subordinate to General von Schenck’s XVIII Corps (which was part of Herzog Albrecht’s German Fourth Army) as they marched through Luxembourg into France.
Oven’s division initially saw action near Longlier on August 20, 1914. The unit was subsequently victorious during the two-day Battle of Neufchâteau. In the ensuing Battle of the Meuse, Oven was able to save the 25th Division from an enemy encirclement via his own decision. The 21st Infantry Division continued fighting on the Western Front near the towns of Reims, Roye, and Le Quesnoy. For his service, Oven was promoted to lieutenant general on the occasion of the Kaiser’s 56th birthday (January 27, 1915).
The 21st Infantry Division moved to the Verdun sector in early 1916… and it soon joined the great ten-month battle in late February. Oven’s men then transferred to the Somme in September 1916 in helping to prevent breakthrough attempts by the BEF.
At the start of 1917, Ernst von Oven was sent to the Eastern Front to replace Oskar von Hutier as commander of XXI. Army Corps. This unit was engaged in the area of Russia’s Narocz-See (a.k.a. Lake Narach). In November of that year, XXI. Army Corps was moved to the West where they initially fought in support of General von Mudra’s Army Department A. Soon, these men were moved again to support General von Gündell’s Army Department B in France’s Vosges Mountains.
In the spring of 1918, Oven was once again in the Verdun sector. This time, he was in charge of the detachment Meuse-West defending between the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River. Despite being wounded in the fight, Oven maintained command of his troops. For exemplary leadership, he was awarded the Order Pour le Merite on October 25, 1918.
THE POSTWAR AFTERMATH
Immediately following the armistice in November 1918, Oven lead his corps back to Germany for demobilization. He remained on active duty, leading Freikorps soldiers in postwar rebel activities that ended with the crushing of the Munich Soviet Republic. Subsequently in June 1919, Oven was put in charge of II Corps in Stettin, which took part in border protection against newly-independent Poland.
Oven also trained Germany’s transitional military force of 200,000 men. It was formed on the last day of September 1919 and became known as the Reichswehr. Upon its creation, Oven was relieved of his post and given the character title of “general of the infantry”.
Ernst von Oven survived to witness the rise and fall of the Third Reich. He passed away in Goslar on May 21, 1945 at the age of eighty-six.
His first cousin Georg also served as a general in the Imperial Germany Army during the First World War. Oven’s nephew Wilfred served as a senior associate in the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to Josef Goebbels during the Second World War.