Born on Christmas Day 1859 in the Kingdom of Hanover, Ludwig Gustav Adolf von Estorff was the second child of Eggert Ludwig von Estorff and Julie Bernhardine (née von Witzendorff). After serving time as a cadet in Berlin, Estorff was commissioned into the Prussian Army as a Lieutenant in the 31st (First Thuringian) Infantry Regiment in 1878.
In 1894, Estorff left the army with the rank of Hauptmann in order to join the Schutztruppe of German South West Africa. He soon saw service in the First Witbooi Rebellion. In 1899, Estorff returned to the Great General Staff and Colonial Protection Forces Headquarters in Berlin and was soon promoted to Major. He returned to African continent in June 1900, initially for duty with Prussian military forces in German East Africa. Estorff was then transferred to Protection Forces HQ in West Africa in 1901.
HERERO WARS
Estorff resigned in 1903, but he rejoined the Schutztruppe in the next year to fight in the Herero Wars as a battalion and regimental commander. As a column leader in the Battle of Waterberg, he was ordered to pursue the fleeing Hereros through the scarce Omaheke Desert. Estorff was highly critical of General Lothar von Trotha (both for strategical and ethical reasons)… and the latter’s decisions resulted in the Herero and Namaqua genocide. Nonetheless, Estorff followed his orders, thus also having a role in the event!
In early 1907, Estorff was made commander of the Schutztruppe of German South West Africa. Against the political wishes of the locals, he immediately closed the dreaded Shark Island concentration camp and relocated the remaining Nama people to the mainland. Estorff would keep his post before finally leaving for Germany in 1911. His diaries, reports and correspondence about his time in Africa would eventually be collected and published posthumously.
WAR IN EUROPE
Upon his return home, Estorff held the rank of Oberst. He first commanded the 92nd (Brunswick) Infantry Regiment… then the 68th Infantry Brigade in Metz.
When the Great War began, Estorff was promoted to Generalmajor and led a brigade attached to Crown Prince Wilhelm’s German Fifth Army. Estorff was wounded at Dannevoux in September 1914 when a bullet shattered his knee. He spent the next eight months in recuperation.
Upon returning to duty in 1915, Estorff was made commander of the 103rd Infantry Division, which participated in the Serbian campaign later that same year. In 1916, he commanded the 42nd Infantry Division on the Eastern Front… first in Rumania, then further to the north against the Russians. For his services in the latter campaign, Estorff received the coveted Pour le Merite, Germany’s highest military award.
With his division being part of the famed German Eighth Army, Estorff led the landing forces during Operation Albion, the successful amphibious operation to occupy the West Estonian archipelago. In March 1918, he took over the command of 60th Corps. In the final days of the war, Estorff was acting commander of the German Eighth Army.
LATER LIFE
After the war, Ludwig von Estorff served as the last commander of the prestigious I Corps throughout 1919. He also served (albeit temporarily) as the military governor of Königsberg.
Estorff was retained in the much-reduced Reichswehr and served simultaneously as commander of a brigade, military district, and even general command. During the 1920 Kapp Putsch, he announced his support of the new government. When the coup failed… and the legitimate Weimar Republic government was restored, Estorff was placed on inactive reserve status.
He saw no further service… but on August 27, 1939, in the wave of brevet promotions to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Tannenberg, Estorff was given the character title of General der Infanterie. A deeply religious man, Estorff later associated with German theologian and anti-Nazi Friedrich von Bodelschwingh… thus he became involved with the opposition to the National Socialist movement.
Sadly on October 5, 1943, Ludwig von Estorff died in Uelzen at the age of eighty-three.
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