August Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Erdmann von Cramon was born in the Prussian Silesian town of Pawlau on April 7, 1861. He was the son of Friedrich August von Cramon and Karharina Erdmuthe Gottliebe von Cramon (née von Taubadel).
The young August joined the military and soon rose through the ranks. In February 1883, he held the rank of second lieutenant. Cramon became a first lieutenant in September 1891… then was made a captain in June 1896.
Then in 1898, Cramon joined the Life Cuirassier “Great Elector” Regiment Number One based in the Silesian fortress city of Breslau. He also became part of Berlin’s Great General Staff. On the Kaiser’s 44th birthday (January 27, 1903), Cramon was promoted to major.
Six years later, Cramon was named commander of the Guard Cuirassier Regiment based in Berlin. In early 1910, he became a lieutenant colonel. Then two years later, Cramon was named Tülff von Tschepe und Weidenbach’s Chief of Staff as part of VIII Corps based in Koblenz. In the autumn of 1912, he was made a full colonel.
When the Great War began in August 1914, Cramon was still part of VIII Corps in Koblenz.
But as 1915 dawned, he replaced Freytag von Loringhoven as the German Military Plenipotentiary on the Imperial and Royal General Staff of Austria-Hungary. Based in Vienna with the rank of major general, Cramon would serve in this capacity until the end of the war.
As liaison, Cramon documented and reported on Austro-Hungarian actions in northeastern Italy. His most notable accounts are the Asiago Offensive (June 1916) in the Dolomite Alps and the decisive Battle of Caporetto (October 1917) on the Isonzo Front. While in Vienna, Cramon was made “General à la suite” in the royal court of Kaiser Wilhelm II. He would also be the last man in Imperial Germany promoted to lieutenant general.
After the war, Cramon worked primarily as a writer. He died in Glogau on October 20, 1940 at the age of seventy-nine. His grave is in the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin.