PEEBLES PROFILES
EPISODE 163
Günther von Pannewitz
Günther Ludwig Feodor von Pannewitz was born in the Prussian Silesian town of Neisse on December 6, 1857. He was thr son of the Prussian lieutenant colonel Hermann von Pannewitz and Antonie (née von Siebold). Günther’s father was killed in the Battle of Königgrätz during the 1866 Austro-Prussian War.
MILITARY RISE
After his time in the cadet corps, Pannewitz was assigned to the Grenadier Regiment “King Frederick III” (Second Silesian) Number 11 in Breslau as a second lieutenant in April 1875. From October 1878 until the early spring of 1881, he served as an adjutant with the Schweidnitz district command before arriving in Strassburg to join the First Lower Alsatian Infantry Regiment Number 132. It was in Alsace that Pannewitz was promoted to regimental adjutant in November 1881. Four years later, he was ordered to continue his education at the War Academy for a three-year term. During that period, Pannewitz was promoted to first lieutenant.
On March 24, 1890, Pannewitz was again promoted, this time to captain. Over the next three years, he served on various general staffs, including III Corps and a second time with the General Staff. Then from February 1893 to November 1894, Pannewitz served as a company commander in the Infantry Regiment “Keith” (First Upper Silesian) Number 22. He was later transferred to the 21st Division in Frankfurt am Main with the role of First General Staff Officer.
Pannewitz continued his rise through the ranks, attaining the rank of major on September 12, 1895. As such, he was transferred to Berlin’s Greater General Staff on March 22, 1897…with a simultaneous role on Friedrich I, Grand Duke of Baden’s general staff with the Fifth Army Inspectorate in Karlsruhe.
With the dawn of the 20th century, Pannewitz married Ebba von Ekesparre in Davos on January 8, 1900. She was the daughter of the Baltic-German officer and Tsarist Russian State Councilor Eugen von Ekesparre and Anna Carolina Freiin Schilling von Cannstatt.
That summer, Pannewitz served as battalion commander of the First Baden Leib-Grenadier Regiment Number 109 in Karlsruhe. Then on April 22, 1902, he was made a lieutenant colonel… and served as a regimental adjutant with the Grenadier Regiment “King Friedrich III” (Second Silesian) Number 11 in Breslau.
Roughly one year later, Pannewitz was named department chief with the Greater General Staff in Berlin. But after only two months in the post, he was recalled and appointed von Moßner’s chief of staff with the Strassburg Governorate in Alsace. Pannewitz worked in that capacity for three years, earning yet another promotion to colonel on March 16, 1905.
In April 1906, Pannewitz was in command of the 5th Baden Infantry Regiment Number 113 based in Freiburg im Breisgau. Then in October 1908, he was the leader of the 14th Infantry Brigade based in Halberstadt. Pannewitz was promoted to major general on March 24, 1909.
In February 1912, Pannewitz was named provisional commander of the Fourth Infantry Division based in Bromberg. He would officially take command on April 22, 1912, replacing Richard Kolewe. That same day, Pannewitz became a lieutenant general.
THE GREAT WAR
When the First World War began in August 1914, Günther von Pannewitz led the Fourth Infantry Division into neutral Belgium. It was part of Alexander von Linsingen’s II Corps, which was subordinate to Alexander von Kluck’s German First Army. The Pomeranians fought on the Gete River and faced the BEF near Mons. After the devastating loss in the Battle of the Marne, Pannewitz’s men retreated, but stood their ground along the Aisne River.
Exactly three months after Germany went to war, Pannewitz was appointed commanding general of XVII Corps on the Eastern Front, replacing August von Mackensen. Under Pannewitz, XVII Corps fought at Kutno (in Russian Poland) during the Battle of Łódź as well as Rawka-Bzura. His men would hold their positions until the following summer…
On January 27, 1915 (Kaiser Wilhelm II’s 56th birthday) Pannewitz was promoted to General der Infanterie. Then on July 13, 1915, XVII Corps joined Army Group Gallwitz (to which the First Guards Reserve Division was temporarily subordinate) in the Narev Offensive. Przasnysz fell to the Germans on the first day! Pannewitz’s troops then broke through the Bogate Position, crossed the Narev between Różan and Pułtusk, and defeated the Russians in the Battle of Wonsewo in early August 1915. After further skirmishes and battles, the advance came to a halt upon reaching the Lithuanian swamps.
With the Cossacks soundly defeated in the East, Pannewitz and his corps were moved to the Western Front in October 1915. They found themselves in the heart of trench warfare between the Somme and Oise Rivers. When the British-led Battle of the Somme began on July 1, 1916, Pannewitz and XVII Corps supported the German Second Army. Together, they were able to hold the majority of German positions in heavy fighting.
On September 6, 1916, Pannewitz gave up command of XVII Corps due to health reasons. In recognition of his defensive stance on the Somme and his years of quality leadership demonstrated on the battlefield, Pannewitz received Imperial Germany’s highest award for bravery, the Order Pour le Mérite on September 13th.
By mid-October 1916, Pannewitz had fully recovered from his ailment. At the insistence of his superior officer General von Gallwitz, OHL sent Pannewitz on October 23, 1916 to Allenstein. There, he functioned for the remainder of the war as an acting commander at XX Corps headquarters.
FINAL YEARS
After the 1918 November armistice was signed in the Compiègne Forest, Günther von Pannewitz remained at his post… until his retirement from the German Army on December 4th. Despite his questionable health, Pannewitz nearly survived two more decades. At the age of seventy-eight, he died on September 23, 1936 in Freiburg im Breisgau.