Alexander Adolf August Karl von Linsingen was born on February 10, 1850 in Hildesheim, which was in the Kingdom of Hanover before the German unification. At the age of eighteen, he joined the Prussian Army.
In 1905, Linsingen achieved a divisional command. Four years later, he rose to corps commander. Linsingen was one of the very few top German generals not to have served on the general staff, and he partly owed his successful pre-war career to his mentor Erich von Falkenhayn.
At the beginning of World War I, Linsingen was commander of II Corps, which was attached to the German First Army. He participated in the crucial First Battle of the Marne in early September 1914.
Within three months, however, Linsingen was transferred to serve with Hermann von Eichhorn’s new German Tenth Army on the Eastern Front. With the Russians threatening Galicia, Linsingen was given command of the Austro-German Sudarmee (South Army) in the Carpathians in January 1915. His task was the forthcoming attack on the fortress of Przemysl.
In the spring of 1915, Linsingen successfully defeated the Russians armies in the hard fought Battle of Stryi, capturing 60,000 prisoners in the process. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite on May 14, 1915 and with Oak Leaves (for a second award) on July 3rd.
With his impressive performance in the Carpathians, Linsingen was put in charge of the Bug Offensive, replacing the formidable August von Mackensen in July 1915. Further success earned Linsingen another promotion to command of Heeresgruppe Linsingen (Army Group Linsingen), which was sent to occupy a critical area of southern Poland following the great Russian retreat. His army group consisted of the Bugarmee (Army of the Bug), the German Eleventh Army and (subsequently) the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army.
In June 1916, Army Group Linsingen participated in the Brusilov Offensive (the last great gasp of the Imperial Russian Army), which inflicted heavy damage upon the southern wing of the Austro-Hungarian element. After an initial retreat, Linsingen checked the Russians in Galicia in the decisive Battle of Kowel. The half a million casualties suffered by Brusilov’s men in early August 1916 finished off the Russian Army as an effective fighting force… with its remnants ripe for revolution. For his efforts, Linsingen was promoted to colonel-general, the second highest rank for a general in the Imperial German Army (the equivalent to an American four-star general).
After the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in early March 1918 (ending the war with Russia), Linsingen led the German advance into the Ukraine. But by April, Army Group Linsingen was disbanded… and its leader (promoted to full general) became Military Governor of Berlin two months later. With the onset of the German Revolution in early November 1918, Linsingen resigned with dismay from the army two days prior to the armistice.
Alexander von Linsingen died on June 5, 1935 at the age of eighty-five. He is interred at the Neuen St. Nikolai-Friedhof in Hannover, Germany.
DECORATIONS AND AWARDS
– Iron Cross of 1870, Second Class
– Order of the Crown, Second Class with Star (Prussia)
– Knight of Justice of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg)
– Service Award (Prussia)
– Commander Second Class of the Order of Albert the Bear (Anhalt)
– Knight’s Cross Second Class of the Order of the Zähringer Lion with Oak Leaves (Baden)
– Military Merit Order, Second Class with Star (Bavaria)
– Grand Cross with Gold Crown in the House Order of the Wendish Crown (Mecklenburg)
– Grand Commanders Cross of the Order of the Griffon (Mecklenburg)
– Grand Cross of the Friedrich Order
Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword (1911)
– Iron Cross of 1914, First Class
– Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen (1915)
– Pour le Mérite (May 14, 1915); Oak Leaves added (July 3, 1915)
– Order of the Black Eagle (January 27, 1917)
– Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle with Swords (January 27, 1917)
