Albrecht von Thaer

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Von Thaer was born in Panten, a small town in the flat lands a short distance to the west of Breslau (as Wrocław was known at that time), the eldest of his parents' six recorded children. He grew up with his siblings on his parents' farm ("Pawonkau Manor Farm" / "Gut Pawonkau ") at Lublinitz, some distance to the east of Breslau, on the margins of Upper Silesia. His father, Georg Ernst von Thaer (1834–1898), was a land owner and horse breeder who had been ennobled for his services to agriculture and cattle breeding. His mother, also from the ranks of the nobility, had been born Franziska von Dresler und Scharfenstein (1843–1918). Her father, Otto von Dresler und Scharfenstein (1805–1880), was a senior government administrator. One of her brothers, Albrecht's maternal uncle, Hermann von Dresler und Scharfenstein, later became an infantry general who won the Pour le Mérite medal in 1917. On his father's side, Albrecht von Thaer's great-grandfather Albrecht Daniel Thaer had been a pioneering agronomist, identified by admirers as the father of modern agriculture.^[3]

Von Thaer was initially home-schooled. Later he attended the Gymnasium (secondary school) in Liegnitz. By the time he passed his Abitur (school leaving exam) in 1888, it was as a pupil at the Liegnitz Ritter-Akademie (literally: "Liegnitz Academy for Knights"). Three of his mother's four brothers were army officers, and he resolved to pursue a career as a cavalry officer. His father insisted that he should first obtain a higher-level academic qualification, however, and accordingly he embarked on a period as a law student.^[1] Army officers with an academic qualification were relatively thin on the ground at this time, but having passed his Abitur von Thaer had surmounted the principal hurdle necessary to qualify for university-level education. As a student, he became involved with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and became an active follower of the conservative Christian-Socialist theologian-politician (and royal chaplain) Adolf Stoecker.

In 1892 Albrecht von Thaer passed Part I of the State Law Exams at the Berlin state court, after seven terms (three and a half years) of study. His studies might have progressed more rapidly had he not been combining them with the cautious beginnings of his military career.

During 1890–1891 Thaer served a one-year term with the 1st Life Cuirassiers "Great Elector" (Silesian) Regiment, based in Breslau. Then, on 1 October 1891, he was accepted as a reserve officer. His legal studies concluded, on 16 April 1892 he joined the 7th (Magdeburg) "von Seydlitz" Cuirassiers in Halberstadt. Here, thanks to his slightly unmilitary educational trajectory, he found himself approximately four years older than colleagues of similar rank who had become army officers via the Cadet Corps route. Thaers' superior, the regimental commander at this point, was Colonel von Runstedt: higher up in the military structure, the commanding general of IV Army Corps was Cavalry General Carl von Hänisch.

In summer 1892, the new Kaiser announced a long distance ride, between Berlin and Vienna, for German cavalry officers. Thaer, only recently commissioned as a second lieutenant, applied to his supervising officer for permission to participate, wearing the uniform of the Von Seydelitz Cuirassiers. The distance from Berlin to Vienna meant that the exercise would be unique, and that it would place considerable demands on the men and horses involved. The responsible cavalry officer, General von Hänisch, doubted that the newly promoted lieutenant, who till recently had combined his military career with that of a part-time law student, could successfully overcome the challenges involved. Von Hänisch's concern for the reputation of his cuirassiers was shared by Major-General Willy von Haeseler, commander of the 8th Cavalry Brigade. Despite the doubts of these senior officers, in the end von Thaer was permitted to take part in the event.^[4]

Albrecht von Thaer was able to compensate for his lack of military experience with knowledge of horses. The precise destination for the exercise was the suburb of Floridsdorf, on the south side of central Vienna. The fastest German rider was First Lieutenant Lord von Reitzenstein of the 4th (Westphalian) Cuirassiers "von Driesen", riding "Lippspringe", a Senner mare. The horse died after the race. The second fastest German horse - placed ninth in the overall rankings - was ridden by Albrecht von Thaer, with a total riding time of 78 hours and 45 minutes. The prize money was 1,800 Marks. His horse, a small oriental-Polish grey mare, had attracted derision at the start of the race. He had purchased the animal at the Kraków horse market in 1890. She reached the finishing point undamaged apart from signs of "saddle pressure" (as a result of which she fell out of contention for the "condition prize").

After the event, Thaer became a squadron leader with the heavy cavalry of the Cuirassier Regiment "Queen" (Pomeranian) No. 2 (a traditional unit from the former Dragoner-Regiment Nr.5 Ansbach-Bayreuth dragoons), based in Pasewalk (to the west of Stetin). Then from 1 October 1910, he was ordered to Berlin by the General Staff. He was assigned to the French division which was under the command of Hermann von Kuhl (who shortly thereafter was promoted to Generalmajor). Thaer was made a cavalry officer responsible for matters involving the French cavalry. In 1910 he was promoted to major.

During his time in Berlin, Thaer had an encounter with Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, the head of the German General Staff, who was of course several ranks senior to Thaer. The incident sheds light on the social nuances of honour and military etiquette that were a feature of the imperial Prussian officer corps at the time. In 1910, von Thaer returned from an absence of several months during which he had been on holiday in Russia and reported back to the head of the chief of staff, General von Moltke. Von Moltke invited his candid opinion on the state of relations between Germany and Russia. It seems likely that von Moltke misunderstood his junior officer's reply. He understood von Thaer to have advocated a Preventive war against Russia. There was much concern in Germany at this time that the military power balance with Russia was shifting in Russia's favour, and there were many who thought that since military confrontation was inevitable, the outcome would be more likely to favour the German Empire if war came sooner rather than later. Von Moltke was firmly opposed to the "preventive war" idea, however. Thaer, in his report of his conversation with von Moltke, insists that he too was similarly opposed to any "preventive war" proposals. But that seems not to have been what von Moltke thought he had heard. In any case, von Molkte concluded the interview frostily with the formal phrase, "Ich danke Ihnen, Herr Hauptmann" ("I thank you, Mr Officer"). Thaer saw this choice of words as an insult. The customary formulation at the time (even if strictly speaking "incorrect") would have been "Ich danke Ihnen, Thaer", using the name of a brother officer despite the difference in their actual ranks. Thaer waited for 24 hours and then submitted a complaint. Von Moltke apologised and clarified the matter to him.^[5] There is no obvious evidence that Thaer's subsequent military career was damaged by the incident.

His next appointment took effect on 15 September 1911 when he was transferred to the General Staff of the 36th Division, a border division stationed in Danzig, and at that time under the command of General Lieutenant Kuno von Steuben. The division included the First Life Hussars Regiments and the Second "Queen Victoria of Prussia" Life Hussars Regiments. At the same time that Thaer took up his Danzig posting, the young Crown Prince William was sent to Danzig-Langfuhr to take command of the First Light Hussars Regiments.

At the end of February 1913, he was transferred again, this time to the Guards Corps back in Berlin, as First General Staff Officer. The commander general at this stage was still 65 year old Infantry General and General Adjutant Alfred von Loewenfeld, who shortly thereafter, on 1 March 1913, made way for Infantry General and General Adjutant Karl von Plettenberg.^[6]

In August 1914, the Guards Corps moved up to the Western Front. On 11 November 1914, they took part in a concentrated attack on Ypres. Thaer was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff under von Plettenberg along the road linking Menen with Geluwe and Geluveld.

In January 1915, he was appointed Chief of the General Staff with the IX Reserve Corps which was deployed in trench warfare on French soil and was later involved in the battles of 1916–1918. That meant participation in the 1916 Battle of the Somme, at Arras and in the 3rd Battle of Ypres (Third Flanders Offensive) in 1917 and in Operation Georgette outside Armentières during the early part of 1918.^[7] After facing intensive British attacks, on 6 August 1917, Lieutenant Colonel Thaer was awarded the Pour le Mérite in recognition of his conduct as Corps Leader.^[8] Despite committing to paper his belief that the honour belonged more properly to his men, he wrote excitedly to his wife of the celebration planned with fellow officers on the evening of the award.

On 24 April 1918, Thaer was transferred to work at Oberste Heeresleitung (Supreme Army Command) as Chief of Staff for the Quartermaster general (II). The post had been created to support General Erich Ludendorff, who since September 1916 had been running the German army (and in some respects running the war effort) jointly with Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg.

At the start of 1919, he was transferred to the eastern frontier, stationed at Schneidemühl (since 1945, in Poland). Bitter fighting against Poles took place for several weeks and in the middle of February 1919, Thaer's troops withdrew behind the new Polish Corridor in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

On 7 September 1919, Thaer became chief of staff of the Northern Command, an Army group headquartered initially in Bartenstein and later in Kolberg (at which point it was renamed Command Group 3). In the context of the reduction of the army to just 20,000 men - soon afterwards raised by the victorious powers to a limit of 100,000 - on 10 March 1920, Thaer was given the task of creating the Seventh (Prussian) Mounted Regiment (previously the Sixth Mounted Regiment) in Breslau (as Wrocław was then known). This unit comprised mainly members formerly of the Life Cuirassiers' regiments; Thaer had command of this regiment until 31 December 1921.

By this time he was encountering increasingly stark differences with General Hans von Seeckt who had become head of the army in 1920. Thaer submitted his resignation and entered military requirement, taking at his own wish the uniform of a Colonel of the old Prussian General Staff; he was 53. Nearly two decades later, on 27 August 1939, he was given the title of Generalmajor in the context of nationwide celebrations intended to highlight the Battle of Tannenberg a quarter of a century earlier.

When he resigned from the army in 1922, Thaer was 54. He was appointed General Director and Legal Representative for the Silesian territories of the abdicated King of Saxony, Frederick Augustus III. On his abdication in 1918, the former king had relocated to his castle at Sibyllenort near Oels, where he had the use of a country estate of agricultural land and forest amounting to around 20,000 hectares. Thaer moved in 1922 to a service apartment in nearby Domatschine. His duties came to an end in 1934, some two years after the death of Frederick Augustus. One of Thaer's last official duties was to organise the former king's funeral which took place in Dresden on 23 February 1932. By the time the ex-king died, he and Thaer had become friends.

Thaer now managed the "Süßwinkel" manor farm, which occupied approximately 1,000 hectares near Oels. The property had been purchased from the king's estate by the geologist Hans Merensky in 1934. The Merenskys were family friends: those of the von Thaer children closest in age to the Marensky siblings had spent childhood years together on the Pawonkau manor farm, while Alexander Merensky was away in South Africa working as a missionary doctor. In 1938, Hans Merensky gifted the Süßwinkel property to Albrecht von Thaer and his elder brother, Georg "Süßwinkel". It may be of relevance that Merensky had worked in South Africa during the 1920s. In 1924 he had discovered what has come to be called the Merensky Reef, an area of rock containing most of the world's known platinum deposits. This meant that, following a period of destitution, Hans Merensky was, by the 1930s, inordinately wealthy.

Early in 1945, as another world war neared its end, the approach of the Soviet armies forced Albrecht von Thaer to flee to the west. He settled in Gronau, a short distance to the south of Hannover, and this is where, in summer 1957, he died. His wife had previously died in 1941.