- Source: Felix Graf von Bothmer
Felix Ludwig Graf von Bothmer (10 December 1852 – 18 March 1937) was a German general from Bavaria. He notably served in the Brusilov offensive of World War I.
Military Career and After
After completing the royal pagery, Graf von Bothmer joined the Bavarian Army on 12 February 1871 serving with the Royal Bavarian Life Guards. He spent most of the following forty years serving in the Bavarian War Ministry or on the Royal Bavarian Army General Staff, with stints of line duty and three years in Berlin with the Prussian General Staff. Rising through the ranks; in 1910 he was promoted to General der Infanterie. Before World War I Bothmer fractured a leg which rendered him unfit for field duty, resulting in him having to wait for a command until December. On 30 November 1914 he was appointed to command the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division at Ypres.
On 22 March 1915 he was given the command of Corps Bothmer, a unit raised to help defend the passes of the Carpathian Mountains against Russian attacks that directly threatened Hungary. He won the Battle of Zwinin which took place from 5 February – 9 April 1915, and was thus in the right place to take part in the great German advance after the breakthrough during the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive in May 1915.
After 6 July 1915, Hans Ritter von Hemmer was his Chief of General Staff. On 7 July, he was awarded the Pour le Mérite for outstanding leadership and distinguished military planning and successful operations during the battles of Dniester, Gnila-Lipa, and Zlota-Lipa. A day later Bothmer succeeded Alexander von Linsingen as commander of the South Army, which consisted of German and Austrian units. He was awarded the oak leaves to his Pour le Merite on 25 July 1917 for his actions during the battle around the city of Brzezany during the German summer offensive on the eastern front, as well as for his leadership and during the battle at the bridgehead at Zbrucz. He also received the Grand Cross of the Bavarian Military Order of Max Joseph.
His units stood firm against the Brusilov Offensive of June 1916. In 1917, he was appointed to command the 19th Army in Lorraine. He remained there until 8 November 1918, while to the north the German front crumbled. Bothmer retired from the army in November 1918. Bothmer's last job in the army, again along with von Hemmer, was as an adviser for the Bavarian Ministry for Military Affairs from November to December 1918, mostly overseeing the demobilization of the soon-to-be-disbanded Bavarian Army.
After the war, he lived in Munich. After the Beer Hall Putsch, Bothmer said during the trials of Adolf Hitler that the putsch was well prepared.
Count Bothmer died in Munich on 18 March 1937 and, contrary to his family's wishes, Adolf Hitler's government ordered a state funeral. He was eulogized by Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria.
Family
Bothmer's father was Lieutenant General Maximilian "Max" Joseph Graf von Bothmer (1816–1878) and belonged to an old German nobility. His uncle was General der Infanterie Friedrich Ludwig Carl Ernst Graf von Bothmer (1805–1886). Felix Graf von Bothmer married his fiancée Auguste von Baldinger (1855–1941) on 22 July 1882. They had 2 daughters together.
Military ranks
Officiers-Aspirant 1. Classe: 12 February 1871
Unterlieutenant (renamed Second-Lieutenant in 1872): 28 November 1871
Premier-Lieutenant: 23 November 1882
Hauptmann: 31 October 1888 without Patent
received Patent on 15 February 1889
Major: 22 September 1893
Oberst-Lieutenant: 17 March 1897
Oberst: 21 July 1900
Generalmajor: 18 May 1903
Generalleutnant: 15 September 1905
General der Infanterie: 4 May 1910
Generaloberst: 9 April 1918
Decorations and Honours
Bavaria
Military Order of Max Joseph, Knight's Cross (1915), Commander's Cross (1915) and Grand Cross (1916)
Military Merit Order, 1st Class, Swords to 1st Class and Grand Cross with Swords
Service Decoration, 1st Class
Ludwigs-Orden, Honor Cross
Jubilee Medal
Merit Order of St. Michael, 1st Class
Prussia
Order of the Red Eagle, 1st Class
Pour le Mérite with Oakleaves
1914 Iron Cross 1st Class
1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class
War Commemorative Medal of 1870/71 in Steel on the Ribbon for Combatants (German Award)
Centenary Medal
Prussian Order of the Crown, 1st Class
The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (German Award)
Other German states
Anhalt: Friedrich Cross
Bremen: Hanseatic Cross
Brunswick: House Order of Henry the Lion, Grand Cross
Hesse-Darmstadt: Order of Philip the Magnanimous, Grand Cross with Crown
Hohenzollern: Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, 1st Class with Swords
Lübeck: Hanseatic Cross
Saxony: Albert Order, Grand Cross and Star and Swords to Grand Cross
Saxony: Military Order of St. Henry, Knight's Cross and Commander's Cross
Württemberg: Order of the Württemberg Crown, Grand Cross
Other countries
Austria-Hungary: Imperial Austrian Order of Leopold, Grand Cross with War Decoration
Austria-Hungary: Imperial Austrian Order of the Iron Crown, Knight 1st Class with War Decoration
Austria-Hungary: Military Merit Cross, 1st Class with War Decoration
Austria-Hungary: Large Military Merit Medal in Gold (Grand Military Merit Medal) on the Ribbon of the Medal for Bravery
Austria-Hungary: Red Cross Decoration 1st Class with War Decoration
Ottoman Empire: Imtiaz Medal in Gold with Swords
Ottoman Empire: Liakat Medal in Gold with Swords
Ottoman Empire: Turkish War Medal (so-called "Gallipoli Star")
Ottoman Empire: Order of Medjidie, 1st Class with Swords
Foreign awards (pre-WWI)
Denmark: Order of the Dannebrog, Knight
Japan: Order of the Sacred Treasure, Grand Officer's Cross
Spain: Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit (Spain)
The orders above which were from Allied nations were awarded prior to World War I.
References
External links
Felix Graf von Bothmer at Austrian Commanders
Additional Reading
Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen, Friedrichfranz Feeser, "Das Bayernbuch vom Weltkriege 1914-1918", I. Band, Chr. Belser AG, Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1930
Günter Wegner, Deutschlands Heere bis 1918, Band 10, Bayern, Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, 1984
Rudolf v. Kramer, Otto Freiherr von Waldenfels, Der königlich bayerische Militär-Max-Joseph-Orden, Selbstverlag des k. b. Militär-Max-Joseph-Ordens, München 1966