Karl Freiherr von Kirchbach auf Lauterbach (

Gyöngyös Gyöngyös (; german: Gengeß) is a town in Heves county in Hungary, east of Budapest. Situated at the foot of the Sár-hegy and Mátra mountains, it is the home of numerous food production plants, including milk production and sausage factori ...

, 20 May 1856 -

Scharnstein Scharnstein is a municipality in the district of Gmunden in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Geography Scharnstein lies in the heart of the Alm valley. About 55 percent of the municipality is forest, and 36 percent is farmland. History The mu ...

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, an ...

, 20 May 1939), from 1917 Count von Kirchbach auf Lauterbach, was a colonel general of the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

Biography

Karl von Kirchbach auf Lauterbach was born in Hungary as the eldest son of

Feldmarschallleutnant Lieutenant field marshal, also frequently historically field marshal lieutenant (german: Feldmarschall-Leutnant, formerly , historically also and, in official Imperial and Royal Austrian army documents from 1867 always , abbreviated ''FML''), was ...

Ferdinand Freiherr von Kirchbach. Together with his younger brother Johann Ferdinand, he was destined to pursue a military career, in order to live up to the family tradition. At the start of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Kirchbach had reached the rank of

General of the Cavalry General of the Cavalry (german: General der Kavallerie) was a General officer rank in the cavalry in various states of which the modern states of German and Austria are successors or in other armies which used the German model. Artillery officers ...

, took over the I Corps and was the commanding general in Krakow. His corps advanced on the left flank of

Viktor Dankl von Krasnik Viktor Julius Ignaz Ferdinand Graf Dankl von Kraśnik (Born as Viktor Dankl; 18 September 18548 January 1941) was a highly decorated Austro-Hungarian officer who reached the pinnacle of his service during World War I with promotion to the rare r ...

1st Army First Army may refer to: China * New 1st Army, Republic of China * First Field Army, a Communist Party of China unit in the Chinese Civil War * 1st Group Army, People's Republic of China Germany * 1st Army (German Empire), a World War I field Arm ...

at the beginning of the offensive against Russia. During the August fighting his I Corps, operating north of the

Tanew Tanew is a river in south-east Poland, a tributary of San (river), San. It starts in Roztocze hills. Tanew has a length of about 113 km and its Drainage basin, catchment area is 2339 km². Its tributaries are: Potok Łosiniecki (R), Jel ...

, contributed decisively to the victory at Kraśnik. When Dankl's army was forced to retreat during the

Battle of the Vistula River The Battle of the Vistula River, also known as the Battle of Warsaw, was a Russian victory against the German Empire and Austria-Hungary on the Eastern Front during the First World War. Background By mid-September 1914 the Russians were dri ...

in October, his corps reached

Ivangorod Ivangorod ( rus, Иванго́род, p=ɪvɐnˈɡorət; et, Jaanilinn; vot, Jaanilidna) is a town in Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the east bank of the Narva river which flows along the Estonia–Russia int ...

and Kirchbach temporarily took over command of an army group south of the

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

. In the aftermath of the successful

Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive The Gorlice–Tarnów offensive during World War I was initially conceived as a minor German offensive to relieve Russian pressure on the Austro-Hungarians to their south on the Eastern Front, but resulted in the Central Powers' chief offensi ...

(May 1915) his corps reached the eastern bank of the

Bug River uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг , name_etymology = , image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg , image_size = 250 , image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland , map = Vi ...

in June 1915 and the

Ikva River The Ikva ( uk, Іква) is a river in Ukraine and a right tributary of the Styr River that flows through Lviv Oblast, Ternopil Oblast and Rivne Oblast in the Volhynian Upland.Zabokrytska, M. Ikva (І́КВА)'. Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine. It ...

near

Dubno Dubno ( uk, Ду́бно) is a city and municipality located on the Ikva River in Rivne Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Dubno Raion (district). The city is located on intersection of two major ...

in August 1915. In May 1916 his corps was transferred to the South Tyrolean front to take part as part of the 3rd Army in the subsequent South Tyrol offensive, which ended in failure. Afterwards, Kirchbach returned with his I Corps to the Russian Front, where he took over command of the 7th Army from General of the Cavalry

Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin Karl Freiherr von Pflanzer-Baltin (1 June 1855, Pécs, Hungary - 8 April 1925, Vienna) was an Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austro-Hungarian general who was active in World War I. Biography Pflanzer-Baltin became General of Cavalry from October 1912 a ...

on 8 September 1916. During the subsequent Russian Brusilov Offensive he managed to prevent the enemy troops from breaking through. On 20 October, he exchanged his command with General

Hermann Kövess von Kövessháza Hermann Albin Josef Freiherr Kövess von Kövessháza ( hu, kövessházi báró Kövess Hermann; 30 March 1854 – 22 September 1924) was the final, and completely ceremonial, Commander-in-Chief of the Austro-Hungarian Army. He served as a gener ...

and took over the command of the 3rd Army. He was promoted to Colonel General on 1 November 1916. On 5 March 1917, he took command of the 4th Army, but a serious illness soon forced him to leave his post. In October 1917 he finally returned to active service but was still marked by the illness he had suffered. On 8 December 1917, Kirchbach received the title of count. At the beginning of 1918, after

Operation Faustschlag The Operation Faustschlag ("Operation Fist Punch"), also known as the Eleven Days' War, Mawdsley (2007), p. 35 was a Central Powers offensive in World War I. It was the last major action on the Eastern Front. Russian forces were unable to put ...

, he was appointed military commander of all Austro-Hungarian troops in the

Kherson Governorate The Kherson Governorate (1802–1922; russian: Херсонская губерния, translit.: ''Khersonskaya guberniya''; uk, Херсонська губернія, translit=Khersonska huberniia), was an administrative territorial unit (als ...

with headquarters in Odessa. His task was to pacify the region and to retrieve as many resources as possible, but mainly agricultural products, from this fertile area. In the first days of April, his poor health forced him to retire from active service. After a few months of recovery, he again applied for a front command, whereupon Emperor Karl made him inspector of the Austro-Hungarian forces on the Western Front on 24 September 1918. After the end of the war, Colonel General von Kirchbach lived in Austria and fully recovered from his illness. He died in Scharnstein in May 1939.

References

Kirchbach
The Austro-Hungarian Army

Weltkriege

oocities {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirchbach auf Lauterbach, Karl Graf von 1856 births 1939 deaths Austro-Hungarian generals Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I People from Gyöngyös Colonel generals Theresian Military Academy alumni