Josias von Heeringen

Heeringen was born in Kassel in the Electorate of Hesse. He was the son of Josias von Heeringen (1809–1885) and his wife Ehefrau Karoline von Starkloff (1817–1871). His younger brother August von Heeringen (* 26. November 1855 in Kassel; † 29. September 1927 in Berlin), served as a naval officer and was a Chief of the German Naval General Staff. Josias von Heeringen married in 1874 Augusta von Dewall.

After a lengthy military career, he became a major in the ministry of war. From 1892 to 1895, he was head of department in the General Staff. In 1898 he was appointed a Major-General and made head of the army's department within the ministry of war.

In 1901 he was made a Generalleutnant and in 1903 became head of the 22nd Division.[1] In 1906 he was made a General der Infanterie, and also commander of the II Army Corps, whose headquarters was in Stettin. From 1909 to 1913, he was Prussian Minister of War, then became General Inspector of the II Army Inspectorate, headquartered in Berlin.

He took command of the Seventh Army in August 1914, the army that was being used as a decoy for the attempted German invasion of France, and he successfully defended Alsace against the French in the Battle of Mulhouse for which he was awarded the Pour le Mérite (28 August 1915). He became an honorary citizen of Kasel in 1914 and was awarded the oak leaves on 28 August 1916.[2] He commanded the Seventh Army until 1916, when he was transferred to coastal command in Germany for the rest of the war. He left active service with the rank of a Colonel General.

From 1918 to 1926, he was president of the Kyffhäuserbund. He died on 9 October 1926 in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

• Newspaper clippings about Josias von Heeringen in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW