Maximilian von Prittwitz

Prittwitz came from an old aristocratic Silesian family in Bernstadt (now Bierutów, Poland). His father was Gustav von Prittwitz, a Prussian general, and his mother was Elizabeth von Klass.

On 19 May 1874 Prittwitz married Olga von Dewitz (30 August 1848 – 9 January 1938), the daughter of Kurt von Dewitz, a landowner and his wife Euphemia, née von der Groeben. Their only son died on 23 May 1918.

After attending a school in Oels, Prittwitz joined the 3rd Guard Grenadier Regiment and fought in the Austro-Prussian War. He was then commissioned as a junior officer in the 38th Fusileers with which regiment he served in the Franco-Prussian War. After attending the Prussian Military Academy Prittwitz was appointed to the 6th Jaeger Battalion. He subsequently held a number of General Staff positions, interspersed with company and battalion commander appointments in various infantry regiments. In 1913 he was appointed as Generaloberst (full general), in command of the XVI. Army Corps in Metz.

On 2 August 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War, Prittwitz was appointed commander of the German Eighth Army and assigned to defend East Prussia from an expected Russian attack.[1]

When the Russian invasion threatened his rear, Prittwitz suggested a retreat to the west of the Vistula. This meant abandoning East Prussia, which the German General Staff found unacceptable. Additionally, commander of the I Corps Hermann von François complained to the General Staff that his superior was panicking; the General Staff concurred in this assessment. Prittwitz was promptly replaced as Eighth Army commander by Paul von Hindenburg on 23 August 1914.[2] Hindenburg, and his chief of staff Erich Ludendorff, then destroyed the two invading Russian armies at the Battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes.

Prittwitz retired to Berlin, where he lived for three years before dying of a heart attack. He was buried in the Invalids' Cemetery (Invalidenfriedhof) in Berlin.