Hans Karl Adolph
(25.03.1858 - 09.07.1928)
place of birth: Riesa, Sachsen (Saxony)
Königreich Sachsen: Kriegsminister, OBH,
Generaladjutant SM, General der Infanterie
der Infanterie Hans
von Carlowitz served as Saxony's War Minister during the first year of
the War (1914-15) and later commanded at the corps level on both
fronts. During the last year of the war, he headed up the Ninth Army
and the Second Army, at which time he vigorously defended the Siegfried
Line against a much superior British Fourth Army.
Carlowitz was born
in Saxony to Georg
v. Carlowitz, a courthouse officer, and his spouse Ida von Könneritz. After his Abitur,
Adolph studied law at Leipzig University, but after a couple years
opted for a military career with the Saxon Infantry, having already
previously served as a one-year volunteer with the 8th Infantry
Regiment in Leipzig.
General von Carlowitz' military career
saw him serving in several general staff positions within the Saxon
Army at the division and corps level. He also served for a few years
with the Prussian Great General Staff in Berlin. He eventually replaced
von Hausen as Saxony's Minister of War in May 1914, just prior to the
outbreak of World War One. This position was actually intended for
leading field army in case of hostilities, but Carlowitz was instead
called to head up the newly formed XXVII.
After recovering from a heart ailment in October 1914, he returned to
the field but only as commander of an infantry division. He was
transferred to the Eastern Front in the summer of 1915 as commander of
the III. Reservekorps which played an important role during the
Russian's Spring Offensive of 1916. In the summer
of 1917, von Carlowitz replaced the deceased Max v. Laffert as
commanding general of the XIX. Armeekorps back on the Western Front.
This corps was known as "Gruppe Aubers" during the successful offensive
at Armentieres in April 1918, for which von
Carlowitz received the Pour le Merite.
the last few months of the war, von Carlowitz commanded the
Ninth Army, responsible for defensive operations between Oise
and Aisne. He thereafter took command of the
Second Army which battled Rawlinson's Fourth Army near Cambrai
and St Quentin. After the War ended, he retired
from the army on 14 January 1919 and spent his last remaining years
with his wife at Gersdorf near Döbeln.
He was married to Priska von Stieglitz, and they had one son and three
daughters. Von Carlowitz died at Gersdorf on 9 July 1922 and is buried
at the military cemetary in Dresden-Alberstadt. His son Adolf became a
doctor, and one of his daughters, Ruth, married Ferdinand Freiherr von Fürstenberg.
Ritter (Komtur II:
26.10.1916; Komtur I: