Max von Fabeck Herrmann Gustav Karl Max von Fabeck ( 6 May 1854 - † 16 December 1916 ) was a Prussian military officer and a German " General der Infantarie " during World War I . A competent and highly decorated commander , von Fabeck is a recipient of the Pour le Mérite , Prussia ' s and Germany ' s highest military honor . Life . Fabeck was born in Berlin in 1854 , when it was the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia . He was the son of Prussian Lieutenant - General Hermann von Fabeck ( 1816 – 1873 ) and wife Bertha , née von dem Borne ( 1829 – 1910 ) . By the time he was 17 years old he was already a second lieutenant in the 1st Footguards Regiment ( ) . From 1878 to 1879 he attended the Prussian Military Academy . In 1882 he was appointed to the German General Staff and was promoted to captain in 1884 . From 1886 he served in the General Staff of the 28 . Division in Karlsruhe . On 24 October 1887 married Helene von Seldeneck ( born 7 October 1863 in Karlsruhe , † 13 July 1938 in Cologne ) , the daughter of the Grand Duke of Baden , chamberlain of William and Julie Brandt Seldeneck of Lindau . The couple had three daughters Ilse , Margaret and Hildegard . He became a staff officer to the VI Army Corps in Breslau in 1889 and shortly thereafter was promoted to Major . From 1893 he served in the regiment " Grenadier König Friedrich Wilhelm II . ( 1 . Schlesisches ) Nr . 10 " in Schweidnitz . In 1896 he was a Lieutenant Colonel Chief of Staff of the XI . Army Corps in Kassel . In 1898 he was promoted to Colonel and received his first command : the " Infanterie - Regiments „ Herzog Friedrich Wilhelm von Braunschweig “ ( Ostfriesisches ) Nr . 78 " in Osnabrück . From 1901 he led the 25th Infantry Brigade in the 13th Army Division in Münster . He was promoted to Major General that same year . In 1906 Fabeck was promoted to lieutenant general and commander of the 28th Army Division in Karlsruhe . In 1910 he was appointed general of the infantry and commanding general of the XV Army Corps in Strasbourg . In 1913 he assumed the same position at the XIII ( Royal Württemberg ) Army Corps in Stuttgart . World War I . At the beginning of World War , the XIII Army Corps commanded by von Fabeck was part of Germany ' s 5th Army which was commanded by Crown Prince Wilhelm . It participated in the mobile battles known as the Race to the Sea and the First Battle of Ypres . In March 1915 von Fabeck briefly commanded the newly formed 11th Army , which was quickly transferred from the Western to the Eastern fronts with whom he fought in Lithuania . In April 1915 he replaced the injured Alexander von Kluck as commander of the 1st Army . In September 1915 von Fabeck got command of the 12th Army , with whom he transferred to the Eastern Front . He was also attached à la suite to Infanterie - Regiment Nr . 129 on 27 January 1916 . Before he fell ill in October 1916 von Fabeck was the commander of 8th Army for a few weeks . General von Fabeck was awarded the Pour le Mérite for outstanding military leadership during the 1914 - 15 campaigns in Flanders and northern France , as well as in recognition of successful operational planning in the battles at Mons , Le Cateau and the Ourcq river . He received a personal telegram from the Wilhem II congratualating him on the award . Death . In October 1916 von Fabeck became seriously ill and he committed suicide on 16 December 1916 at Partenkirchen , Kingdom of Bavaria .