Leopold Wilhelm von Dobschütz Leopold Wilhelm von Dobschütz ( 1 January 1763 , Brieg , Niederschlesien – 3 February 1836 at Gut Zölling , Kreis Freystadt , prev . Kreis Sagan , Niederschlesien ) was a Prussia n " general of cavalry " , the " hero of Dennewitz " and " liberator of Wittenberg " , military governor of the Rhine province and of Breslau . He was Gutsherr of Zölling , which his wife had inherited , and the Gütern Ober - and Nieder - Briesnitz as well as Schönbrunn , all in the district Sagan . As to the year of his birth , there are different statements : The year 1763 is belied by his gravestone inscription and the " Seniority List of the royal Prussian army for the year 1801 " ; in his marriage certificate of 1787 , his age is indicated as 28 years , according to which he would have been born in 1759 . In other sources , one finds the years 1761 and 1764 , though 1763 is more likely to be correct . Family . Though nothing certain is known as to his parents , his mother was an only daughter from the old Silesian noble family of Dobschütz . His father is thought to have been a civil servant in Brzeg . Since almost every detail of his military career is known yet there is not a single reference to his parents or birthplace in the official documents , he may have been illegitimate or descended from an illegitimate branch of the family . On 27 November 1787 , as a 22 - year - old second lieutenant , he married the 17 - year - old Henriette von Braun ( 1770 , probably at Gut Zölling - April 5 , 1854 , Glogau , Lower Silesia ) at Gut Zölling . She was the eldest daughter of Hans Carl Christoph von Braun and Maria Sophia von Lehwald . The marriage remained childless , though they adopted Friedrich Heinrich Konrad Viktor von Lützow ( 1818 – 1831 ) , a nephew of Henriette . Military career . Training . After attending Gymnasium in Brieg ( before 1776 ) , Dobschütz had begun his military career at 14 by entering the 11th Dragoon Regiment as a junker ( v . Mitzladd , v . Bosse , v . Voss ) , rising to ensign on 26 December 1778 and serving in the garrison at Sagan the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778 - 79 . On 24 August 1785 he rose to second lieutenant in his dragoon regiment . In July 1786 Peter von Biron , Duke of Courland , joined the garrison , as did the Duke of Sagan in 1786 . The July issue of the " Schlesischen Provinzialblätter " included the following : " around 6 o ' clock at the Schultheater im Schloß of the officers were drilled . Herr Lieutenant von Dobschütz directed the whole and played the main role with old Beyfall . His Highness honoured him with a gold medal , costing 12 ducats . " In 1787 Dobschütz married . First Coalition . On 30 May 1791 he became first lieutenant and on 13 May 1791 was appointed staff - captain ( captain ) . Then , between 1793 and 1795 , he joined the War of the First Coalition against the French ( participating in the battles at Pirmasens , Kaiserslautern and Trippstadt ) . During this time he remained in the 11th Dragoon Regiment and on 20 November 1794 he rose to the rank of major . Grünberg . In 1795 he served in the garrison at Grünberg , where in 1798 his commander major - general von Voss remarked he was " a good staff officer , who was not lacking in military skills , and endeavours to gain more , brave before the enemy , who recommended himself " . On 14 March 1799 he was appointed head of the 4th Squadron , in which post he twice weekly distributed Rumford ' s Soup to children and the poor . The " Schlesischen Provinzialblätter " wrote on 18 February 1804 " Herr Major von Dobschütz . . . always worthy of the most notable awards , has become the first free - willing member of this institution . He also let this soup be prepared at his own expense . " Already on 24 July 1798 he qualified for a rise to the canonicate at St Nikolai zu Magdeburg , awarded him by Frederick William III of Prussia . Third and Fourth Coalitions . On 15 June 1805 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and on 15 June 1806 to oberst . Also in 1806 he took part in the Silesian campaign , in which he was captured by the French . On 13 March 1807 he had already been listed by the king for " replacement " ( i . e . release from active service ) , but after the Peace of Tilsit ( July 9 , 1807 ) he was still part of a prisoner exchange . In a letter dated 20 December 1808 Dobschütz asked the king that he be reinstated in the army , but on 24 February 1809 this request was finally rejected . Reluctantly withdrawing into civilian life , Dobschütz gathered round him a circle of like - minded Patriots . In January 1810 Dobschütz again asked the king to re - enlist him , but received a letter again rejecting the request on 28 February . The letter did , however , promise to make him an officer on half pay . On 1 November 1812 he was the temporary head of the Amt of the Landrat for Landkreis Sagan , his birthplace , all the while making repeated rejected requests to re - enlist . Sixth Coalition . At the beginning of the War of the Sixth Coalition , on the very day of the Prussian declaration of war against France ( 16 March 1813 ) he made another request to join up . He was accepted on 1 April and from May , again as an Oberst , he was president of the organising - committee for the establishment of the Silesian Landwehr en . On 6 May 1813 he was made Divisions - Chef of the 2nd Division of the Silesian Landwehr of Landkreises of Glogau , Sagan , Sprottau , Schwiebus and Grünberg . On 23 May he received the command of Crossen ( in whose organisation he had been instrumental ) , and started on 24 May began with the Marsch . On 27 May he claimed a transition at Crossen - one for the Silesian Army and the important Berlin posts - against the French superiority under marshal Claude Victor - Perrin . Dobschütz deceived his opponent into thinking he had a military force that did not in fact exist - of 4 . 5 battalions and 5 squadrons the infantry was defective and the cavalry and artillery lacked munitions . On 4 August 1813 Dobschütz was promoted to major - general in command of IV Army Corps ( " von Tauentzien " ) , a reserve corps . In this role he took part in several coalition victories such as those in Brandenburg at Großbeeren , Zahna ( 4 September 1813 ) , Jüterbog and Dennewitz ( 6 September 1813 ) , and most especially at Großenhain ( Sachsen ) and Dessau ( Sachsen - Anhalt ) , becoming known as the " hero of Dennewitz " . Thus , for example , at Mühlberg on the Elbe ( Brandenburg ) on 19 September 1813 he beat 3 French chasseur regiments and captured their commander Edmond de Talleyrand - Périgord , with only 1 squadron of black hussars and 2 squadrons of the Pommeranian Landwehr and colonel Slowaisky ' s two " Pulks " ( i . e . regiments ) of Cossacks . After a short command at Berlin , on 22 October 1813 he began the siege of Wittenberg , held by the French under general Jean François Cornu de Lapoype . On the night of 12 / 13 January 1814 , at 2am , he finally took its fortress , despite having requested the king to be relieved of this command on 20 November the previous year . An important source for the siege is the Diary of the siege artillery for the evening of 28 December 1813 to the morning of 13 January 1814 , written by the " Plauzen , Obrist and commanding engineer - officers of the 4th Army Corps , tasked with managing the siege of Wittenberg " written on 14 November 1814 . It contains the following account : After the capture of Wittenberg he was commander of the corps blockading the citadel of Erfurt and , after the corps took it on 16 May 1814 , commandant of Erfurt . On 19 October 1814 Dobschütz was made military commandant of the Prussian occupying forces in Dresden in the Kingdom of Saxony , and in this post he set up a smoking ban in the city .