Hans von Kirchbach Rudolph Bodo Hans von Kirchbach ( born 22 June 1849 in Auerbach ( Vogtland ) , died 23 July 1928 in Dresden ) was a Royal Saxon army officer who was a Generaloberst in the First World War and awarded the Pour le Mérite . Life and Military Career . Hans came from the Saxon nobility Kirchbach and was the son of the Oberland Forest Master Carl von Kirchbach ( 1799 - 1893 ) , Privy Council of Finance and Saxon royal chamberlain , and his second wife Josephine von Bodenhausen ( 1825 - 1898 ) . Kirchbach attended private school in Auerbach and the higher secondary school of Bezzenberger and Opelt in Dresden . He joined the army on 1 April 1863 , at the age of 14 years , spending 3 years as a cadet in the Royal Saxon Artillery School in Dresden . In May 1866 , Kirchbach was assigned to the 19th ( 2nd Royal Saxon ) Foot Artillery and with this Regiment took park in the Austro - Prussian War . He was promoted in July 1866 to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and in August joined the 12th ( 1st Royal Saxon ) Field Artillery . He served with this Regiment in the Franco - Prussian War and won the Iron Cross ( 1870 ) . In 1872 , he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant and Captain in 1877 . Between 1878 and 1881 he served as a regimental and brigade adjutant and as adjutant to the King Albert of Saxony . In 1881 , he was appointed battery commander in the 19th ( 2nd Royal Saxon ) Foot Artillery Regiment . He served from 1884 to 1889 as an Instructor at the Artillery and Engineering School in Berlin , gaining promotion to Major in 1887 . In 1889 he returned to the 12th ( 1st Royal Saxon ) Field Artillery Regiment as commander of the 1st " Abteilung " ( equivalent to Battalion ) . There , in 1891 , he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant colonel . Kirchbach was transferred to the Saxon War Department in 1893 , and became a Colonel in 1895 , when he was placed in command of the 32nd ( 3rd Royal Saxon ) Field Artillery Regiment . In 1899 , now a Generalmajor , he was commander of the 40th ( 4th Royal Saxon ) Field Artillery Brigade , and in 1901 , commander of the 23rd ( 1st Royal Saxon ) Field Artillery Brigade . In 1904 Kirchbach was promoted to Generalleutnant and appointed commander of the 32nd ( 3rd Royal Saxon ) Division . In 1907 he was appointed General der Artillerie and Commanding General of the XIX ( 2nd Royal Saxon ) Corps . Thus , he held one of the three highest positions in the Saxon army during peacetime . Kirchbach received this post even though he had not previously held a general staff position . King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony appointed him in 1912 " à la suite " of the 32nd ( 3rd Royal Saxon ) Field Artillery Regiment . After nearly six years as Corps Commander , Kirchbach retired at the end of November 1913 . World War I . Within months of retirement , the First World War broke out . Kirchbach was reactivated and was assigned as the Commanding General of the XII ( Royal Saxon ) Reserve Corps , part of the predominantly Saxon 3rd Army on the right wing of the forces that invaded France as part of the Schlieffen Plan offensive in August 1914 . He served with this Corps on the Western Front over the next three years . He fought in 1914 in the First Battle of the Marne , in 1915 in the First Battle of Champagne , in 1916 in the Battle of the Somme and at the Battle of Passchendaele at Ypres in 1917 . For his service as a Corps commander , he was decorated with the Pour le Mérite on 11 August 1916 . In December 1917 , Kirchbach moved to Eastern Front where he became commander of " Armee - Abteilung D " replacing his cousin General der Infanterie Günther Graf von Kirchbach . In January 1918 he was promoted to the rank of Generaloberst . " Armee - Abteilung D " was dissolved in October 1918 at which point he retired again . Later life . With the dissolution of " Armee - Abteilung D " in early October 1918 , he retired after a total of 52 years of service . He lived in Dresden until his death on 23 July 1928 . He is buried at the Nordfriedhof Cemetery . Family . In Dresden on 29 September 1873 , Kirchbach married Margaretha von Pawel - Rammingen ( born 17 October 1852 in Braunschweig , died 13 September 1931 in Dresden ) , the daughter of the Duke of Brunswick ' s Chamberlain and Rittmeister , Albert von Pawel - Rammingen and his wife Elisabeth Martini . They had a son , Hans - Karl von Kirchbach ( 1876 - 1946 ) , who died in late 1946 in Dresden in the Russian Central Prison , and a daughter , Elizabeth von Kirchbach ( 1874 - 1946 ) .