Maximilian August Hermann Julius von Laffert  
(10.05.1855 - 20.07.1917)
place of birth:  Lindau, Schwaben
Königreich Sachsen:  KG,  General der Kavallerie


Cavalry officer Maximilian von Laffert was selected in 1912 to command Saxony's XIX. Armee-Korps, making him one of the top three ranking generals in the peace-time Saxon Army. He was born into the home of Karl von Laffert and Klara von der Wense. Although a family of nobility with roots in Braunschweig (Brunswick), Max was in fact born in the southwestern corner of Bavaria on the shores of the Bodensee (Lake Constance.) Even so, he entered into the service of the Royal Saxon Army in 1874. Von Laffert was married to the former Marie von Wilke, with whom he had one son and two daughters.

Upon finishing prep school in Celle, Max joined the Dresden Cadet Corps in 1871 and was commissioned as a Seconde-Lieutenant in 1874. Although his first tour of duty was with 3. Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 102 in Zittau, he later switched to the cavalry, joining up with 1. Husaren-Regiment Nr. 18 in Grossenhain. From that point, he worked his way through Royal Saxon cavalry units, serving as Inspector of the Military Riding Institute from 1904 to 1907. When Imperial Germany went to War in 1914, General von Laffert commanded Saxony's XIX. Armee-Korps which was subordinate to General von Hausen's 3. Armee. Under Laffert's direction, the corps fought in the Marne campaign in 1914, at La Bassee in 1915, on the Lys and Somme rivers in 1916, and at Wytschaetebogen, Belgium in 1917. For his outstanding leadership, he was awarded in 1916 the highest Royal Prussian order of bravery, the Pour le Merite. While still in command of troops based in France, General von Laffert suffered a heart attack during an official business trip to Frankfurt and died in July 1917. He is buried at the Nordfriedhof in Dresden.