Karl Ludwig Wilhelm Hermann Litzmann  
(22.01.1850 - 28.05.1936)
place of birth:  Neu Globsow - Kreis Ruppin, Brandenburg
Königreich Preußen:  KG,  General der Infanterie


Imperial German general of infantry Karl Litzmann came out of retirement as the Germans launched the First World War, commanding XXXX. Reserve Corps. Litzmann was born the son of a  well-to-do estate owner in Brandenburg and began his military career in Berlin at the age of 17. Serving as a lieutenant in the Guards Pionier Battalion, he saw action during the Franco-Prussian War. Upon his return to Germany, Litzmann steadily rose through the ranks as an infantry officer. Following commands at the brigade and divisional level, General Litzmann was selected in 1902 to head up Kriegsakademie, Prussia's Imperial War Academy located in Berlin. Following about three years of duty at that institution, Generalleutnant Litzmann was placed on inactive reserve status at the age of 55.

At the outbreak of hostilities, General Litzmann was reactivated to head the Line of Communications Inspectorate at Max von Hausen's Third Army Headquarters in Dresden. Within a couple months, however, he was transferred to field duty on the Eastern Front as commander of 3rd Guards Division. Fighting in support of Reinhard von Scheffer-Boyadel during the Battle of Lodz (November 1914), Litzmann's divisional troops were such a key factor in the German victory, that he was awarded the Pour le Merite for his actions. He also carried the title "The Lion of Brzeziny" and when Nazi Germany later occupied Lodz in 1940, the town was temporarily renamed Litzmannstadt. 

With the arrival of Christmas 1914, General Litzmann remained in the East but was promoted to General der Infanterie and given command of XXXX. Reserve Corps, a position he held until August 1918. He lead these troops during the 1915 Winter Battle of Masurian Lakes (Second Masurian) and the taking of the Kowno Fortress, an event for which Litzmann received the Oak Leaves to go with his Blue Max. At this point, Litzmann also rejected an offer by the Kaiser to elevate him into nobility status. After capturing Kowno, XXXX.RK continued pressing east along the River Nieman, until reaching Vilnius and occupying that city in mid-September 1915. In July of 1916, Litzmann went south to the Volhynia region of Ukraine, where his soldiers successfully defended a section of the front near Korytnica-Szelwow which was under threat by a numerically superior Russian force. His troops were also later engaged in the Apuseni region of the Carpathian Mountains, and in August 1917 he headed Gruppe Stanislau as they battled the Russians in Eastern Galicia. 

General Litzmann and his XXXX.RK were transported in January 1918 to the Western Front, where they became part of Gruppe Souchez and were to fight in support of Sixth Army. Given that the General felt less and less fit to carry out his duties as a field commander, his request to retire from active service was granted in August 1918, and he was replaced by Paul Grünert. During the closing days of the War in November, the Kaiser once again requested General Litzmann's service to take charge of security forces in Berlin. Litzmann was unable to fulfill this task, however, since no military units were placed at his disposal. Following the Great War, Litzmann became an active NSDAP member, fully supporting Hitler and becoming Altarspräsident (president by seniority) of the Reichstag from 1932 to 1936. He died on 28 May 1936 at the age of 86. 

	General der Infanterie	24.12.1914
	Eisernes Kreuz II	Deutsch-Französischer Krieg  1870–1871
	Pour le Mérite	29.11.1914  (Eichenlaub:  18.08.1915)