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Friedrich Karl "Fritz" von
Loßberg
(30.04.1868 - 14.05.1942)
place of birth: Bad Homburg, Hessen (Hesse)
Königreich
Preußen: OHL,
AOK-Stabschef, Generalmajor
Imperial German general and staff officer
who made his name as an expert in defensive tactics. During the war,
von Loßberg initially served on the western front with the Fifth Army
as a Fabeck's XIII.Corps chief of staff. During most of 1915 he was
Deputy Chief of Operations at Supreme Command (OHL). He thereafter
became legendary as the OHL's fixit-man, serving as field army chief of
staff for von Einem's Third Army in Champagne, with
von Below's Second Army during the Somme Offensive,
with von Below again with the Sixth Army at Arras,
and he organized Fourth Army commander Sixt von Armin's defense at Passchendaele.
For his noteworthy actions in the field, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz
(Knight's Cross) of Bavaria's highest military order - the
Militär-Max-Joseph-Orden. Loßberg was one of just a few
non-Bavarians to be awarded the MMJO.
As a military thinker he sought to replace
defensive tactics based on a single line with "defense in depth;"
behind these positions would be counterattack forces held in reserve
until they were needed to support front line units under pressure.
These principles were embodied in the Hindenburg Line
in 1917-1918. Following the war, von Loßberg worked with future Field
Marshal Erich von Manstein in drawing up plans for Germany's post-war
Versailles Treaty Army. He served as Chief of Staff for Grenschutz Süd,
and commanded Reichswehr-Brigade 26, 6th Infantry Division, and
Reichswehr Gruppenkommando I/Berlin, retiring on 31 January 1927 at the
rank of General der Infanterie. His son Bernhard von Loßberg served as
a Generalmajor in the Wehrmacht during WWII. General Fritz von Loßberg
passed away in Lübeck
on 14 May 1942.
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