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Wilhelm
Karl Herzog von Urach, Graf von Württemberg D.
(30.05.1864 - 24.03.1928)
place of birth: Principality of Monaco
Königreich
Württemberg: KG-Genkdo,
General der Kavallerie
Wilhelm II Count of Württemberg, Duke of Urach served
during the Great War as commander of 26th Infantry Division, attached
to Fabeck's XIII. Army Corps. In early 1917, von Urach headed the newly
formed Generalkommando zbV Nr.64 which formed the right wing of Army
Detachment B (Armeeabteilung B). Urach was also the claimant to the Württemberg crown and in 1918 was designated
as the new king of the German protectorate of Lithuania.
He never assumed his duties, however, and died in Rapallo, Italy in
1928. He is interred at the Schlosskirche in Ludwigsburg.
Wilhelm II von Urach was the eldest son of Wilhelm I Herzog
von Urach, Graf von Württemberg,
and his second wife Princess Florestine von Monaco. Young
Wilhelm grew up at Schloss
Lichtenstein, located in the Stuttgart area. In July of 1892, he
married Bavarian Duchess Amalia Maria, with whom he had nine children.
After she died giving birth in 1912, von Urach married Bavarian
Princess Wiltrud Marie Alix, daughter of Ludwig III.
He entered military service in 1883 and was
promoted to divisional commander and Generalleutnant in 1912. Remaining in command of the 26th Division as Germany went to war, von Urach's troops took part in the assault on France and also
Belgium, where his sister-in-law Elisabeth von Bayern reigned as queen.
In December 1914 the division fought in the battle to cross the River
Bzura in Poland. From June to September 1915 the division
moved from north of Warsaw to positions close to the River
Neman, an advance of hundreds of miles in the campaign to
occupy Poland. In October and November 1915, he and his troops were
participants in the assault of Serbia. Returning to the
Western Front, the division remained engaged at Ypres, Belgium from
December 1915 to July 1916. The division was then largely destroyed
during the Battle of the Somme from August to November 1916. Receiving
command of Generalkommando zbV Nr.64, von Urach remained in action on
the Western Front through the end of the War. His aide-de-camp during
these final months of 1918 was future Wehrmacht Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel.
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