Albrecht Maria Alexander Philipp Joseph
Herzog von Württemberg
(23.12.1865 - 29.10.1939)
place of birth:  Wien, Österreich  (Vienna, AU)
Königreich Württemberg:  Herzog,  GenInsp,  OBH,  Generalfeldmarschall  (Kav)

                                   

The Duke of Württemberg, Field Marshal Albrecht served during the Great War as the commander of Germany's 4. Armee. The son of Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria (1845-1927), he was one of Germany's clearest and most independent military minds. As a royal, the duke enjoyed the customary rapid climb up the command ladder. As a Generalmajor and cavalry brigade commander in 1899, Herzog Albrecht was awarded the Schwarzer Adler (Black Eagle) decoration, Prussia's highest chivalric order. He was promoted to Generaloberst in 1913, having full charge of the Württemberg Army. During the Great War made the final step to Generalfeldmarschall (August 1916).

Herzog Albrecht commanded Germany's 4. Armee at war's outbreak when his forces were the first to occupy Luxembourg. Along with his worthy Chief of Staff, Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen, he enjoyed victorious engagements against the French at Neufchateau and Sedan. In 1915, his troops also took part in the Race to the Sea where they later found themselves entrenched at Ypres. Here his army launched the April 1915 attack known as Second Ypres, noted for the first use of poison gas (phosgene) on the Western Front.  Albrecht was awarded the Pour le Merite in 1915 and was promoted to field marshal in 1916. Also serving under him at this time was the young signals officer and future WW2 chief of general staff, Heinz Guderian, as well as a young Bavarian reservist by the name of Corporal Hitler. Albrecht concluded his wartime service as commander of an army group on the fairly quiet southern sector of the Western Front. After the armistice, Albrecht was stripped of his royal inheritance and position as heir apparent to Württemberg's throne. He was able to live out his final years in his castle at Altshausen, Oberschwaben, where he died on 31 October 1939. Albrecht, who was the oldest son of Duke Philipp I. of Württemberg, was married to the Duchess Margaretha Sophie of Austria.

	Generalfeldmarschall	01.08.1916
	Schwarzer Adler	20.01.1899
	Württemberg MVO	01.11.1914   Großkreuz
	Militär-St. Heinrich	12.07.1915  Ritter  (Kommandeur II:  21.03.1916)
	Pour le Mérite	22.08.1915   (Eichenlaub:  25.02.1918)
	Militär-Max-Joseph	10.10.1915  Großkreuz
	Dienststellung	Gen.Insp.d.I.A., Chef d.Gren.R.119,  àls d.Ulan.R.19, K.P. Gen.Oberst, àls d.Kür.R.5, àls d.Bayer.4.Inf.R., d.Sächs. Inf.R.105 u.d.2.SeeBn., Inh.d.Österr.73.Inf.R.