Maximilian Wilhelm Gustav Moritz von Prittwitz und Gaffron
(27.11.1848 - 29.03.1917)
place of birth:  Bernstadt, Niederschlesien
Königreich Preußen:  Gen-Insp,  OBH,  Generaloberst


Imperial German Generaloberst Max von Prittwitz briefly commanded the German 8. Armee at the outbreak of World War One. Prittwitz was born into a family of Silesian aristocrats. His mother was the former Elizabeth von Klaß, while his father Gustav had served as a general in the Prussian Army. Max was also a first cousin to Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg's wife, Gertrude von Sperling. Although reputed to be an excellent commander and military administrator during the pre-War years, several of Max von Prittwitz' contemporaries believed he owed his command of the 8. Armee more to his courtly connections than to his military skills.  Chief of General Staff von Moltke and War Minister Erich von Falkenhayn both supposedly considered him militarily unfit for command and simply wanted him out of Berlin.

As a fledgling commissioned officer, Prittwitz initially served in an infantry regiment and saw action in both the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.  He rose steadily through the ranks of the German military for the next forty years and was promoted to Generaloberst in 1913. As commander of 8. Armee-Oberkommando at War's outbreak, von Prittwitz had the daunting task of defending East Prussia from an attack by the Russian First and Second Armies. On 20 August 1914, Germany's I. Armee-Korps, subordinate to the 8. Armee, had already met the invading Russian First Army head-on at Stallupönen and Gumbinnen. With 8. Armee's rear threatened by Samsonov's Second Army, Prittwitz made a fateful call to Army Headquarters in Koblenz. With two of  his divisions in flight and threatened with encirclement, he notified Chief of General Staff von Moltke that his forces would have to beat a 100-mile retreat back to the Vistula River. This signified the abandonment of East Prussia, which leaders in the General Staff found completely unacceptable, as many of them were from that area. The 8. Armee's operations officer Oberstleutnant Max Hoffmann, however, had been able to convince Prittwitz to reverse his initial decision to retreat. But these change of orders came too late for von Moltke, and due to their perceived defeatist and panicked state, both Prittwitz and his Chief of Staff Count Georg von Waldersee were replaced just two weeks after mobilization. Generaloberst von Hindenburg and his new right-hand man Erich Ludendorff were dispatched to East Prussia and immediately executed Hoffmann's bold plan. The 8. Armee subsequently succeeded in encircling Samsonov's army and drove the two Russian armies from German soil during the Battle of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes. 

Generaloberst von Prittwitz was later desperate to explain his actions, or inaction, which had resulted in his dismissal. He unfortunately never got this opportunity. He retired from active duty and lived in Berlin for the next three years of the War.  He died of a heart attack in March 1917 at the age of 68 and was interred in Berlin's Invaliden-Friedhof. He was survived by his wife Olga von Dewitz. Their only son, Erdmann von Prittwitz und Gaffron fell in battle on 23 May 1918.

	Generaloberst	16.06.1913
	Erinnerungs-Kreuz	Deutscher Krieg  1866
	Eisernes Kreuz II	Deutsch-Französischer Krieg  1870–1871
	Schwarzer Adler	07.01.1913