Franz Gustav von Wandel
(30.01.1858 - 29.12.1921)
place of birth: 
 Danzig  (Gdansk, Poland)
Königreich Preußen:  Stellv KG, General der Infanterie  ch.


Imperial German General Franz von Wandel served the first half of the Great War as Deputy Prussian War Minister in Berlin. Wandel began his military career in 1875 as a Fahnenjunker. He was married to Katharina Schulz in 1896. Upon working his way up through the ranks, Wandel was transferred to Alsace where he functioned as XV. Army Corps Chief of Staff from 1904 to 1907. He then returned to Berlin to work as a department chief in General von Einem-Rothmaler's War Ministry. From 1909 to 1913, he simultaneously functioned as von Einem's Deputy War Minister, before seeing a transfer to Cologne as the military governor general there.

A few days after German mobilization, von Wandel was called back to Berlin in order to once again serve as Deputy War Minister, this time for Erich von Falkenhayn, whose wartime duties kept usually kept him forward at Main Headquarters. With the daily operations de facto in his hands, General von Wandel proved himself to be an excellent administrator. He was responsible for issuing the decree on "Wartime Officer Supplementation" which eased the previously stringent social requirements governing officer eligibility. When Hindenburg and Ludendorff took the reins at Supreme Army Command in August 1916, however, von Wandel's days at the War Ministry were numbered and he was forced into retirement from active duty. 

 
 
General der Infanterie  028.09.1916  ch.
 
 
 

  
 
Curriculum Vitae  
   
11.11.1875 1. Hannoversches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 74 - Hannover
17.10.1876 Sekonde-Lieutenant
17.04.1886 Premier-Lieutenant
15.11.1887 13. Infanterie-Brigade - Magdeburg  (Brigade Adjutant)
18.11.1890 Hauptmann
26.02.1891 IV. Armeekorps - Magdeburg  (general staff)  
17.05.1892 Großer Generalsstab - Berlin
14.09.1893 Infanterie-Regiment ,,Herzog Friedrich Wilhelm von Braunschweig (1. Ostfriesisches) Nr. 78 - Osnabrück  (Coy Cdr)
13.05.1895 Preußisches Kriegsministerium - Berlin:  Armeeabteilung (A1)  (Army Section)
01.09.1896 Major
29.03.1900 Infanterie-Regiment ,,von Voigts-Rhetz (3. Hannoversches) Nr. 79 - Hildesheim  (Bn Cdr)
25.07.1902 Großer Generalsstab - Berlin  (acting Department Chief)
01.10.1902 Preußische Kriegsakademie - Berlin  (as instructor detached from GGS)
22.03.1903 Oberstleutnant
19.05.1903 Preußisches Kriegsministerium:  Ministerialabteilung - Berlin   (Chief of War Ministry's Ministerial Section, Z1)
15.09.1904 XV. Armeekorps - Straßburg  (Ritter Hentschel von Gilgenheimb's Chief of Staff)
13.02.1906 Oberst
16.02.1907 Preußisches Kriegsministeriu:  Armeeabteilung  - Berlin  (Chief of War Ministry's Army Section, A1)
27.07.1908 Preußisches Kriegsministerium:  Allgemeines Kriegsdepartement - Berlin  (Chief of War Ministry's General War Depart, AD)
12.08.1909 Preußisches Kriegsministerium:  Stellvertretender KM  - Berlin  (von Einem's Deputy  War Minister, concurrent w/ above)
22.03.1910 Generalmajor
01.10.1912 Generalleutnant
03.07.1913 Gouvernement - Festung Cöln  (Governor General of Fortress Cologne)  
   
Great War  
   
30.08.1914 Preußisches Kriegsministerium: Stellvertretender KM - Berlin  (Falkenhayn's Deputy War Minister)
28.09.1916 General der Infanterie  (charakter)
28.09.1916 zur Disposition gestellt
   
   
 

06.05.1914

 

 

*     *     *