Otto Ritter von Breitkopf
(22.11.1858 - 14.08.1939)
place of birth:  Groß-Strelitz, Oberschlesien  (Silesia)
Königreich Bayern:  Div-Kdr,  General der Infanterie


Royal Bavarian lieutenant general who commanded 3rd Royal Bavarian Infantry Division at the start of the Great War. For his meritorious leadership prior to the War, he was awarded the Komtur (Commander class) of the Bavarian crown's order of merit - the Verdienstorden der Bayerischen Krone. The official presentation of the decoration elevated him into Bavarian nobility with the title of "Ritter von Breitkopf."

At Mobilization, his division was engaged in Northwestern France along the border, later settling into trench warfare in that same area. Against Breitkopf's standing orders, a few of his soldiers had nonetheless committed severe atrocities against some local civilians. For this, in 1923 he was convicted of war crimes in a French court and received the death sentence. The verdict was later overturned in a post-War German court process.

 
 
General der Infanterie  16.01.1917
Verdst-Ord Bayr-Krone 11.03.1908  Komtur
 
 
 

  
 
Curriculum Vitae
   
00.00.1877 Königlich Bayerisches 3. Infanterie-Regiment ,,Prinz Karl von Bayern” - Augsburg
30.11.1879 Sekonde-Lieutenant
00.00.1886 Königlich Bayerisches 3. Infanterie-Regiment ,,Prinz Karl von Bayern” - Augsburg  (Adj)
15.02.1889 Premier-Lieutenant
01.10.1889 Bayerische Kriegsakademie - München  (graduated Sept 1892)
22.09.1893 Hauptmann
30.09.1893 Königlich Bayerisches 5. Infanterie-Regiment ,,Großherzog Ernst Ludwig von Hessen” - Bamberg  (Coy Cdr)
00.00.0000 Kriegsschule - München  (tactics instructor)
00.00.1901 Königlich Bayerisches 13. Infanterie-Regiment ,,Kaiser Franz Joseph von Österreich” - Augsburg
13.09.1901 Major
00.09.1901 4. Königlich Bayerische Infanterie-Division - Würzburg  (on Bomhard's general staff)
27.09.1902 III. Königlich Bayerisches Armeekorps - Nürnberg  (on Heinrich von Xylander's general staff) 
00.04.1904 Königlich Bayerisches 5. Infanterie-Regiment ,,Großherzog Ernst Ludwig von Hessen” - Bamberg  (Bn Cdr)
26.12.1904 Oberstleutnant
01.04.1906 Militär-Schieß-Schule - Augsburg  (Cdr, Weapons Training School)
23.02.1907 Königlich Bayerisches 3. Infanterie-Regiment ,,Prinz Karl von Bayern” - Augsburg  (Cdr)
08.03.1907 Oberst
12.08.1908 unknown
21.11.1909 12. Königlich Bayerische Infanterie-Brigade -  Regensburg  (Cdr)
21.11.1909 Generalmajor
12.03.1913 Generalleutnant
14.03.1913 3. Königlich Bayerische Infanterie-Division - Landau in der Pfalz  (Cdr, replaced Friedrich Kreß von Kressenstein)
30.12.1913 in den persönlichen Adelstand erhoben  (elevated into the Bavarian nobility, VOBK)
   
Great War
   
02.08.1914 3. Königlich Bayerische Infanterie-Division
19.03.1915 zur Disposition gestellt
25.01.1917 General der Infanterie  (charakter, Patent ante-dated to 16.01.1917)
   
   
 

06.05.1914
 

 

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