Viktor Felix von Sprößer
(15.01.1853 - 26.12.1925)
place of birth:  Heilbronn
Königreich Württemberg:  Bde-Kdr,  Generalmajor z.D.


Royal Württemberg general Viktor von Sprößer was a retired officer who was reactivated during World War One. Von Sprößer began his military service just after the Franco-Prussian War ended in 1871. He served over the next 30 years, retiring from active duty in 1904 as an Oberstleutnant. He remained in uniform, however, assigned to an inactive staff officer billet at XIII. Armee-Korps headquarters. He was later promoted to Oberst and placed in command of the Landwehr (Territorial Reserves) district office for Stuttgart. He remained in this position for five years before again retiring from active duty.

As Germany went to war in France, now Generalmajor von Sprößer was reactivated in order to take command of a Württemberg Landwehr regiment being deployed to the developing Western Front. He was re-assigned in early 1915 to form a new unit that would soon become the 82. Landwehr-Infanterie-Brigade. He and his soldiers were initially assigned the region of Upper Alsace where they fought in a series of engagements near Hartmannswillerkopf. For his exemplary leadership and bravery, he was awarded in May 1915 the Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross) of Württemberg's highest military order - the K.W. Militär-Verdienst-Orden. In 1917, his brigade became part of 255. Infanterie-Division but remained active in the Alsace-Lorraine and Vosges Mountains region. Shortly after the War ended, von Sprößer went into permanent retirement and was brevetted as a Generalleutnant.

	Generalmajor	00.04.1915
	Württemberg MVO	12.05.1915  Ritter