Otto Freiherr von Brandenstein
(21.10.1865 - 08.08.1945)
place of birth:  Hohenstein, Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Königreich Preußen:  HKK-Stabschef,  Generalmajor  (Kav)


General von Brandenstein served as an Imperial German officer during the Great War. As German forces pushed into Belgium and France in August 1914, von Brandenstein functioned as General von Hollen's chief of staff with Senior Cavalry Commando 4.  After HKK-4 units were dissolved in December, von Brandenstein was immediately transferred to serve as chief of staff in VII. Corps headquarters, under the command of General Eberhard von Claer. As the War continued, von Brandenstein was very active commanding both his old Hessian Dragoon Regiment, as well as taking the role of temporary commander of various cavalry and infantry brigades. 

In April 1918, Baron von Brandenstein's cavalry brigade was formed into the so-called Detachment Brandenstein, a 3,000 man unit which landed at Loviisa, Finland to help fight the Finnish Civil War. The unit was assigned the task of disrupting the Bolshevist's railway connections and cutting the supply lines between Helsinki and Viipuri. The detachment was later subordinated to the Baltic Sea Division, commanded by General Rüdiger Graf von der Goltz. For his involvement in helping purge Finland of the Bolshevist insurgents, von Brandenstein was awarded the Pour le Merite upon recommendation from General Ludendorff. He retired at the end of the war with the rank of Generalmajor, but was later brevetted as a Generalleutnant (Charakter) on 27 August 1939 for Tannenberg Remembrance Day. Baron von Brandenstein was murdered by Russian activists in 1945.

	Generalmajor	18.10.1918
	Pour le Mérite	15.05.1918