Horst Karl Alfred von Metzsch
(14.06.1874 - 11.07.1946)
place of birth:  Löbau, Sachsen (Saxony)
Königreich Sachsen:  AK-Stabschef,  Oberstleutnant  (Art)


Royal Saxon artillery officer Horst von Metzsch was a corps-level chief of staff during World War One. Horst was born into the Saxon nobility and was related to Saxon Minister of War (1849-1866) General Bernhard von Rabenhorst. He began his military career in 1891 and rose through the ranks as a field artillery officer.

As the German forces invaded France in August 1914, Major von Metzsch was functioning as an aide-de-camp in King Friedrich August III's royal court. After briefly serving on general staff with XXVII. Reservekorps and then with
Duke Albrecht's 4. Armee-Oberkommando (Fourth Army), von Metzsch was selected to command a reserve field-artillery regiment in the Flanders area.
For his exemplary performance in this function, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz (Knight's Cross) of Saxony's highest military order - the Militär-St-Heinrich-Orden. He was additionally awarded the Kommandeurkreuz II. (Komtur II) of the same order. In November 1916, he was transferred from his regiment to function Chief of General Staff at General Edler von der Planitz' XII. Armeekorps headquarters. At War's end, he remained on active duty with the Reichswehr until 1928. Although von Metzsch retired as a Generalleutnant, he was later brevetted as General der Artillerie in honor of Tannenberg Remembrance Day.