Böhm-Ermolli, Eduard Freiherr von.

Böhm-Ermolli, Eduard, born on 12-02-1856 in Ancona, Italy. the son of the officer of the k. k. Army and Joint Army Major Georg Böhm (1813-1893) from Kunewald near Neutitschein. His father was a non commissioned officer who gained a commission during the battle of Novara. His father was ennobled following his retirement from the service in 1885. Eduard von Bohm-Ermolli attended the cadet school in Sankt Polten followed by the Maria Theresa Military Academy at Wiener-Neustadt. He received a commission to the 4^th Dragoons Regiment in 1875, age 19. In 1878 he attended the General Staff course at the War School and then served as staff officer on the staff of 21^st Infanterie-Brigade at Lemberg. In 1896 he was promoted to the rank of colonel and given command of Ulanen-regiment 3. The ensuing years saw him steadily advance through the ranks with commands over 16^th Cavalry Brigade (1901) , a Cavalry Division at Krakow (1905), the 12^th Infantry Division (April 1909) and finally I Corps, achieving the rank of General der Kavallerie. The start of the First World War saw Bohm-Ermolli given command of 2^nd Army which was originally intended for the Serbian front. However owing to Austria’s miscalculation of the speed of Russian mobilisation, 2^nd Army was diverted to the Eastern Front where, together with German forces, it was able to stop the Russian onslaught. In 1915 2^nd Army was send to the Carpathians to relieve the besieged fortress of Przemysl but ultimately failed to save the fortress, which fell in Russian hands. On 22-06-1915 his troops recaptured Lemberg.  He commanded 2^nd  Army for the rest of the war while at the same time being in command of “Army Group Bohm-Ermolli” after the Brusilov offensive. He occupied the Ukraine in March 1918 after which his Army group was dissolved at Odessa. He was promoted Generaloberst on 01-05-1916 and Feldmarschall on 31-01-1918. In 1917 he was made a Baron. Upon the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian empire Bohm-Ermolli retired to his estate at Troppau which became part of Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovakian government granted him a pension and created him General 1^st Class in the reserve and in 1928 to Army General. When the Sudetenland was annexed by the Third Reich on 30-09-1938,

  he became a German and was personal by Hitler (see Adolf Hitler) (did you know) made a Brevet Generalfeldmarschall of the German army.  He was appointed honorary Colonel-in-Chief of Infanterie Regiment 28 in his hometown of Troppau.