Karl Wilhelm Friedrich August Leopold, Count von Werder

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Karl Wilhelm Friedrich August Leopold, Count von Werder (1808-1887), Prussian general, entered the Prussian Garde du Corps in 1825, transferring the following year into the Guard Infantry, with which he served for many years as a subaltern. In 1839 he was appointed an instructor in the Cadet Corps, and later he was employed in the topographical bureau of the Great General Staff. In 1842-1843 he took part in the Russian operations in the Caucasus, and on his return to Germany in 1846, was placed, as a captain, on the staff. In 1848 he married. Regimental and staff duty alternately occupied him until 1863, when he was made major-general, and given the command of a brigade of Guard Infantry.

In the Austrian War of 1866 von Werder greatly distinguished himself at Gitschin (Jifiin) and Königgratz at the head of the 3rd division. He returned home with the rank of lieutenant-general and the Order Pour le Mérite. In 1870, at first employed with the 3rd Army Headquarters and in command of the Württemberg and Baden forces, he was after the Battle of Worth entrusted with the operations against Strasbourg, which he captured after a long and famous siege.

Promoted general of infantry, and assigned to command the new XlVth Army Corps, he defeated the French at Dijon and at Nuits, and, when Bourbaki's army moved forward to relieve Belfort, turned upon him and fought the desperate action of Villersexel, which enabled him to cover the Germans besieging Belfort. On the 15th, 16th and 17th of January 1871, von Werder with greatly inferior forces succeeded in holding his own on the Lisaine against all Bourbaki's efforts to reach Belfort, a victory which aroused great enthusiasm in southern Germany. After the war von Werder commanded the Baden forces, now called the XlVth Army Corps, until he retired in 1879. On his retirement he was raised to the dignity of count. He died in 1887 at Grüssow in Pomerania. The 30th (4th Rhenish) Infantry regiment bears his name, and there is a statue of von Werder at Freiburg in the Breisgau.