Karl von Wrangel

Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Oskar Freiherr von Wrangel (1812-1899) was a Prussian General of the Infantry who was notable for commanding at the Battle of Kolding during the First Schleswig War.

Biography Origin Born into the noble Wrangel family, he was the son of the later Prussian Lieutenant General and his wife, Karoline Sophie Henriette, née Countess von Waldburg zu Alt- und Neu-Bestendorf (1777-1819).

Military career Wrangel was educated in the Culm and Berlin cadet houses and entered military service on 13 August 1830, as a second lieutenant in the 1st Foot Guards. He attended the Prussian Staff College in Berlin from 1837 to 1840.

In December 1841, Wrangel had to leave the service because of duelling and after he had healed from the serious wound he received, he was reinstated in March 1843 by the future Kaiser Wilhelm I. In the next year he was assigned to the Trigonometric Department of the General Staff in Berlin. Having become premier lieutenant in 1846, he accompanied his uncle, Lieutenant General Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, when the latter had received the supreme command of the German troops intended for the First Schleswig War. Accordingly he went to the Elbe duchies in April 1848. There he became a captain and was transferred to the General Staff of Schleswig-Holstein, participating in the campaigns of 1848 and 49. Aschaffenburg, Tauberbischofsheim and the Battle of Gerchsheim. For his services at Gerchsheim, he was awarded the Pour le Mérite.

On 10 August 1867, he was appointed commander of the 18th Division in Flensburg and promoted to lieutenant general in the spring of 1868. Adda was a prolific writer and a founding member and chairwoman of the Women's League of the German Colonial Society. In addition, a street in Flensburg is named after him and there is also a street in Kiel named after him. Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle, 4th Class with Swords, 1853; 2nd Class with Star and Oak Leaves, 1871; 1st Class with Swords on Ring, 22 March 1873; Grand Cross, 16 September 1881 Service Award Cross Knight of Honour of the Johanniter Order, 1865; Knight of Justice, 1874 Iron Cross (1870), 1st Class with 2nd Class on Black Band Ernestine duchies: Commander of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, 2nd Class, February 1859 Military Merit Cross, 30 January 1871 Military Merit Cross, 2nd Class Sweden-Norway: Commander of the Royal Order of the Sword, 1st Class, 21 December 1859