Ludwig von Borstell (1773-1844)
Command Ratings
Commands
- Commands the Third Brigade of III Corps at Großbeeren (1813, age 40)
Karl Leopold Heinrich Ludwig von Borstell (also recorded with variant forenames including Karl Leopold Georg Ludwig) was a Prussian cavalry officer who rose to General der Kavallerie and held senior divisional and corps commands during the Wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. He was born at Tangermünde on 30 December 1773 into the altmärkisch noble family von Borstell, as the son of the Prussian general Hans Friedrich Heinrich von Borstell. He entered the Prussian cavalry in 1788 in the Kürassierregiment “von Ilow” Nr. 7 and was employed early as an adjutant in his father’s sphere of command, an appointment that placed him close to higher headquarters routines and to the administrative mechanics of cavalry regiments in wartime.
Borstell’s first active campaigning occurred in the First Coalition period on the western frontier. In 1793 he served in the Palatinate operations and distinguished himself in the fighting around Pirmasens and Kaiserslautern, actions in which Prussian forces operated alongside allied contingents in an environment of rapid marches, frequent outpost combats, and repeated efforts to disrupt French concentrations. On 11 December 1793 he received the Pour le Mérite, an early decoration that marked him as an officer of promise within the mounted arm.
By 1806, at the outbreak of the War of the Fourth Coalition, Borstell was a field-grade cavalry officer and served as a Major in the elite cavalry regiment Garde du Corps. He was present in the campaign that ended in the catastrophic defeats of October 1806 and thereafter took part in the retreat that followed Jena–Auerstedt, moving with the remnants of the Prussian field army as it attempted to preserve mounted cadres, guns, and administrative coherence while withdrawing eastward. His experience in this period placed him among the cohort of cavalry officers whose careers continued into the reform era and the later wars of liberation.
During the renewal of Prussian operations against France in 1813, Borstell held general officer rank and served in the field under General Friedrich Wilhelm Bülow. Within that command relationship he fought in the battles associated with the autumn campaign in northern Germany, including Möckern (16 October 1813), the northern battle fought on the first day of Leipzig. In that fighting he operated within the Prussian and allied effort to force the French position north of Leipzig and to secure the approaches that supported the wider coalition battle plan. His conduct in the 1813 campaign brought further advancement: after Leipzig he was promoted to Generalleutnant and received the oak leaves (Eichenlaub) to his Pour le Mérite (21 October 1813), a distinction instituted in 1813 for especially notable battlefield merit.
Following Leipzig, Borstell was transferred to the Low Countries theater, where he was employed in high responsibility in siege operations. He was placed in charge of the siege of Antwerp, a Major fortified place whose reduction required the coordination of blockading forces, the management of batteries and engineer resources, and the maintenance of a secure cordon against French sorties and relief attempts. The Antwerp assignment reflected the coalition need for dependable senior commanders who could manage a prolonged operation with heavy administrative demands while maintaining pressure on the garrison.
In 1815 Borstell was appointed to corps command, leading the Prussian II. Armee-Korps during the campaign year. In that capacity he entered into a serious disciplinary and command conflict with Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, stemming from Blücher’s orders following the mutiny of Saxon battalions stationed at Liège. Borstell refused to execute Blücher’s order to shoot selected ringleaders and to burn the Saxon flag, and as a result he was removed from command, court-martialed for insubordination, and imprisoned. He was subsequently pardoned by King Friedrich Wilhelm III and restored to employment, the pardon occurring within weeks and accompanied by a new appointment as commandant of Magdeburg. This episode is the principal reason he appears in some officer lists as “retired 1815” or otherwise marked in 1815, since his corps command effectively ended during the campaign year even though his career did not terminate in 1815.
After the Napoleonic Wars, Borstell remained in senior Prussian service. He continued to hold Major territorial and command posts and became associated with the Prussian State Council. On 18 June 1825 he was promoted to General der Kavallerie. He later held an Armee-Korps command in the Rhine provinces, commanding the VIII. Armee-Korps headquartered at Koblenz. He retired from active duty in 1840. In the final years of his life he received civic recognition in Berlin, being made an honorary citizen on 6 September 1843. He died in Berlin on 9 May 1844.
Sources
XX 13-14 – W, Grossbeeren, Dennewitz, Leipzig, W, siege of Mainz (12/18/13-5/10/14) (D); XX 15 – dismissed prior to the Waterloo campaign.