Georg Friedrich August von Polenz
Command Ratings
Commands
Georg Friedrich August von Polenz was born on 17 October 1741 at Neustädel near Bautzen (Neustädtel bei Bautzen). He entered the Electorate of Saxony’s cavalry service and began his commissioned career as a Kornett. From 1760 he pursued continuous service in the Saxon army and, as a young cavalry officer, took part in the later operations of the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), remaining on active duty through the end of that conflict in 1763.
After the war he continued as a cavalry officer in the Saxon establishment. He held the rank of Premierlieutenant in the Karabiniers-Garde of the Saxon cavalry, a guard formation within the elector’s mounted troops. On 12 February 1781 he received promotion into the staff-officer ranks as a Major. In 1783 he served in the Chevaulegers regiment whose chef was the Generalmajor Christian Wilibald von Goldacker. In that regiment he commanded one of its four squadrons; the squadron system was tied to fixed peacetime billets, and his squadron was among those distributed in quarters at Querfurt, Schafstädt, Sangerhausen, and Artern.
On 27 November 1788 he was transferred to the Chevaulegers regiment of the Generalleutnant Johann Gustav Freiherr von Sacken, and on the same date he was promoted to Oberstleutnant of cavalry. In that capacity he also served as the deputy commander under the regiment’s commander, Oberst Christian Wilhelm von Dieskau, reflecting the common Saxon arrangement in which a regiment’s proprietor (chef) and its day-to-day command could be separated among senior officers.
Following the death of his regimental chief (von Sacken), Polenz entered the elector’s immediate military household. On 18 February 1790 he was appointed electoral general adjutant (Generaladjutant) to the Saxon Elector Friedrich August III (“der Gerechte”). He was one of three general adjutants serving the elector. He remained in this position until early 1795. In 1795, after the death of Generalleutnant Johann Ernst von Posern, he became commander of the Saxon Garde du Corps stationed in Dresden. He initially held this command while still an Oberst of cavalry. The Dresden-based guard regiment under his command numbered 428 men and 369 horses, organized into four squadrons and eight companies.
On 19 February 1800, while still regimental commander of the Garde du Corps, Polenz was promoted to Generalmajor. On 30 July 1801 he became chef of a Chevaulegers regiment previously associated with the retired Generalmajor Joseph Franz von Rosler (Rössler). Polenz’s elevation to the senior general ranks followed shortly before Saxony’s shift from electorate to kingdom: on 23 July 1804 the elector promoted him to Generalleutnant (noted as occurring one day after the promotion of Wilhelm von Low). From that point he also bore the honorific style “Exzellenz” in Saxon usage.
In 1806, during the crisis that brought Saxony into alliance with Napoleon after the Prussian defeat, Polenz commanded the light troops of General von Zezschwitz. His subsequent wartime distinctions are tied to the northern and eastern theatres of the War of the Fourth Coalition and its aftermath. After the Battle of Preußisch Eylau (7–8 February 1807), Napoleon awarded him the légion d'honneur (recorded as the knight’s cross). In the same year, during the operations culminating in the capture of Danzig, Polenz held a command role described as commandant over a part of the army during the siege. For his conduct in the siege of Danzig in 1807 he received Saxony’s highest military decoration, the Militär-St.-Heinrichs-Orden, in the grade of Kommandeurkreuz, with the award dated 3 July 1807.
The Chevaulegers regiment that bore his name continued to be associated with him in Saxon army rank lists for years afterward, reflecting the period practice of identifying regiments by their chef. Officers who later served in the regiment referenced it as the Chevaulegers regiment “von Polenz,” and it continued to appear under that designation through the later Napoleonic period even after he moved into higher administrative command.
On 20 February 1810 King Friedrich August I appointed Polenz Governor of Leipzig. This was a Major garrison and administrative post in one of Saxony’s principal cities during a period when the kingdom’s military and political position depended on its alliance obligations within Napoleon’s system. With this appointment his earlier position as regimental chef became vacant, although the regiment continued to carry his name in official listings until 1813. Polenz remained Governor of Leipzig until his death. After he died the governorship was left unfilled until 1830 and was then abolished.
Polenz died in Leipzig on 19 December 1815, aged 75. His burial took place on 23 December 1815.
Sources
X (with Prussia) 06 Jena; XX (with France) 07 siege of Danzig, Friedland; XX 09 Raszyn, Wagram