Heinrich Karl Giesl Freiherr
von Gieslingen
Heinrich Giesl von Gieslingen was born at Olmütz
(Moravia) as the son of the Platz-Hauptmann (garrison-captain) Johann Baptist and
Anna (born von Adlersfeld) on the 7th of August 1821. His
education commenced in 1833 with pre-classes at the Theresian
Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt. In 1840 he was transferred as an Unterleutnant to the12th Feldjäger-Bataillon where he became
the battalion Adjutant in 1843 and was commissioned as a Leutnant on
the 16th of April 1844. On the 11th of February 1848 he received
accelerated promotion to Oberleutnant and participated remarkably
in escorting the court during their escape to Moravia in October of the
same year. During the following years of revolution Giesl took
part in all the major battles of his battalion. He was wounded
during the assault against the cavalry garrison at the Leopoldstadt (Vienna's 2nd district) on the 28th of October 1848. After his
convalescence he found his unit in the Hungarian theatre and
took part in the fighting near Hodrics on the 22nd of January
1849. During this battle the commander Oberst Collery won his
knight's cross of the Military Maria Theresian Order while his
adjutant Oberleutnant Giesl later received the Military Merit
Cross with war decoration (4th January 1850). On the 1st of March
1849 he was promoted to Capitänleutnant and took over the command
of the advance guard of the battalion. At this post he distinguished
himself during the battle near Waitzen and received a commendation from his commanding general, Fürst Jablonowski. During
the battle of Nagy-Sarló on the 19th of April 1849 he was the acting commander of the whole
battalion and again received again a commendation from his commanding general,
this time Feldmarschall-Leutnant
Wohlgemuth. On the 1st of June 1849 he was promoted to Hauptmann.
For his heroic actions during the capture of Raab (28th June) and
the battle near Komorn (2nd July), in which he commanded the 1st
Jäger-Division within the Brigade of General Benedek, he
received the commendation of the Kaiser on the 21st of August 1849.
On the 3rd of August 1849 Giesl crossed the River Theiß with his
troops, formed a bridgehead at Neu-Szegedin and was able to hold it
against superior enemy forces while supporting troops crossed the river and
a bridge was constructed. For
this outstanding bravery he was honored with the award of the
Order of the Iron Crown 3rd class with war decoration on the 8th
of December 1849. Finally he took part in the fighting near
Szörög (5th August) and Temesvár (9th August).
On the 22nd of November 1849 Heinrich Giesl von Gieslingen
married Emilie Christoph (10th April 1822-20th September 1885). They had four children, two sons and
two daughters. Their sons, Arthur and Wladimir, also entered military service and both
ultimately achieved the rank of General. Following the death of his wife Emilie at Meran on the 20th of
December 1885 he remarried in his later years a second time on the 16th of
November 1892, Mia
Ludovica Karolina Schoen Edle von Liebingen (10th May 1864-17th January 1939)..
After this outstanding performance during wartime, years of
excellent service during peacetime followed. During the year 1850
Giesl marched with his troops three times to the districts of
Komorn, Gran, Pest, Tolna and Somogy to suppress mutinies and restore law and
order. For these
"police-missions" he received a commendation from the
command of the 3rd corps. The way in which he employed his command and his non
violent methods of enforcing civilians to obey his orders appears to have determined
his suitability for employment in the newly
formed (June 1849) k.k. Gendarmeriecorps. After the mobilization crisis in 1854 he was provisionally attached to the
17th Gendarmerie Regiment in August 1856. On the 1st January 1857
he was permanently transferred to the corps followed by his promotion to Major on the 14th July 1857. In 1858 he was
transferred to the 19th Gendarmerie Regiment and a year later to
the 7th regiment of this corps. As a Gendarmerie-Major stationed at
Fünfkirchen he was responsible for the maintenance of public
order in the districts of Zala, Somogy and Baranya during the war
of 1859. He received a commendation by the
General-Gendarmerie-Inspector and was despatched on some
"delicate political missions" to Skalitz and Szenitz
in the district of Neutra during 1860 and 1861. For his success
he received again the commendation of his commanding general, Graf
von Coronini. On the 3rd of September 1863 he was ennobled as "Ritter von" and
granted the permission to carry further the predicate "Gieslingen" which was earned by
his grandfather, Oberleutnant of the Arciérenleibgarde Johann
Nepomuk Giesl, on the 10th of August 1773. His correct name now
was Heinrich Karl Giesl Ritter von Gieslingen. On the 22nd of May
1865 he received accelerated promotion to Oberstleutnant and was
appointed commander of the Wiener Militär-Polizei-Wach-Korps a
precursor of the later Viennese Police Department. LadyX
During the war of 1866 Giesl and his corps achieved several successes. They supported the fortifications along the Danube river
at Floridsdorf, guarded the so-called Tabor-Joch bridge across
the Danube, the large storage facility at the Prater and the telegraph
lines to the Leopoldsberg and to Greifenstein. During some periods of the war it
seemed very likely that the Prussians would take Vienna and so Giesl supervised and his men escorted
the treasures from the National bank to their hideaways. He was
able to secure permission in the event that the city should be captured for his
corps to remain in Vienna to maintain public order. Only the 93 men of his mounted department should
withdraw with the
Army Headquarter. However it never came to this and on the
30th of August 1866 he was promoted to Oberst. When this corps
was disbanded in 1869 Oberst Giesl received the commendation of
the Kaiser which allowed him to wear the bronze Military Merit
Medal (Signum Laudis) when it was instituted in 1890 and was transferred to infantry
regiment number 72 as deputy
commander. On the 27th of October 1870 he assumed command
of infantry regiment number 16 but only a year later (8th
November 1871) this regiment was amalgamated with the disbanded
Warasdiner Grenz-Infanterie-Regiment and Oberst Giesl again lost
his command.
On the 26th of December 1871 he was appointed to
be k.k. General-Gendarmerie-Inspektor (Inspector General of the k.k. Gendarmerie). On the 25th of April 1874 he received his promotion
to Generalmajor and carried on with the reorganization of the Gendarmerie-Korps, especially after the
Gendarmerie -Gesetz or law (26th
February 1876) was instituted. Now the k.k. Gendarmerie was no longer an
integral part of the active army but it became an independent part of
the k.k. Landwehr. Besides improving the organization, Generalmajor Giesl Ritter von Gieslingen
was constantly trying to improve the equipment of the force and raise the education of
his officers. On the
20th of April 1879 he received his advancement to
Feldmarschall-Leutnant and was honored by the award of the Order
of the Iron Crown 2nd class (with the war-decoration of the 3rd
class) on the 25th of April 1883. According to the statutes of
this order he was further ennobled to "Freiherr von" with a decree of the 21st of June 1883. On the 13th of March 1884 he was
honored with the title of Geheimer Rat (Privy Councillor) and as Oberstinhaber of
infantry regiment number 16 on the 25th of April 1887. On
the occasion of his 50th year on active duty as an officer he was
awarded the Grand cross of the Order of the Iron Crown (with war decoration of the 3rd class) on the 3rd of September 1888. He
was not the first or the last officer in the post of General-Gendarmerie-Inspektor but he held this post for such a
protracted length of time and influenced the corps so much that he soon was
called "father of the Gendarmerie". On the 27th of April
1889 he was promoted to Feldzeugmeister mit Titel und Charakter (brevet rank) which
allowed him to wear the distinctions and carry the title of a Feldzeugmeister but
he received further the salary of a
Feldmarschall-Leutnant. It was a special honor of the Emperor as usually this post was held by a Generalmajor or
Feldmarschall-Leutnant. After 22 years of outstanding service in this important post Feldzeugmeister Heinrich Giesl Freiherr von
Gieslingen retired in December 1894. With his second wife he
settled at Vienna where he died on the 2nd of July 1905 at the
age of 84. His funeral was one of the largest ceremonial occasions of the k.k. Gendarmerie
during their whole history and he was buried in a splendid family
grave at a prominent place within the Viennese Zentralfriedhof just behind the
arcades.
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