Otto Meixner von Zweienstamm
The twins
Hugo and Otto were born on the 1st of February 1858
at Lobzów near Krakau (Kraków) as sons of Oberleutnant
Eduard Meixner. Besides their similar looks as was common with twins there were
amazing parallels within their lives especially during the first
decades. After successfully graduating from the military college
at St. Pölten and the military academy at Wiener Neustadt they
were both promoted to Leutnant in infantry regiment number 55 on
the 1st of November 1878. Both attended the same class at the
Kriegsschule and were attached, in the meantime promoted to
Oberleutnant on the 1st of May 1883, to the general staff corps.
Otto Meixner was attached to the headquarters of the 22nd infantry brigade and
then that of the 34th infantry division. Later
he was assigned to the operations department of the general staff
corps at Vienna where he received his promotion to Hauptmann 1st
class on the 1st of May 1886. On the 19th of November 1889 he
married Margarete, a daughter of Generalmajor Johann Ritter von
Kubin and his twin brother Hugo married on the same day her sister Auguste! From
the 1st of May 1890 to the 1st of October 1891 he
was performed line duty with infantry regiment number 54 at Olmütz.
After this routine duty with the troops Otto Meixner was
appointed as an instructor for "Train-, Kommunikation- und
Verpflegswesen" at the Miliär-Intendanz-Kurs and the
Verpflegsverwalter-Kurs (Train, communications and supply matters at the
military intendance and supply administrator's courses). At this teaching
assignment he received
his promotion to Major on the 1st of November 1892. On the 25th
of December 1894 he was transferred to the Technischen und
Administrativen Militär-Komitee and again engaged as an instructor
but now on the higher administrativel military course. After his
promotion to Oberstleutnant on the 1st of May 1895 he was
appointed chief of the 3rd section of the technical military committee on the 23rd of October 1896. For his successful
performance there he was honored with the award of the Military
Merit Cross on the 2nd of September 1897. Simultaneously he was transferred for line duty with
infantry regiment number 35 in Pilsen where he received his promotion to Oberst on the 1st of
May 1898 with seniority from the 21st of May. On the 1st of
April 1899 Otto Meixner assumed command of infantry regiment
number 13 in his hometown of Krakau (Kraków).
As
was normal he received after four years of commanding
a regiment the 3rd class of the Order of the Iron Crown on the
18th of April 1903. On the 9th of August 1904 he took over
command of the 41st (Landwehr) infantry brigade at Pilsen
shortly followed by his promotion to Generalmajor on the 1st of
November 1904 with seniority from the 4th of November - still
one day "better" than his twin brother Hugo. On the 1st
of December 1907 he received his appointment as Sektionschef of
the k.k. Landesverteidigungsministerium (Section chief in the Austrian ministry
of defense). While his brother Hugo held an important post in the administration of the k.u.k. army,
Otto Meixner now held an important post in the administration of
the k.k. Landwehr. The Landwehr ministry had only seven
sections, three from the political and four from the
military part. The four heads of section of the military part were the most
senior military official of the Intendance, the senior judge-advocate and two generals which de facto
were the right and left
arm of the minister of defense. In the case of Otto Meixner this
was the later Generaloberst Friedrich von Georgi.
Uniquely in the practice of ennoblement, the twins Otto (9th July
1908) and Hugo (5th August 1908) were granted to right to carry the same
predicate "von Zweienstamm". On the 1st of November
1908 Otto Meixner von Zweienstamm was promoted to
Feldmarschall-Leutnant with seniority from the 3rd of November.
His outstanding performance at the defense ministry was honored
with the award of the knight's cross of the Order of Leopold on
the 25th of February 1910. On the 23rd of October 1911 he
received the commendation of the Kaiser which allowed him to wear
the Bronze Military Merit Medal (Signum Laudis) on the red
ribbon. On the same date he received the appointment to command
the 4th infantry division at Brünn. On the 25th of July 1912
Otto Meixner von Zweienstamm received the temporary appointment as commander
of the 7th corps at Temesvár, this appointment becoming a definitive one on the 1st of
October of the same year. On the 2nd of April 1913 he was honored
with the title of Geheimer Rat (Privy Chancellor) shortly
followed by his promotion to General der Infanterie on the 1st of
May 1913 - seven month and one day earlier than his twin brother
Hugo!
At the start of the war his corps was part of the B echelon initially assigned
for the invasion of Serbia, but with the changing priorities following Russian
mobilization and involvement in the war, the planned participation of 7th
corps in the invasion of Serbia was never executed and the 7th corps was left to
secure the junction of the Save and Danube rivers for the first two
weeks of August 1914. The disintegration of the third army's front in Galicia necessitated
the transfer of the remainder of 2nd army to eastern Galicia. However by the
time of their concentration a fortnight later, the whole front
was in retreat and the Russians swept westwards towards the Carpathian
mountains. These initial reverses led to a major shakeup amongst the less
successful army and corps commanders
who where replaced using the euphemistic term - "health reasons". Otto Meixner
von Zweienstamm was retired to Vienna on the 7th of October 1914
and never again returned to active duty. After the war Otto, in contrast to his brother Hugo, was often seen at veterans' meetings
and became president of the Vereinigung Alt-Neustadt, the society
of former graduates of this military academy in 1926. He held
this post until 1937 when he accepted the role of honorary president of this society. General der
Infanterie Otto Meixner von
Zweienstamm died on the 10th of October 1946 at Mondsee in Upper
Austria but his body was transported to Vienna where he was
buried like his brother would be in the family grave at the Hütteldorfer
Friedhof in Vienna's 14th district.
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