Josef Freiherr Roth von
Limanowa-Lapanów
Josef Roth was born on the 21st of October 1859 at Trieste where his father, a later
Oberstleutnant was stationed. After
attending the military college at St. Pölten and the Theresian
Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt he was commissioned as a Leutnant in Feldjägerbataillon number 21 on the 4th of April
1879. On the 1st of May 1884 he received his promotion to
Oberleutnant and after attending the Kriegsschule he was permanently transferred
to the general staff corps on the 1st of
November 1886. He was first employed with the 71st infantry brigade then he was transferred
to the 13th infantry brigade at
Esseg and finally to the 12th corps headquarter at Hermannstadt where he received his promotion to Hauptmann 1st class on the 1st
of November 1889. In early 1890 he returned to Vienna, first with
the 13th infantry division followed by his attachment to the 5th
department of the war ministry. In 1891 he married Gräfin
Melanie Lasansky and they had two sons and two daughters.
For his performance at the war ministry he received the commendation of the Kaiser, which allowed him to wear the bronze
military merit medal (Signum Laudis) on the 22nd of October 1895.
Without further duty with the troops he successfully passed his examination and was promoted to Major on the 1st of November of
the same year and simultaneously appointed chief of the general
staff of the 12th infantry division at Kraków. In 1896 he
received the Prussian Order of the Crown 3rd class. In 1897 he
was transferred with the same position to the 5th corps followed by his
promotion to Oberstleutnant on the 1st of May 1898. In 1900 he served a short
tour of duty with the troops with infantry regiment number
76 at Graz. In May 1901 Roth, who was commonly considered as extremely well-bred, became the chief of the newly
created bureau
for "instruktive Arbeiten und Übungen" within the general
staff where he received the commander's cross of the Order Star
of Romania. Josef Roth, who received his promotion to Oberst on
the 1st of November 1901, was now responsible for all instructions and orders regarding the Kriegsschule, the annual
staff rides of the general staff and the different examinations of
the senior officers. For his efforts at this post he was honored
with the award of the Order of the Iron Crown 3rd class on the
27th of March 1905 and again with the knight's cross of the Order
of Leopold on the 22nd of April 1908. Simultaneous with his
promotion to Generalmajor on the 1st of May 1908 he assumed command of the 94th infantry
brigade. During the year 1909 he
was honored with the award of the commander's cross with star of
the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle and the 1st class of the
Order of the Sword of Sweden.
On the 1st of April 1910 he was appointed commander of the
Theresian Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt, following General
Arthur Giesl Freiherr von Gieslingen in this important position.
When the war started, Roth who had meanwhile been promoted to
Feldmarschall-Leutnant on the 1st of May 1912, assumed
command of the 3rd infantry division of 14th corps on the 5th of August 1914. He
participated in the victory at Komaröw and successfully extracted his division
after the difficult battle at Rawa-Ruska in which the 2nd Kaiserjäger-Regiment
was nearly annihilated at Hujcze. In tandem
with the rest of the Austro-Hungarian forces in the east 14th corps was
compelled to retreat to the west. For his leadership during the fighting in the
summer campaign in Galicia he was honored with the
award of the commander's cross of the Order of Leopold with war decoration on the 14th of October
1914. On the
1st of October 1914 Feldmarschall-Leutnant Roth took over command
of the 14th corps which was then part of the 1st army and saw action in the area along the river San before superior
Russian forces forced their withdrawal to Kraków. This retirement
caused a gap of about 100km between the 3rd and 4th army which
the chief of the general staff Conrad von Hötzendorf decided to utilize for a
flank attack against the Russian Army south of the river Vistula. For this purpose the 14th corps was enlarged to
Armeegruppe Roth, now consisting of 8 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, the "Polish Legion" and a German
infantry division. The Armeegruppe Roth, about 50.000 men
strong, had now the main task during the following attack and
Conrad gave Roth the utmost possible operational freedom to strike the Russian forces
in the area between Wielczka and Docze. During
the following battles (1st - 20th December) of Limanowa-Lapanów
Roth was able to stop the superior Russian forces. They could not breakthrough between the 3rd and 4th army to surround
Kraków and the marshes into Silesia. Additionally the Armeegruppe Roth was able
to create positive preconditions for the later successful breakthrough near
Gorlice-Tarnöw. Josef Roth later received the
knight's cross of the Military Maria Theresian Order for this
outstanding performance.
After heavy static warfare during the winter of 1914/15 along the river Dunajec the Austro-Hungarian offensive followed in
May 1915.
During this offensive Roth's corps fought at Tarnów and at Lublin. Finally the 1st army (including the 14th
corps) was assigned to the German General von Linsingen and fought at Kowel. For his outstanding
performance during this
offensive Roth was honored with the award of the grand cross of
the Order of the Iron Crown with war decoration (9th April 1915),
the neck badge of the decoration of the Society of the Red Cross
with war decoration (31st May 1915) and the Prussian Iron Crosses
1st and 2nd class. He received his promotion to General der
Infanterie on the 1st of September 1915 and was transferred to the
Italian theatres where he was assigned to the
Landesverteidigungskommando Tirol (Defence Command Tyrol) and took over command of the
Rayon (sector) IV (Ostfront) and Rayon V (Dolomitenfront). In November the
headquarter was transferred from Brixen to Bruneck. During the
month of March 1916 General Roth was appointed
Landesverteidigungskommandant von Tirol (Defence Commander Tyrol).This command consisted
of all troops which were not under the command of the 11th army at
Trient. After the failure of the Southern Tyrol offensive he
received the appointment as commander of the 20th corps. Again he
held an important post during the stabilized warfare on the Tyrolean front but could not reach a higher command. The reason was that
his commanding officer Erzherzog Eugen gave him excellent evaluations (April 1916 and March 1917), as all other superiors
before, but considered him as "too friendly with his
subordinated troops" meaning "possibly too weak to use
them ruthlessly enough".
On the 19th of May 1916 he was honored with the title of
Geheimer Rat (Privy Councillor) followed by his ennobling to "Ritter von"
on the 11th of June 1916. He asked for the predicate
"Limanowa-Lapanöw" which was granted on the 4th of
September 1916. During the following month, especially during the
breakthrough at Flitsch-Tolmein, Josef Roth Ritter von Limanowa-Lapanów had again the possibility to
distinguish himself
as corps commander. He received the 1st class of the Order of
Leopold with war decoration and swords on the 8th of April 1917
and the bronze military medal with swords on the 16th of October
1917. After the success of Flitsch-Tolmein the immediate defence
of the Tyrolean border was no longer necessary and the supreme
command now searched for another command for General Roth.
Conrad von Hötzendorf, who mainly agreed with the evaluations of
Erzherzog Eugen, had the right idea and wrote in his evaluation
on Roth: "A kind, knightly character, more conciliatory than decisive,
intrepid and brave, not suitable for army command, suitable for inspector of
military educational establishments, has the heart and understanding for the
young." and this was the reason why General Roth
received his appointment as Generalinspektor der
Militär-Erziehungs- und Bildungsanstalten on the 15th of
February 1918. On the 1st of February 1918 he received his
promotion to Generaloberst with seniority from the 25th of
February.
After the peace agreements with Russian a permanently growing
number of former POW's returned to Austria-Hungary. Some of
them were convinced Bolsheviks and others simply dubious or
questionable characters. The authorities searched for a possible
solution for this problem and created the post of a
Generalinspektor für das Heimkehrerwesen to look after the problem.
On the 21st of March 1918 Generaloberst Roth was appointed to
this post in addition to his positions regarding military
education. For his efforts there he received the military merit
cross 3rd class with war decoration and swords on the 30th of
April 1918 - a surprisingly low decoration but understandable as Roth had never received
a lower grade of the military merit cross previously!
Generaloberst Roth continued at his both jobs until the war ended
in 1918. On the 2nd of October 1918 he received the knight's
cross of the Military Maria Theresian Order followed by his ennobling to "Freiherr von" on the 10th of October
1918.
After the war he retired to his home in Vienna and was often engaged with several clubs; he was the president of the Verein
Alt-Neustadt, the president of the officers' association, 1st
president of the Reichskameradschafts- und Kriegerbund and
chairman of the Oberster Offiziersehrenrat. From 1925 he was additionally the
President of the chapter of the Military Maria
Theresian Order. After his death on the 9th of April 1927
Generaloberst Josef Freiherr Roth von Limanowa-Lapanöw was buried
in a honorary grave of the City of Vienna at the Zentralfriedhof.
Title photograph copyright © Enzo Calabresi -
Thanks Enzo!
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