Karl
Tersztyánszky von Nádas
Karl
Tersztyánszky was born on the 28th of October 1854 at Szakolcz.
For some unknown
reason his records in the class book of the Military Academy at Wiener
Neustadt
show the date as the 21st of November and other official records show
the 23rd
of October but the original church register clearly gives the correct
date of birth as the 28th of
October 1854. He came from an old Hungarian noble family which owned
some estates in
the comitate of Neutra. In the 13th century the
family had been granted the village of Nádas by the Hungarian
King
Albert IV and henceforth carried the predicate "von Nádas" since
that time.
After a private education at the estates of his father
Karl he entered at the age of 10 the Gymnasium at Olmütz, which
he passed with "very good success". After graduating from the
Militärkollegium at St.Pölten with "excellent
success" he entered the Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt.
As the best of his age class he was promoted to Leutnant in
dragoon regiment number 8 at Przemysl on the 1st of September
1877. After attending the Kriegsschule at Vienna with
"very good success" he was promoted to Oberleutnant on
the 1st of May 1882 and attached to the general staff corps where
he received his promotion to Hauptmann 1st class on the 1st of
August 1886. For his performance at the headquarter of the 2nd
corps command he received a certificate of commendation from the corps
commander in 1887. In the same year Karl
Tersztyánszky von
Nádas married, paying his prescribed Heiratskaution of 24.000
Gulden but this marriage
remained childless. In 1888 he received another commendation from the
headquarter of the 2nd corps. In
1891 he became chief of the general staff of the cavalry division at
Jaroslau. During the year 1892 he received a
certificate of commendation from the headquarters of the 8th corps, the
Prussian
Order of the Crown 3rd class and finally his promotion
to Major on the 1st of November 1892. On the 1st of May 1895 he
was promoted to Oberstleutnant. If one looks at Tersztyánszky's
evaluations it can be seen that all his commanding officers were
impressed by his knowledge's, intelligence, enterprise and fine
character but were concerned a little with regard to his hot temper.
It seems that with age this flaw became harder for him to control.
In spring 1896 Oberstleutnant Tersztyánszky assumed command
of the officers' school of the brigade at Neu Zuczka and was
transferred to hussar regiment number 14 at Nyiregyhaza. On
the 5th of May 1897 he took over command of dragoon regiment
number 1 at Tarnopol. In 1896 and in 1897 he received certificates of
commendation
from the war ministry. He received his promotion to
Oberst on the 1st of May 1898 with seniority from the 19th of
May of the same year. As a common routine he was awarded the
Order of the Iron Crown 3rd class on the 13th of October 1901. It
is remarkable that Oberst Tersztyánszky had received more
commendations than similar senior officers but neither received
a Signum Laudis nor the military merit cross. Perhaps his hot
temper which lead to permanent quarrels especially with the
administration had prevented him receiving any higher awards. In
September 1903 he
was appointed to the command of the 8th cavalry brigade followed by
his promotion to Generalmajor on the 1st of November 1904. Again
it seems strange that an officer with so many commendations and
excellent annual evaluations by his commanding officers needed
nearly 30 year on duty to reach this rank. For his excellent
performance as the commander of this brigade he again received a
certificate of commendation from the headquarter of the 13th corps in
1907. In July 1907 he was appointed to command the 2nd cavalry division
at Preßburg
(Pozsony) where he received his promotion
to Feldmarschall-Leutnant on the 1st of November 1908. On the
25th of February 1910 he was honored with the award of the
knight's cross of the Order of Leopold. In April 1910
Tersztyánszky took over command of the 14th
infantry division
also located at Preßburg. In September 1912 he was appointed
commander of the 4th corps and commanding general at Budapest.
During the year 1913 he was honored with the titles of Geheimer
Rat (Privy Councillor) on the 2nd of April and Oberstinhaber of hussar
regiment number 8 on the 21st of December. On the 1st
of May 1913 he received his promotion to General der Kavallerie
with seniority from the 30th of April 1913. In early 1914 he
received the Papal Merit cross "Pro ecclesia et
pontifice".
When the war started in
1914 Tersztyánszky's corps became part
of the 2nd army along the river Save. The campaign as whole was a
failure but the 4th corps archived a successful relief
attack in support of the 5th army. In September 1914
Tersztyánszky and his corps were transported to the Russian
theatre where they
took part on the attack of Wereszyca on the 8th and 9th of
September 1914. On the 9th of September he additionally took over
command of the 7th corps and with both corps he was involved in
the battles against much superior Russian forces near Lemberg. In
October 1914 he was able to capture the important Uzsok Pass
and finally took Turka on the 10th of October. The successful advance
was stopped
in the main by the superiority of the Russian
forces. For his successful leadership he was honored with the
award of the Grand cross of the Order of the Iron Crown with war
decoration on the 5th of October 1914. On the 28th of October
1914 the 2nd army including Tersztyánszky and his corps was
transferred to
Prussian Silesia. During the following fighting, especially the
battles near Szczecow, General
Tersztyánszky performed well but considering the great
superiority of the Russian forces an offensive success was not
possible. He received the Prussian Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class
and the 1st class of the merit decoration of the Society of the
Red Cross with war decoration on the 31st of May 1915. In Spring
1915 General Tersztyánszky was appointed to plan the new
offensive against Serbia and therefore he took over command of
the troops along the Danube-Save line - renamed as Armeegruppe
Tersztyánszky - on the 22nd of May 1915. During the following
month he developed the full operational plan for the attack and
effectively trained his troop
for the coming campaign finally forming
them into the new 3rd army. However the credit for his efforts would be
enjoyed
by General Kövess because
Tersztyánszky's hot temper
once again struck and caused his relief from the command of 3rd
army. His
employment of civilian workers with the army in the field he
caused a
major quarrel with a commissioner of
the Hungarian government which soon reaching a damaging level.
The Hungarian regional commissioner reported the dispute to the
Hungarian
prime minister Graf Tisza who in cabinet demanded the relief of General
Tersztyánszky.
Chief of Staff Conrad attempted to
help him but the Hungarian prime minister was a too powerful enemy and
at last Tersztyánszky
was removed in September 1915 and sent on extended leave.
For
his efforts in
planning and training for the successful offensive against Serbia he
received the
grand cross of the Order
of Leopold with war decoration on the 4th of November 1915. On
the 1st of May 1916 he was promoted to Generaloberst with
seniority from the 11th of May 1916. It would take some time before he
would
again receive a field command and again his temper adversely affected
his career! In June 1916 Conrad von Hötzendorf searched for a
commanding General who would not "be intimidated by the German
leaders and rude enough to enforce our own interests" and
found Generaloberst Tersztyánszky. On the 7th of June 1916 he
took over command of the 4th army. His first mission was to support
General der
Kavallerie Georg von der Marwitz's "Armeegruppe" during the new
counter attack
at the end of
June 1916. During this new offensive the 4th army received very
heavy causalities and was not able to reach the objective of Luck. In
July and August 1916 the 4th army got into very critical situations
during the Russian counter attacks at Luck and Kowel
and again sustained very heavy causalities. After receiving new
troops the 4th army performed reasonably during the autumn Russian
offensive especially at Swincky, Kortytnia
and Zaturcy before the fighting wound down due to exhaustion on both
sides.
On the 17th of October 1916 Generaloberst Tersztyánszky was
honored with the award of the Military Merit Cross 1st class with
war decoration. When the swords were introduced he received these
retroactively
for all his previously awarded decorations and on the 17th
of March 1917 he received the commendation of the Kaiser for his
outstanding performance as the commander of an army which allowed him
to wear the bronze Military Merit Medal (Signum Laudis) with war
ribbon and swords. Shortly before he had received the grand cross of
the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle with swords. This successful
performance kept him from retirement because his hot headed
character again brought him into trouble, this time with the German
Generaloberst von Linsingen - both
of them not really
known for
their diplomatic characters! The German headquarters demanded
Tersztyánszky's removal and finally he was replaced by
Generaloberst Kirchbach and took over
command of the 3rd army
in Galicia on the 19th of March 1917. But now his luck had left him.
He tried to stop the Russian offensive at Stanislau and Klausz
but on the 10th of July 1917 the superior Russian forces were
able to break through and pushed back the 3rd army about 20
kilometres. The lost area was recaptured back some days later
but this could not help, Generaloberst Tersztyánszky was removed
from command on the 12th of July 1917.
The Kaiser did not want to retire the old veteran and
suggested to him that he command the Hungarian Noble Lifeguard but
Tersztyánszky
refused this honorable post. He wrote a long letter
to Generaloberst Bolfras listing all the reasons why he could not
perform well at such a court post. Besides his well
known troubles with the Hungarian administration and Graf Tisza he
appended a long list of
persons who had had problems with him since his
time as the commanding general in Budapest and finally he put forward
his great lack of knowledge of the Hungarian language! To avoid
any further troubles Generaloberst Tersztyánszky was then
appointed commander of the Leibgarde Reiter Eskadron at the court in
Vienna. Shortly before he received the Merit Star of the
Society of the Red Cross on the 11th of August 1917. After his
final retirement on the 1st of December 1918 he lived in Vienna
where Generaloberst Karl Tersztyánszky von Nádas died on
the 7th
of March 1921.
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