Wichard Joachim Heinrich von Möllendorf

Wichard Joachim Heinrich von Möllendorf (7 January 1724 – 28 January 1816) was a Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia.

Möllendorf was born in Lindenberg (Prignitz) in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. He began his career as a page of King Frederick the Great in 1740. The outbreak of the Silesian Wars gave him his first opportunity of seeing active service, and the end of the second war saw him a captain.

In the Seven Years' War, his brilliant conduct at the churchyard of Leuthen and at Hochkirch won him his majority. In 1760 his exertions retrieved the almost lost the battle of Torgau, and the last success of the great king was won by the brigades of Prince Wied and Möllendorf (now major-general) at the Burkersdorf heights. Seventeen years later, as lieutenant-general, he won at Brix one of the few successes of the War of the Bavarian Succession (or Potato War).

In the years of peace Möllendorf occupied considerable posts, being made governor of Berlin in 1783. Promoted general of infantry in 1787, and general field marshal in 1793, he commanded the Prussian army on the Rhine in 1794. In the disastrous Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (1806) Möllendorf played a considerable part, though he did not actually command a corps. He was present with the king at the Auerstedt, falling into the hands of the French in the debacle which followed. After his release, he passed the remainder of his life in retirement. He died in 1816 in Potsdam.

References

*1911