Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Alexandr Alekseyevich Gerngross () (4 August 1851 – 17 March 1925) was a general of

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

descent who served in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Biography

Gerngross was from a

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

family of

origin. He entered military service in 1868, and graduated from the Riga School of Infantry. Commissioned as an ensign in 1871, he served with the 63rd Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to second lieutenant in 1873 and to lieutenant in 1875. Serving with distinction during the

Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) The Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition led by the Russian Empire which included United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, Romania, Principality of Serbia, Serbia, and Principality of ...

he received a

field commission In military terminology, a brevet ( or ) is a warrant which gives commissioned officers a higher military rank as a reward without necessarily conferring the authority and privileges granted by that rank. The promotion would be noted in the of ...

as brevet captain, which was formally confirmed in 1879. He rose to lieutenant colonel in 1887. He served in

Russian Turkestan Russian Turkestan () was a colony of the Russian Empire, located in the western portion of the Central Asian region of Turkestan. Administered as a Krai or Governor-Generalship, it comprised the oasis region to the south of the Kazakh Steppe, b ...

from 1891 to 1897, during which time he was responsible for land surveys for the

Trans-Caspian Railway The Trans-Caspian Railway (also called the Central Asian Railway, ) is a railway that follows the path of the Silk Road through much of western Central Asia. It was built by the Russian Empire during its expansion into Central Asia in the 19t ...

. He was promoted to colonel in 1894, and became commander of the Transcaspian Infantry Battalion to August 1897. Gergross then commanded the border guards units of the Russian Ministry of Finance through 1901. In 1900, he was stationed in

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

, and played an important role in the defense of Harbin during the Russian suppression of the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

in 1900–1901. He was awarded the

Order of St. George The Order of Saint George () is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. It was originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) as the highest military decoration of the Russian Empire for commiss ...

(4th class) for heroism during this campaign. From 1902, Gerngross was commander of the 1st Siberian Infantry Brigade, which was subsequently active in combat during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

of 1904–1905.Kowner, '' Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War'', p. 131. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1904. During the

Battle of Te-li-Ssu The Battle of Te-li-ssu ( '), also called Battle of Wafangou () after the nearby railway station, was a land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. The battle was fought on 14–15 June 1904 between the Japanese Second Army under General Oku Yasu ...

, his division came under a strong artillery attack from the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

, and suffered heavy losses. Although the promised reinforcements never arrived, he personally led two regiments in a successful counterattack on Japanese positions. He was wounded in the battle, and was subsequently awarded the

Gold Sword for Bravery The Gold Sword for Bravery () was a Russian award for bravery. It was set up with two grades on 27 July 1720 by Peter the Great, reclassified as a public order in 1807 and abolished in 1917. From 1913 to 1917 it was renamed the Saint George ...

. He was also at the

Battle of Liaoyang The () was a major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, on the outskirts of the city of Liaoyang in present-day Liaoning Province, China. The city was of great strategic importance as the major Russian military center for southern Manchuria ...

. At the

Battle of Shaho The Battle of Shaho ( (''Saka no kaisen''), ) was the second large-scale land battle of the Russo-Japanese War fought along a front centered at the Shaho River along the Mukden– Port Arthur spur of the China Far East Railway north of Liaoyang ...

, Gerngross commanded the reserve forces, which he used to recapture positions from the Japanese south of the Sha River before being ordered to withdraw. During the

Battle of Sandepu The Battle of Sandepu (also known as the Battle of Heikoutai) ( (''Kokkōdai no kaisen''), ) was a major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. It was fought within a group of villages about southwest of Mukden, Manchuria.Kowner, '' Historic ...

, Gerngross led a detachment consisting of the 2nd, 3rd, 35th and 36th Infantry Regiments in a successful night attack, which split the Japanese 3rd Division and succeeded in securing a foothold within the fortified village of Sandepu. However, his action was part of the unauthorized offensive and he was again obliged to withdraw, sustaining heavy losses. For this action, he was relieved of his command by General

Georgii Stackelberg Georg August Paul Freiherr von Stackelberg (; ) was a Baltic German cavalry general in the service of the Imperial Russian Army. He was noted for his role during the Russo-Japanese War, especially during the Battle of Sandepu, in which he was ...

. During the

Battle of Mukden The , one of the largest land battles to be fought before World War I and the last and the most decisive major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, was fought from 20 February to 10 March 1905 between Japan and Russia near Mukden ...

, Gerngross (who had just been reinstated as commander) and General

Konstantin Tserpitsky Konstantin Vikentyevich Tserpitsky (December 11, 1849 – November 14, 1905) was a Russian commander, lieutenant general, participant in the campaigns of 1873, 1875–1876, 1878 and 1880 in Turkestan, the Chinese campaign of 1900–1901 and the ...

, despite a lack of reinforcements, led a counterattack, which temporarily halted the advance of the

Japanese Third Army The was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army based in Manchukuo as a garrison force under the overall command of the Kwantung Army during World War II, but its history dates to the Russo-Japanese War. History The Japanese 3rd Army was initiall ...

. After the end of the War, Gerngross was made commander of the

1st Siberian Army Corps The 1st Siberian Army Corps was an elite unit of the Imperial Russian Army. It was raised in May 1900 and disbanded in August 1918. History The 1st Siberian Army Corps was raised in May 1900 under the command of Lieutenant General Nikolai Linevi ...

. He held this position from 23 May 1905 to 7 June 1910. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of infantry general, and commander of the 24th Army Corps until 20 January 1913. Made a member of the Military Council on 20 November 1913, he then commanded the 26th Army Corps in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, from 15 August 1914 to 28 December 1916. He went into retirement after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, and died of a heart attack in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 1925.

Awards

Order of St. Anne 3rd degree with swords and bow, 1877 * Order of Saint Stanislaus Ribbon

Order of St. Stanislaus 2nd degree with swords, 1878 *

Order of St Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of the Kievan Rus'. Grades The order had four ...

4th degree with swords and bow, 1879. * Order of St. Anne 2nd degree with swords 1879 * RUS Order of Saint George 4th class ribbon 2000

, 4th class, 1900 * Order of Saint Stanislaus Ribbon

Order of St. Stanislaus 1st degree with swords, 1901 *

2nd degree with swords, 1905. * Order of St. Anne 1st degree with swords 1905. *

. 1906 *

RUS Imperial Order of the White Eagle ribbon

Order of the White Eagle with swords, 1906 * Band to Order St Alexander Nevsky

Order of St. Alexander Nevsky The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on by Empress Catherine I of Russia. History The introduction of the Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was envisioned by Emperor ...

, 1912

References

* *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerngross, Alexander 1851 births 1925 deaths People from Smolensk Imperial Russian Army generals Russian military personnel of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) People of the Boxer Rebellion Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Russian military personnel of World War I Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 1st class Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia) People from the Russian Empire of Dutch descent