Erwin von Witzleben, the son of a captain in the Prussian Army, was born on the 4 December 1881 in Breslau then part of the German Empire.
Erwin, as with his father Georg, became a soldier. He completed the Prussian Cadet Corps program and in 1910, he was promoted to the first lieutenant.
3 years earlier in 1907 Witzleben married Else Kleeberg and their marriage produced a son and a daughter.
At the beginning of the First World War, which began on the 28th of July 1914, Witzleben served as brigade adjutant in the 19th Reserve Infantry Brigade before being promoted to Hauptmann and company chief in the Reserve Infantry Regiment No.6 in October 1914. Later, in the same regiment, he became battalion commander. Among other places, his unit fought in Verdun and Flanders. Witzleben was seriously wounded and was awarded the Iron Cross, both first and second classes. In 1918 he was sent to General Staff training and witnessed the war end as First General Staff Officer of the 121st infantry Division.
The First World War ended on the 11th of November 1918 when the German leaders signed the armistice in the Compiègne Forest in France. The introduction of new weapons like the machine gun and gas warfare led to enormous losses and the war claimed the lives of ten million soldiers. Property and industry losses were catastrophic. As a result, the victorious powers imposed a series of treaties upon the defeated powers. Among the treaties, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for starting the war and liable for massive material damages. The treaty imposed harsh penalties on the Germans including the loss of 13% of its prewar territories, extensive reparation payments and the demilitarization of the Rhineland.
In the new Weimar Republic, which was the name given to the German government from 1918 to 1933, Ervin von Witzleben was chosen as one of only 4,000 officers to serve in the Reichswehr - the German Army - which Treaty of Versailles had limited to 100,000 men.
Witzleben was promoted to company commander and in 1923, he found himself on the Fourth Division staff in Dresden as a Major. In 1928, he became battalion commander in Infantry Regiment No. 6 and retained that position as lieutenant colonel the following year. After being promoted to full colonel in 1931, he took over as commanding officer of the Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 8 in Frankfurt on the Oder.
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