Adolf von Rhemen

Colonel General Adolf Freiherr von Rhemen zu Barensfeld (22 December 1855 – 11 January 1932), sometimes referred to as Baron Rhemen, was a German senior officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army, known for his commanding roles during the First World War.

Born into a German noble family settled in Austria, Rhemen became a professional soldier in 1876. During the First World War, he served as commander of XIII Corps, attached to the Fifth Army during the First Serbian Campaign. Later, he was transferred to the Eastern Front in Galicia, where XIII Corps served under the Austro-Hungarian Seventh Army. From 1916 to 1918, he held the position of Governor General of the Military General Governorate of Serbia, ultimately attaining the rank of Colonel general (Generaloberst) in the army in 1917. Following the collapse of the monarchy, he retired from service in December 1918. He died in Austria in 1932 at the age of 76.

Early life and career
Adolf Freiherr von Rhemen zu Barensfeld was born on 22 December 1855, in Rastatt, Germany. The son of Eberhard Freiherr von Rhemen, a captain (Hauptmann) in the Austro-Hungarian Army, his family hailed from German nobility established in Austria. Rhemen attended school in Budweis, Bohemia, followed by two years at a military college in St. Pölten, Lower Austria from 1870 to 1872. He then he enrolled at the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria in 1872. He graduated from the academy in 1876 with the rank of lieutenant and joined the 14th Infantry Regiment. In 1881, he was promoted to first lieutenant and later completed studies at the War School (Kriegsschule) in Vienna from 1882 to 1884.

Upon graduating from the War School, Rhemen was promoted to captain in the General staff Corps. He then advanced to major in 1894 and colonel in 1899, when he assumed the role of chief of staff of XIII Corps in Agram, Croatia (Zagreb). Rhemen attained the rank of major general in 1905, initially served as commander of the 72nd Infantry Brigade in Zagreb.

In the summer of 1878 Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia-Herzegovina and began administering the region according to regulations established by the Berlin Congress. Additionally, under the terms of the treaty, Austria-Hungary was granted the right to maintain garrisons in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar (referred to by the Ottomans as Sanjak Plevlje), which it administered jointly with the Ottoman state. On 23 November 1906, Rhemen assumed command of the 9th Mountain Brigade in Sarajevo, the following year, he became brigade commander of the Austro-Hungarian occupation troops stationed in Plevlje (today Pljevlja, Montenegro), the seat of the Sanjak's administration. On 20 October 1908, the Austro-Hungarian troops left Plevlje. On 14 March 1909 Rhemen was appointed commander of the 34th Infantry Division stationed in Temeschwar (today Timisoara, Romania).

In 1910, Rhemen was promoted to lieutenant field marshal. On 12 October 1912, he assumed command of XIII Corps, and the Agram (Zagreb) Military District. His promotion was part of the Dual Monarchy's policy, which mandated that a German general take command of the corps and commissariat in Zagreb. On 28 June 1914, at the Zagreb railway station, he informed General Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, the Chief of the General Staff, about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne, and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo.

Command of XIII Corps
At the outbreak of World War I, Rhemen's XIII Corps, was part of the Fifth Army, which, along with the Sixth Army, formed Minimalgruppe Balkan (Balkan Task Force), a formation assigned to the Balkan front, established by the Austro-Hungarian High Command (AOK). The XIII Corps, regarded as one of Austria-Hungary's finest units, was stationed in Zagreb.

XIII Corps, designated as a Croatian corps, comprised several notable units. Among them was the renowned 42nd Home Guard Infantry Division, commonly known as the Devil's Division and commanded by Croat officer Stjepan Sarkotić. The 42nd Infantry Division, was the only unit allowed to use Serbo-Croatian as its official language of command, rather than German or Hungarian. Additionally, within XIII Corps were the 36th Infantry Division, led by Lieutenant field marshal Claudius Czibulka, stationed in Zagreb, and the 13th Infantry Brigade based in Esseg (Osijek). With its two infantry divisions and a separate infantry brigade, the XIII Corps totalled 33,000 personnel and 114 artillery pieces.

On 25 July 1914, Balkanstreitkräfte, (Balkan Armed Forces) the force assembled to attack Serbia and Montenegro was established by adding Second Army to Minimalgruppe Balkan. The force was placed under the supreme command of Bosnia-Herzegovina's military governor, Feldzeugmeister (Lieutenant General) Oskar Potiorek. Mobilisation orders for the invasion of Serbia were received on 26 July 1914.

First Serbian campaign
Potiorek ordered the attack to begin on 12 August. Positioned along the lower Drina river in Bosnia, the Fifth Army was to encircle the Serbian centre at Valjevo, using Rhemen's XIII Corps (33,000 men and 114 cannons) and VIII Corps. Serbian fortifications made crossing difficult, and by evening, half of XIII Corps was still in Bosnia. The 36th Division was the only unit to successfully cross between Loznica and Lesnica, while the 42nd marched south along the Drina towards Zvornik and Ljubovija.

On 14 August, XIII Corps launched an assault on Serbian positions, resulting in significant casualties. Despite capturing Gornji Dobrić, the 36th Division suffered heavy losses. The 42nd Division, crossing the Drina, followed by Bosniak militia members who began pillaging and burning villages, faced resistance but managed to advance to Krupanj before clashing with Serbian forces. On 15 August, XIII Corps engaged the Serbian 3rd Army, forcing a withdrawal and blocking key routes. Ordered to continue alone after the 21st Division's destruction, XIII Corps, along with IV Corps, intensified its push eastward. On 18 August, XIII Corps attacked again, with the 36th capturing a strategic hill. However, Serbian counterattacks forced a withdrawal towards Loznica. With VIII Corps retreating, XIII Corps defended its flank, allowing orderly withdrawal across the Drina. By 24 August, all Austro-Hungarian forces had evacuated Serbia, marking the end of the campaign.

During that first invasion the Balkanstreitkräfte lost 600 officers and 23,000 soldiers. XIII Corps' two divisions each reported over three thousand casualties, the 25th Royal Croatian Home Guard Regiment alone reported over eight hundred casualties, while the Croatian 16th Regiment reported 54 officers and 1,004 men as casualties.

On 6 September 1914, bowing to Allied pressure, Petar Bojović's Serbian 1st Army crossed into Habsburg territory, invading the Hungarian territory of Syrmia, capturing the town of Semlin (Zemun). On 14 September, supported by observation balloon and river monitors from the Danube flotilla, Potiorek launched a second Habsburg invasion into Serbia, near the confluence of the Drina and Sava, with an offensive by the Fifth Army's VIII and XIII Corps. By the third week of September, after sustaining heavy losses, both sides settled into trench warfare. On 20 October Potiorek announced the end of the offensive. Military historian Mark Clodfelter reports 40,000 Austro-Hungarian casualties and 30,000 for the Serbian army during this second invasion attempt. Two Austrian corps sustained nearly 30,000 casualties, while one Serbian division suffered 6,000.

On 6 November, Potiorek launched a general offensive, commencing the third Habsburg invasion. XIII Corps now part of the Sixth Army, joined XV Corps in a frontal assault on the Serbian 3rd Army, while other units encircled the Second and Third Armies. By the next day, Serbian forces began withdrawing to avoid encirclement. The Fifth Army captured Valjevo on 15 November, prompting Potiorek to order XIII Corps to pursue the retreating Serbs towards the Kolubara river heights. By 2 December, with the Serbian 1st Army withdrawing southeast, the Fifth Army entered an abandoned Belgrade. On 3 December, a massive Serbian counteroffensive recaptured Valjevo by 7 December. Serbian forces then targeted XIII Corps along the Kolubara. Despite orders to hold, XIII Corps, stretched thin, suffered heavy losses. Panic ensued on 7 December when a bridge collapsed during retreat. By mid-December, Habsburg forces retreated across the Sava, evacuating Belgrade before the Serbs reentered their city on 15 December.

The Balkanstreitkräfte's retreat into Austria-Hungary marked the end of the campaign. The Serbian campaign was a terrible defeat for the dual monarchy, as its 450,000 troops faced off against a small peasant army that unexpectedly defended its homeland successfully. The campaign resulted in 273,804 Austro-Hungarian casualties, including 28,000 dead, 122,000 wounded, and 40,000 missing. The Serbs lost 22,000 dead, 91,000 wounded, and 19,000 missing. During the invasions, the Austro-Hungarian troops committed numerous war crimes against the Serbian population. Civilian deaths took place in the Mačva region, the Jadar valley, at Loznica and Lešnica, and in the contested areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Historian Geoffrey Wawro reported that the Austro-Hungarian Army perpetrated atrocities, including the execution of peasant men, women, and children. Professor R. A. Reiss, a Swiss criminologist who conducted an investigation into Austro-Hungarian crimes shortly after they took place, reported that in northwestern Serbia, the Habsburg troops ruthlessly massacred thousands of civilians with unparalleled brutality. On 13 August, Potiorek ordered all units to seize hostages, carry out reprisal hangings, and engage in arson as part of a punitive strategy, in retaliation for Komitadji partisan raids. Some of those crimes were committed by the 42nd Home Guard Division around Zvornik, but also by other units in towns and villages such as Krupanj and Zavlaka, where groups of peasant men, women, and children were shot after being tied together. Rhemen allegedly justified these atrocities by referring to the Serbs "a culturally backward people", making it difficult to adhere to the laws of war.

Carpathian Front
After the unsuccessful Serbian campaign, Rhemen's XIII Corps was redeployed to the Carpathian Front in mid-January 1915. A component of Army Group Pflanzer-Baltin, XIII Corps participated in the First Carpathian Offensive (23 January – 26 February 1915) with its two divisions, the 36th Infantry Division and the 42nd Home Guard Infantry Division. On 8 May 1915, Army Group Pflanzer-Baltin became the Seventh Army.

XIII Corps was headquartered in Kolomyya, Ukraine, as part of the Seventh Army under the command of General Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin. During its deployment in Eastern Galicia, Rhemen's corps participated in the Brusilov offensive, engaging the Russian Dnister Group and later the Russian Ninth Army. During the Battle of Dniestr and Zolota Lypa, one of Rhemen's divisions retreated, resulting in the surrender of around 7,000 troops. Recognising the demoralised state and incapacity for further resistance within XIII Corps, Rhemen conveyed to Pflanzer-Baltin that the battle was lost. The Russian advance pushed the Seventh Army, which lost 57% of its strength, back to the Carpathian's foothills. In July 1916 Rhemen was dismissed from his command. He was replaced by Lieutenant Field Marshal Maximilian Csicserics von Bacsány, as the new commanding general of XIII Corps. Rhemen commanded the Habsburg XIII Corps from 12 October 1912 until July 1916.

Military governor of Serbia
In early 1915, Rhemen was considered as a replacement for the civilian governor of Croatia to lead a crackdown on nationalist movements. Officer of German origin like him were deemed the most impartial to deal with the South Slavic question. In addition Rhemen's fluency in Serbo-Croatian, acquired through his service in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and in Croatia, made him a qualified candidate for leadership positions in the region. Following the defeat of the Serbian army and the occupation of Serbia in July 1916, the high command (Armeeoberkommando AOK) decided to appoint Rhemen military governor-general of the Military General Governorate of Serbia (MGG/S) on 6 July 1916. The appointment came in effect through a decree issued by Emperor Franz Joseph I on 26 July 1916. Rhemen succeeded Johann von Salis-Seewis, with Colonel Hugo Kerchnawe serving as his Chief of Staff. Salis-Seewis had previously served under Rhemen, during the First Serbian Campaign, as commander of the 36th Division's 71st infantry Brigade and later the 42nd Home Guard Division, replacing Sarkotić.The removal of Salis-Seewis, whom the Hungarians considered too lenient toward the Serb population, came about following recommendations by Hungarian Prime Minister István Tisza and pressure from Imperial Foreign Minister Count Stephan Burián. Rhemen's appointment signalled the onset of a stricter regime during the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Serbia, promising to bring "order and justice". Shortly after Rhemen's nomination, Tisza expressed concerns about Rhemen's connections in Croatia in a letter to the emperor: "'I ask His Majesty to note that despite General Rhemen's excellent personal qualities, I also harbour reservations due to his relationships in Croatia. I respectfully submit that, in the interest of preventing further disruptions, it would be highly desirable for Hungarians to be appointed to both positions, individuals of non-Slavic origin with no ties to South Slavic communities."

One of Rhemen's initial actions was to commence the deportation of Serbs who had previously been politically active or associated with the intelligentsia. Following this, he ordered the internment of males capable of bearing arms, starting from the age of seventeen. Many fled into the woods where they were pursued by military expeditions. Those suspected of encouraging others to flee were subjected to summary court martial and executed. Within two months, 16,000 Serbs were sent to internment camps, and by the year's end, the number reached 70,000, leading to a significant labor shortage in the MGG/S. Rhemen's request to the AOK for more prisoners of war as a labour force was denied. In early 1917, during the Toplica uprising, a mass uprising against the occupation, he ordered "ruthless extermination" of Chetnik bands. Under Rhemen's order, villages found to have aided Serbian rebels,to have aided Serbian rebels faced the internment of their entire male population.. Individuals suspected of assisting the rebels, directly or indirectly, or found in possession of weapons, were subject to summary execution. Hostages were to be taken, and if no men could be found, women could also be taken as hostages. On 1 May 1917, he was promoted to colonel general. In 1918, a Serbian woman attempted to shoot him, but his staff adjutant prevented her from doing so.

On 28 October 1918, as the Serbian army and Allied forces closed in on occupied Serbia, Rhemen departed from the region along with his staff and Baron Kuhn, the representative of the Foreign Ministry.

Retirement and death
Rhemen retired from military service on 1 December 1918. he died on 11 January 1932 in Rekawinkel, Austria, and was buried in the war cemetery on 14 January, in Pressbaum, Austria.

Honours
Rhemen is a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen, and of the Order of Philip the Magnanimous.