von Kluck, Alexander

Autograph correspondence (10 letters & 3 postcards) signed, 45 pages (partly both sides) on 26 sheets, in different sizes - from 3,75 x 5,5 inch (postcards) to 8,5 x 11 inch (largest letters), inter alia Hirschberg/Berlin, 1915-1934, in German, rich correspondence with Lieutenant General Friedrich Gontard (1861-1931), an old friend who worked together in the 1st Army Corps - in addition to the regular extensive exchange of information on the current family relationships of the two generals, there are numerous historically significant references to current military-political events, especially in the early letters, some of the documents written `from the field` from the time of the First World War, written and signed in dark ink, mostly with toning, the letters with letter folds, and some of them with small tears to the edges - overall in fine to very fine condition.

The first document, a field postcard from the High Command of the 1st Army, dated January 4, 1915, dates from the time when Kluck was still in command of the 1st Army. The following March he was so badly wounded that he had to permanently surrender his command the following year. In Kluck's letter of June 1916, however, he also writes that his lungs, which had been injured by a bullet, have now completely healed. He also comments on the trench warfare on the Aisne, the Battle of Soissons and the terrain around Verdun, which he is well aware of - the Battle of Verdun lasted from February to December 1916 and was one of the most important of the First World War. A very optimistic letter from May 1918 underscores Gontard's successes with the XIV Army Corps and the serious losses of material among the British. Certainly the most interesting letter in the bundle comes from January 1919, in which Kluck - under the direct impression of the peace agreement reached two months earlier - takes a detailed position on the military situation in the final phase of the war and criticizes the `fundamentally wrong strategy of the Supreme Army Command` (translated) and accordingly speaks out about Hindenburg and Ludendorff. The later letters testify above all to the state of health and the family circumstances of the aging military.