Viktor Binder von Bindersfeld

Viktor Binder von Bindenfels was born on the 27th of November 1829 in Vienna as the son of an Oberstlieutenant in Infantry Number 3 and his wife Maria. He entered the Wiener-Neustadt Military Academy on the 28th of September 1840 and on graduation was commissioned as a Lieutenant (lower pay grade) on the 20th of September 1846. After attending a further course of higher military education he was promoted to Lieutenant (higher pay grade) on the 1st of May 1847 in his father's old regiment - Infanterieregiment Erzherzog Karl  Nr. 3. He saw action at Vienna and the initial operations against Hungary in 1848 and was promoted to Oberlieutenant on the on the 10th of March 1849. He was transferred to the Italian theatre in 1849 where he was assigned as a general staff officer in the fighting against Piedmont and took part in the expedition to Romagna, the bombardment and capture of Bologna and Ancona and the siege of Venice. For his conduct during the capture of Ancona he received a commendation from Feldmarschall-Lieutenant Graf Wimpffen and was further awarded the Knight's Cross of the Papal Order of Saint Gregory. Transferred to the General Quartermaster Staff on the 16th of August 1849 he was promoted to Hauptmann 2. Classe on the 27th of March 1852 and assigned to the Chief of the General Quartermaster Staff, Feldzeugmeister Freiherr von Hess. In this position he was promoted to Hauptmann 1. Classe on the 1st of June 1855.

In October 1855 von Binder was assigned as the archivist to the Federal Military Commission at Frankfurt am Main and on the 1st of April the following year he assumed the duties of head of protocol of the commission. During this assignment he received the Knight's Cross of the Royal Netherlands Order of the Oak Crown on the 5th of June 1857 and the Royal Prussian Red Eagle Order 3rd Class on the 26th of May 1860. He had in the meantime received an accelerated promotion to Major with a simultaneous appointment as a personal adjutant to Feldmarschall Freiherr von Hess on the 5th of March 1860. On the 1st of November 1860 he became a personal adjutant to the Kaiser and accompanied Generalmajor Graf Huyn to Berlin where he took part in the negotiations concerning the military organization of the German Federation. He accompanied the Kaiser to Warsaw for a meeting with Tsar Alexander II in January 1861 and on the occasion of this visit was awarded the Imperial Russian Saint Stanislaus Order 2nd Class. Awarded the Schaumburg Military Merit Medal after attending the Prussian Grand manouvres he was further decorated with Order of the Iron Crown 3rd Class on the 16th of August 1862 for his distinguished service as a General Adjutant to the Kaiser. Promoted to Oberstlieutenant on the 17th of January 1863 in the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger Regiment he was assigned as the chief of staff of the 7th Army Corps. However in July he was transferred to the Federal Inspectorate of the Prussian Federal Contingent in Berlin under Feldmarschall-Lieutenant Erzherzog Leopold in which position he was awarded the Royal Prussian Crown Order 3rd Class on the 2nd of January 1864.

On the 18th of July 1865 Binder became the regimental commander as an Oberst of  the Rastatt based Infanterie-Regiment Freiherr von Hess Nr. 49. During the campaign against Prussia in Bohemia in the summer of 1866 the regiment was with Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 44 and the 3. Feldjäger-Bataillon a part of Oberst Julius Manger von Kirchsberg's brigade in Feldmarschall-Lieutenant Ernst's III. Army Corps. During the early afternoon of the 3rd of July 1866 at the battle of Königgrätz, Generalmajor Manger von Kirchsberg's brigade assaulted the positions of the Prussian 15th Brigade under the command of Generalmajor Julius von Bose at Ober-Dohalitz. With the army of the Crown Prince of Prussia yet to appear on the field it still seemed at this juncture that the Austrian forces under Feldzeugmeister Ludwig Ritter von Benedek might achieve a victory. Leading his regiment in the brigade attack Oberst von Binder and his men were met by a murderous volley of needle-gun fire from the Prussians at Ober-Dohalitz (Infantry Regiments Nr. 31 and 71) and amongst the fatalities was the youthful regimental commander. Viktor Binder von Bindersfeld was the last of his line. 

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