Julius Lustig-Prean von Preanfeld

Julius Lustig-Prean von Preanfeld was born on the 11th of February 1871 in Pilsen in Bohemia as the son of a Generalmajor. and like his two brothers and his father, Julius Lustig-Prean von Preanfeld would also become a general officer. Following his graduation from the Theresian military academy at Wiener-Neustadt with "very good success" he was commissioned as a Leutnant in Feldjägerbataillon Nr.9 on the 18th of August 1891. From December 1893 to April 1894 he was an instructor on the one year volunteers course for Infantry Regiment Number 7 followed by his attendance at the Kriegsschule from 1st October 1894 until the 17th of October 1896. Promoted to Oberleutnant on the on the 1st of November 1895, he was attached to the general staff on the 16th of January 1897 and assigned as a staff officer to the headquarters of the 6th infantry division at Graz then under the command of Feldmarschalleutnant Wilhelm Stanger. From the 4th of April 1898 until the 30th of April 1899 he served with general staff in Vienna being promoted to Hauptmann 2. Klasse on on the the 1st of May 1899 with a simultaneous assignment to Feldjägerbataillon Nr. 22. He served with the Prague based rifle battalion as the commander of it's 2nd company until his reassignment to the general staff and a posting as a general staff officer to the headquarters of the 2nd army corps at Vienna as an Hauptmann 1. Klasse on the 1st of May 1901. He remained with 2nd corps until the 30th of April 1906 in which assignment he was awarded a war minister's commendation and was then assigned to the headquarters of the general staff on the 1st of May 1906, assuming the post of head of the press group on the 31st of December 1907. For his service with the general staff he was awarded the Bronze Military Merit Medal (Signum Laudis)

Promoted to Major on the 1st of November 1908 he was assigned as chief of staff of the 36th infantry division at Agram on the 26th of April 1910 and awarded the Military Merit Cross that year. He assumed his final prewar appointment as commander of Villach based Feldjägerbataillon Nr. 8 in succession to Major Bogomil Novaković von Gjuraboj on the 1st of May 1912 in the rank of Oberstleutnant. One of his most distinguished predecessors in command of Feldjägerbataillon Nr. 8 was the later Feldmarschalleutnant and MMThO winner Guido Novak von Arienti who commanded the battalion from 1903 to 1910. 

With the outbreak of the First World War, Feldjägerbataillon Nr. 8 was mobilized as part of Generalmajor Felizian Krasel's 12th infantry brigade in Feldmarschalleutnant Karl Gelb Edler von Siegesstern's 6th infantry division. As a part of the III corps of GdI. Emil Colerus von Geldern the battalion took part in the difficult fighting around Lemberg in late August 1914. On the 30th of August whilst attached to the neighboring brigade of Generalmajor Ludwig Fabini and after only five days of deployment, Oberstleutnant Lustig-Prean was wounded by Russian shrapnel in the left forearm and had to hand over his command to Hauptmann Richard Brunar. For his front line leadership during his brief period of wartime command he was awarded the Order of the Iron Crown 3rd Class with War Decoration and Swords. Promoted to Oberst on the 1st of November 1914 he was unfit for service until the 8th of November when he assumed the temporary command of infantry regiment number 27 which he led during the Carpathian Mountain fighting of the first winter of the war until the 15th of December when complications with his earlier wound necessitated a further period of treatment at the garrison hospital in Vienna. Following his recovery he was assigned as a general staff officer in headquarters 4th army on the 9th of March 1915 until the 22nd of April when he assigned as a liaison officer with the German 11th army of Generaloberst August von Mackensen for the forthcoming Gorlice-Tarnów offensive. He thus saw action during the defensive fighting on the River Dunajec in late April/early May and the subsequent advance to the east via Gorlice - Przemysl - Lemberg - Brest-Litovsk and was awarded the Bronze Military Merit Medal on the ribbon of the Military Merit Cross on the 9th of October 1915. Remaining with the now Generalfeldmarschall von Mackensen's 11th army he participated in the invasion of Serbia until appointed as the chief of staff of Feldmarschalleutnat Ignaz Trollman's XIX corps on the 7th of March 1916. 

In August 1916 he was appointed commander of 180th infantry brigade which was renamed as the 2nd Kaiserjäger-Brigade in January 1917 and led this brigade until the 30th of September 1918. With his brigade he participated in the high alpine fighting  in the Coston - Monte Majo - Laghi sectors and was further awarded the Silver Military Merit Medal, the Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold, the Karl Troop Cross and on it's introduction in 1918, the wound medal with one stripe for his 1914 wound. He additionally held the following foreign decorations: The Knight's Cross of the Royal Belgian Order of Leopold and the Royal Spanish Military Merit Order 1st Class. Promoted Generalmajor on the 15th of December 1918 he retired as a Feldmarschalleutnant and died on the 31st of July 1957 in Vienna.

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