Germany (Bavaria)
Rupprecht of Bavaria
1869–1955 Commander, Sixth Army, 1914–1916; Army Group Rupprecht of Bavaria, 1916–1918
Born in Munich in 1869, the eldest son of the future King Ludwig III of Bavaria, Rupprecht rose in the Bavarian army and in 1906 took command of the I Army Corps. In August 1914 he took command of the Sixth Army in Lorraine and, as a field marshal from July 1916, led Army Group Rupprecht of Bavaria opposite the British. He opposed the scorched-earth policy of the 1917 withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, quarreled with the army command over the conduct of the war and came to favor a negotiated peace. He resigned his command on 11 November 1918. After the monarchy ended he returned to Bavaria, kept his distance from the Nazis, went into exile in Italy in 1939 and died at Schloss Leutstetten in 1955.