Who's Who - Albrecht, Duke of Wurttemberg
Albrecht, Duke of Wurttemberg (1865-1939), a successful German army
commander on the Western Front, led the Germany Fourth Army through the
Ardennes at the start of the war in August 1914, advancing to the east of
the River Marne by September in time for the
First Battle of the Marne.
During the so-called 'Race to the Sea' in October his army was transferred to Flanders, and led the offensives against Ypres during 1914 and 1915, which included the first use of gas on the Western Front at the start of the Second Battle of Ypres.
Promoted during the army command re-organisation of August 1916 to Field Marshal, Duke Albrecht was given command of the newly-formed 'Army Group Albrecht' in February 1917, responsible for the less active southern sector of the Western Front, where he remained until the armistice.
With the German revolutions that followed the war, Albrecht lost his royal inheritance, retiring instead to his castle in 1921.
Albrecht, Duke of Wurttemberg, died in 1939.
"Plugstreet" was British slang to describe the Belgian village of Ploegsteert.
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