RICHARD

See also:

• JOACHIM, JOSEPH (1831—1907)

JOACHIM HEINRICH VON

See also:

• RICHARD JOACHIM HEINRICH VON MOLLENDORF (1724-1816)

MOLLENDORF (1724-1816)  , Prussian soldier, began his career as a page of Frederick the Great in 1740 . The outbreak of the Silesian wars gave him his first opportunity of seeing active service, and the end of the second war saw him a captain . In the Seven Years' War his brilliant conduct at the churchyard of Leuthen (1757) and at Hochkirch won him his majority . In 17 6o his exertions retrieved the almost lost battle of Torgau, and the last success of the great king was won by the brigades of Prince Wied and Mollendorf (now major-general) at the Burkersdorf heights . Seventeen years later, as lieutenant-general, he won at Brix one of the few successes of the Bavarian Succession (or " Potato ") War . In the years of peace he occupied considerable posts, being made governor of Berlin in 1783 . Promoted general of infantry in 1787, and general field marshal in 1793, he commanded the Prussian army on the Rhine in 1794 . In the disastrous campaign of Jena (1806) Mollendorf played a considerable part, though he did not actually command a corps . He was present with the king at Auerstadt, falling into the hands of the French in the debacle which followed . After his release he passed the remainder of his life in retirement . He died in 1816 .