The Third Battle of the Aisne was the third major offensive launched by the Germans on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. Ludendorff decided to launch a third attack on the French lines in the Chemin des Dames, called Operation Blűcher-Yorck. This would threaten Paris, and hopefully force the allies to concentrate their reserves in front of the city. If that happened, then the Germans would launch a new attack against the weakened British lines to the north.
The battle began with one of the most intense artillery bombardments of the war. The Germans fired some two million shells in four hours on the morning of 27 of May and then launched their attack with seventeen divisions. The Allied lines on the Chemin des Dames were shattered. The Germans were able to advance thirteen miles on the first day of the battle, the single biggest advance since the beginning of trench warfare in 1914. The bridges across the Aisne were captured intact and the Germans began an advance towards the Marne.
When reading about the German part of this battle I came across an article by the Swedish author Nils Fabiansson, who was one of the first individuals who, with his great books about the Western Front, dragged me into this subject, and made me start my great War project, connected to the Swedish born soldiers and their contribution in the Great War.
In this article he mentioned a Swedish Lieutenant in the German Ober-Elsässisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 167, who were a part of the German 44th Infantry Brigade, 22nd Division in the XI Army Corps.
The name of the Swedish born Lieutenant was Diedrik Robert Thorsten von Essen, and he fell in the battle after had been wounded, getting his left knee smashed by a grenade, in the area of Goussencourt, on June 2nd, 1918. He is today buried at the German Cemetery in Bligny, South-East of Reims in France.
I would never have found this name by just searching in the German Graves Commission, Volksbund, where he is just mentioned as Robert von Essen, with his date of death, June 2nd, 1918. I would never understand that this name was connected to a Swedish born soldier, so I am very glad to have found the article, written by Nils back in March, 2018.
When I searched for him in the German casualty lists I found him, with the name, date of birth, and location of birth.
Diedrik Robert Thorsten von Essen af Zellie was born in Saint Petri parish in Malmö, Sweden, November 25th, 1895. He was raised by his father, Claës Reinhold Carl Casimir von Essen af Zellie, and his German born mother, Maria Lovise Margareta Von Schultz, who was 22 years younger than her husband.
He became a Staff Sergeant in the Prussian Fusilier Regiment nr 34 in 1915, at an age around 20, before he joined the nr 167 Infantry Regiment. He became a 2nd Lieutenant in 1916, and Lieutenant in 1917.
Diedrik had a brother, Reinhold Robert Jurgen von Essen af Zellie, born in 1890, who also participated in the Great War on the German side, within 8. Thüringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 153, who participated along the Western and Eastern Front, but also in the Balkan areas. He survived the war and served as an officer in the Swedish Army (Lieutenant at Södermanlands Regemente) between 1919 and 1941. He died as a Captain in Malmö in 1949.
During information scanned by the Runeberg Project we can read about the two brothers. Below some information about Diedrik from the book in “Den introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor“, information about the Swedish Noble families.
In the text above we can read about how his comrades from his regiment put the text “Here lies a Swedish hero, Diedrik Robert Thorsten von Essen”, which was a text put on the wooden cross from the original burial in the area of Lagery, west of Bligny, in France.
The text probably disappeared due to that the cross was made by wood, and did not stand the weather and time, until he was moved to Bligny Cemetery.
I hope I will be able to visit him next time, when in the area, to take a photo of his headstone. Diedrik is now the ninth swedish born soldier who is confirmed to have participated and fallen in the Great War for Germany, within my research. In total I have now registered 583 Swedish born soldiers.
I hope I will be able to find more, but as I have mentioned before, it is assessed by the Swedish author Lars Gyllenhaal, that it was only between 40-60 Swedish born officers and soldiers who fought on the German side in the Great War. (The book “Svenskar i Krig 1914-1945“)