1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Kluck, Alexander von

KLUCK, ALEXANDER VON (1846-), Prussian general, was born May 20 1846 at Münster in Westphalia. He took part in the campaigns of 1866 and 1870, and was twice wounded at the battle of Colombey-Neuilly. In 1906 he was promoted to the rank of general of infantry, and at the outbreak of the World War was Generaloberst and Inspector-General of the VIII. Army Inspection. He was placed in chief command of the I. Army of the West, which he led in the battles of Maubeuge and St. Quentin, and the advance upon the Marne. He claimed to have repelled the outflanking movement of the French in the battle of the Marne, but he was nevertheless compelled, in consequence of the faulty disposition of the German forces in the line of battle and the success of the Allied offensive, to withdraw his army before what he described as overwhelming odds to the Aisne positions. In March 1915 he was wounded while visiting the front trenches, and was placed on the retired list in Oct. 1916. He published Führung und Taten der I. Armee (1920).