Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein

Friedrich Siegmund Georg Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein (also Kreß; 24 April 1870 – 16 October 1948) was a German general from Nuremberg. He was a member of the group of German officers who assisted in the direction of the Ottoman Army during World War I. Kress von Kressenstein was part of the military mission of Otto Liman von Sanders to the Ottoman Empire, which arrived shortly before World War I broke out. He was also the main leader for the Ottoman Desert Command Force (DCF). Kress came from a patrician family in Nuremberg. His father, Georg Kress von Kressenstein (1840–1911), was a high court judge. Kress von Kressenstein joined the Bavarian army as an ensign in the artillery in 1888. He was appointed as Second Lieutenant on 6 March 1890. On 1 October 1895, he joined the Bavarian War Academy and graduated in September 1898. He continued his general staff education until 1914. With Otto Liman von Sanders, Kressenstein was sent to Ottoman Empire and served as the commander of the Ottoman field artillery school. Sinai and Palestine Campaign Kress joined Djemal Pasha's army in Palestine as a military engineer and was later chief of staff. Djemal Pasha was given the job by the war minister Enver Pasha of capturing or disabling the Suez Canal. This effort is called the First Suez Offensive, and it occurred in January 1915. Kress von Kressenstein was responsible for creating special boats for crossing the canal (pontoons) as well as organizing the crossing of the Sinai desert. While the desert was crossed with little loss of life, the British were aware of their approach and their attack on the Suez came as no surprise to the defenders. The Ottoman forces were repulsed easily and after two days of fighting, they retreated. Kress von Kressenstein's special pontoons were never used. More than a year passed when the Ottomans tried a second attack on the Suez. With Djemal Pasha directing affairs from his base in Damascus, Kress von Kressenstein led a larger Ottoman army across the Sinai desert, again.