Footage of German Field Marshal von Mackensen’ 95th Birthday - 6 December 1944

August von Mackensen, born on December 6th, 1849 in Saxony in Eastern Germany, was one of the most famous German military figures of the late 19th/early 20th century, and probably the most famous German cavalry officer in history. Born as the son of an administrator in an agricultural company, von Mackensen did not follow his fathers steps, but instead volunteered in 1869 to serve with the Prussian 2nd Life Hussar Regiment. He fought in the Franco-German War of 1870/71, where he was promoted to second lieutenant and awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class for a successful cavalry charge against a French reconnaissance patrol north of Orleans. He briefly left the Army after the war for his studies, but returned in 1873. In the 1880s, the German War Minister Julius von Verdy du Vernois became his mentor, and in 1891, he became part of the General Staff in Berlin of the Imperial German Army. He then served as an adjutant to Alfred von Schlieffen, the chief of the General Staff from 1891 to 1906. In 1893,