Retirement Ceremony for Bill Peters

It was a cold rainy day as the nine Armee-Korps of the Königlich Preußische Armee stood outside Brandenburg Gate. All the legends were there, Alte Vorwärts himself the Venerable Generalfeldmarschall Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher Fürst von Wahlstatt, König Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, Königin Luise, Generalfeldmarschall August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, Generalfeldmarschall Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Generalfeldmarschall Ludwig David Yorck von Wartenburg, Generalfeldmarschall Hans Ernst Karl Graf von Zieten, General der Infanterie Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow, General der Kavallerie Johann von Thielmann, Generallieutant Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Generallieutant George Dubislaw Ludwig von Pirch I.

Also joining them on the stage were the Great Generalfeldmarschall Stefan GroßPrinz Reuter von Wahlstadt, General der Infanterie Scott Kronprinz "Vorwärts" Ludwig von Preußen, General der Infanterie Oliver Prinz Kreuels von Wartenberg.

Several retried commanders were there to, General der Infanterie Andreas Prinz von Naujoks von Mecklenburg-Schwerin, General der Infanterie Simone Prinz von Tombesi, General der Infanterie Michael Prinz von Wolf Gjerde, General der Infanterie Bram Prinz von Steijn.

The Divisions were formed, Generalmajor Ludwig Herzog Schmidt von Stettin-Arnimswalde, Generalmajor Ian Herzog Hames von Falkenberg, Generallieutenant Robert GroßHerzog Caldwell von Westwald, General der Kavallerie Robert Prinz Hamper von Lusatia and Oberst Walt Markgraf Moehle von Neuhardenberg ordered their men to stand at attention, all the other Division CO's did too.

Kronprinz Ludwig stepped up, "Today we have come to honor a man who has done so much for our Armee. He was one of its leaders, a Generalfeldmarschall in his own right. He has fought on almost every field of battle imaginable in these wars, leading men to victory time and time again. He is honored and beloved by all. We have come to honor his retirement and all such honors will be afforded to this legendary man."

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Officers of the Club, today is a sad day for Prussia in what has been a sad month for us. Bill has done so much for our Club and our hobby. Having tirelessly devoted years to building this Club, some of the armies in it and always being there with a comment and activity, I know of not a time when Bill's hand did not grace this establishment. Outspoken, bombastic and sometimes rough around the edges, Bill epitomizes everything the Great Alte Vorwärts was. Though Bill could be set off easy sometimes and he could get under the skin of others, it is only with the most pure and undying passion and love that he has for this Club, the games and Napoleonics that would cause this to happen. Always with his heart in the right place, he developed games that have stood the test of time. It is his love and attention to detail that has helped drive many discussions. It is humor and cheeky comments that when times were slow and there were many of those, when the forum was silent, Bill's voice would be heard from the corner, usually kidding around at someone's expense.

Bill has been a great and true friend to me and I can hardly hold back the tears in my eyes at what appears to be his final departure. I hope our dear friend will grace us with his presence on the forum from time to time, to recall old days, with old timers here and long gone.

I quote from Roger Parkinson's "Hussar General, the Life of Blücher, Man of Waterloo" where last few paragraphs says it all:

By the opening of the hunting season on 1st September 1819, the seventy-six year old Field-Marshal lay in bed again. During the first days of sickness he chatted with Nostitz and made plans for his farms. He was worried because the weather had broken and the summer crop lay unharvested. Then came a diversion. Silesian troops were exercising nearby, engaged in mock battle. His servants thought the noise might be too much for him.

"Why on earth should it be?" he exclaimed. "I've heard plenty cannon fire in my lifetime - surely I can stand some more now." The windows stayed open, and he listened once more to the cannon, the musket volleys, the bugles and drums. But day by day he grew weaker and quieter.

"They have learned a great deal from me, " he said to Nostitz. "Now they must learn from me also how to die peacefully." Nostitz noticed how he stared for hours at a portrait of his son Franz (killed in the war), placed near his bed. On 6th September the King visited him. The maneuvers continued outside his window and the smoke of the guns drifted across the garden, bugles blew the calls for Advance and Charge, and some say Blücher asked them to sound one call rare to his ears, but at last the most fitting - Retreat. During the evening of 12th September he pressed Katharina's (his wife) hand, and he died soon after ten o'clock.

"What is that you praise?" asked 'Field-Marshal Forwards" amidst the frenzied hero-worship after the Battle of Waterloo. He answered himself, and summed up his career: "It was my resolution, Gneisenau's wisdom, and the compassion of Almighty God."

Though not meant to parallel Bill's situation, I thought it fitting the lessons that Blücher teaches in the days of his retirement are fitting for what Bill has taught me and others.

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The Legendary General der Kavallerie Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz is now called to the front.

Bill in honor of your service for many years to Prussia you are hereby awarded the medals, in honorary status for all you have done for us:


Pour le Mérite (With Oak Leaves)




Orden das Schwarzen Adler GroßKommandeur Stern (Order of the Black Eagle Grand Commander Star)




Your Nobility Title of Prinz von Dennewitz will be retired from use and never issued again as long as I am here.


You have also been placed in Valhalla the Preußische Armee Ruhmeshalle (Prussian Armee Hall of Glory):

http://www.scott-ludwig.com/NWC/Prussia/valhalla.htm


Bill's unit in the 1813 Armee-Korps, which has become known as the Black Menace has been honorary named:

Prinz von Dennewitz's 1. Kavallerie-Brigade (The Black Menace)

http://www.scott-ludwig.com/NWC/Prussia/OOB/1813Korps/1813_1st_Res_Cav_Brig.htm

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Three Cheers for the Prinz von Dennewitz!

Huraah!, huraah!, huraah!

Für Gott un Vaterland!

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Signed This Day 3rd of July 1813 in My Hand,