Weber entered the
Prussian Army and received his commission as
Sekondeleutnant on 15 April 1878. A successful career as a junior regimental officer culminated in his command of the Schleswig-Holsteinische Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 9, headquartered in
Harburg. On 14 April 1907, with the rank of
Major, he was transferred to Engineer Inspectorate (Ingenieur-Inspektion) IV, where he served as an engineer officer in the
Metz Fortification Command (Festung Metz). On 22 March 1910 he was promoted to
Oberstleutnant. His transfer to
Strasbourg on 22 May 1912 followed his appointment as commanding officer of the
Pioneers of the
XV Corps. In this position he wore the uniform of the 1. Elsässische Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 15. On 19 November 1912 he was promoted to
Oberst. On 3 December 1913 Weber was selected to participate in the newly inaugurated German Military Mission (Militärmission) to the
Ottoman Empire, headed by
Liman von Sanders. On 8 December Weber was formally granted retirement from active service in the German Imperial Army prior to his transfer to the Ottoman Army, and he was among the first contingent of 10 German officers to arrive in Istanbul later that month. He was initially appointed Inspector-General of Engineers (İstihkam Müfettişi) attached to the Ottoman
Ministry of War, with the higher Ottoman rank of
Mirliva (= German
Generalmajor). As a specialist in fortifications, when the Ottoman Empire began preparing to enter World War I, Weber was assigned to strengthen the coastal defences of the
Dardanelles. In late March/April 1915 he was appointed commander of the Ottoman XV Corps on the Asian shore of the Straits. During the
Gallipoli Campaign, he distinguished himself in the early stages of the fighting on the Asian side of the Dardanelles. On 18 April 1915 he was promoted to the German rank of
Generalmajor and thus automatically attained the higher Ottoman rank of
Ferik (= German
Generalleutnant), along with the honorific Ottoman title of
Pasha. On 5 May Weber was appointed commander of South Group, on the southern part of the Gallipoli peninsula, during a phase of heavy fighting in this sector. Following criticism of his performance, however, Weber quarreled with Liman von Sanders and was relieved of this command on 8 July. In October 1915 Weber returned to Germany. Formally reinstated in the German Imperial Army, from 22 October to 16 November 1915 he served on the
Western Front as commanding officer of
100th Infantry Brigade. On 21 December 1916 he assumed command of
9th Division on the Western Front and remained in this post until the
Armistice in 1918. Following the end of the war, Weber was absorbed into the Provisional
Reichswehr (Vorläufige Reichswehr). On 16 June 1920 he was promoted to
Generalleutnant and appointed commander of
Military District (Wehrkreis) II. After the formation of the
Reichswehr, on 1 October 1920 he was appointed commanding officer of the
2nd Division, based in
Stettin. On 15 June 1921 he retired from the Reichswehr with the
brevet rank of General der Infanterie. Weber's daughter Ingeborg married the later High Admiral
Karl Dönitz in 1916. The
Bundeswehr barracks in
Höxter are named after Weber. == References ==