The following is my translation of an article called: Nachruf an Friedrich Regensberg. It appeared in a German popular science magazine, Kosmos Handweiser für Naturfreunde 1913, Heft 4, Seiten 161-162. As Herr Regensberg was the author of some of the articles I've felt moved to translate, it seemed good manners to include the Kosmos obituary for this leading light of the society. This may also provide some useful context on the background of that writer.
I'm not aware of any previous translation.
Trevor Dykes.

Obituary for Friedrich Regensberg.
Friedrich Regensberg has died. The indefatigable man closed his eyes for ever on Easter Monday. While the storm and sparkle of new life was awakening in spring after the long hibernation outside, while spring was spreading its white snow of blossom over garden and field, he had left us for ever. Merciless death took the co-founder of our society from his central work for us, and where his editor's chair stands empty, where his busy quill lies now at rest, these show us all how much he meant to us, and we recognise what we have lost. His noble appearance and inexhaustible manly energy stand in their true dimensions before our spiritual eyes. His incorruptible judgement, his fairness in treatment, his rich experience and, not least, his restlessly busy quill in the service of Kosmos will be irreplaceable. Kosmos mourns at the grave of the departed, and for all that he was.

Regensberg was born as the child of an established military family on 13th February 1845 in Münster, Westphalia. His great grandfather had taken part in the Silesian Campaign, and his grandfather had also chosen to make weapon-craft his profession. And so it was already clear that, after finishing his time in the grammar school, he would join the army. It was a difficult test of patience for a young artillery lieutenant when, with the start of the German War of 1866, the 7th Westphalian Festungsartillerie Regiment in Cologne, of which he was part, was not required and, therefore, not mobilised. He followed the proceedings of the war with interest from his garrison, but he was not permitted to take part; as a personal adjutant to General von Frankenberg he had the opportunity of working on solving great tactical challenges and the strict duties in large offices, where precise preparations were made in case of a general mobilisation. A few years later, the German-French War (1870/71) called Prussian and South German troops to the western border; soon, the mighty military columns were obtaining surprising victories within the heart of France and approaching Paris. Here, in the batteries around the besieged metropolis, Regensberg was awarded the Iron Cross, and this medal was followed by his promotion to First Lieutenant. He also contracted a rheumatic illness from Paris which, to his great regret, forced him to leave active service in 1873.

It was not easy for him to remove the king's uniform, and to exchange the training ground and barracks for the editor's office. He had been a soldier with his heart and soul, but he had not allowed his wide interests, his extensive reading or his excellent memory to become one-sided. He had already met with success when writing as a school student, and later in his hours for contemplation, and so he sought and found his second career in this field, and he followed it until the end of his life with warm enthusiasm and a genuinely military precision. At first in Cologne, and then in Stuttgart, he was busy as the editor of various widely distributed family newspapers. He joined the Schönleinschen Verlag of Stuttgart in 1877 and managed the Buch für All, the Illustrierte Chronik der Zeit, the Bibliothek der Unterhaltung und des Wissens. As well as these editorial duties, he also wrote many popularly accessible articles and military studies; his ceaseless energy was soon indispensable to the publisher and, when the whole concern was purchased by the Körner brothers in 1889 and, a few years later, was fused with other firms to for the Union, the publisher provided new challenges for his well practiced quill in their service. Regensberg prepared the commemorative edition of the popularly based Geschichte des Krieges 1870-71 ('History of the War') from his own studies, which had actually appeared during the campaign and, consequently, contained reports that were no entirely correct after the battles, and so it had to be completely rewritten.

After 23 years of loyal service for Union, Regensberg joined the Deutsche Verlagsanstalt (Stuttgart) in 1900, and took over the editorship of the weekly papers Über Land und Meer and the Illustrieten Welt. In these years appeared a work under the pseudonym of R Walther, which is unfortunately now completely out of print, and this was an anthology of memories of Bismarck: Bismarck in der Karikatur', and the many cartoons from both home and abroad, and the extensive illustrations, were very welcome in honouring the Iron Chancellor. Here, finally, Regensberg found the means to process the rich material collected in both the wars of 1866 and 1870-71. The first volume, Königrätz, appeared in the autumn of 1902, and this covered, in Regensberg's exciting writing style, the largest battle of the German War without turning to anything anecdotal; it was warmly received, not only for its well-rounded style and the reliability based on its source studies, but also as a study of tactics respected in all military circles. Monographs quickly followed on the battles in the Bohemian and Italian arenas. The pleasing success encouraged him, as did the great union of peoples which had been welded together with blood in a united Germany, to present the study in a more unified way as a three volumed work. This study too, which Regensberg liked to call his life's work, found the greatest recognition everywhere; it is the only thorough presentation, with the exception of the extensive but partially outmoded and one-sided report of the General Staff, which allows both parties the possibility of a balanced light, and will long serve as a benchmark example for studies of military history in military schools, and more so since recently available French sources have also been taken into consideration to a wide degree.

Regensberg had long had a close feeling of affinity with the Franckh'schen Verlagshandlung, which published those volumes. And there quickly developed a circle of friendship, which united a warm love of homeland nature, and in whose lap developed a plan to a successful fruition, in which Regensberg set his wide experiences and restless energy to its service: the formation of the Kosmos Gesellschaft der Naturfreunde ('Kosmos Society for Friends of Nature'), a society which caught on everywhere with surprising speed, and was welcomed as a long wished for organisation. With the enthusiasm that a youngster might have shown, he grasped the plan with all trust and idealism of our people, who had long been waiting for a guide to show them the secrets of nature.

Regensberg threw himself entirely into his new field of action; his whole passion was put into Kosmos, which soon come into company with the Geschichtsfreund (now Zeiten und Völker 'Times and Peoples'). Tirelessly, he sought constantly to conquer new areas for the Kosmos community, and presented each article in a popularly accessible language which, through its sheer straightforwardness, always provided an adornment for the monthly magazine. Despite all the public success, he remained a selfless, modest man who knew only his duties, shy of personal publicity, which he sought to avoid. Only a few knew of the enormity of the work he performed with such youthful vigour. With particular engagement was his effort regarding the distribution of the insect books by JH Fabre, which have long been loved and trusted by all our Kosmos readers. He placed himself in the difficult role of the translator who must appreciate the spirit of the piece, and put his own language as subservient to the original. If these books by the old master of insect study have become known and cherished in the German speaking world, then this is thanks to the service of Friedrich Regensberg.

The deceased also helped realise another great idea: the founding of large nature reserves following the example of American National Parks. He believed in the possibility of such foundations, and committed himself to them; from his pen came most of the reports on the progress of bringing the concept ever closer into reality, he also wrote lively articles on foreign role models, which finally led to the establishment of the Vereins Naturschutzpark, to which he belonged for the last years of his life in the role of secretary and management committee member.

Death has taken him away from his work; a country ramble on Palm Sunday left him with a cold, but he did not immediately recognise the danger of the illness. After only a few days, he had to seek the services of a doctor: it was a double lung inflammation (Lungentzündung) which even his energetic nature could not overcome. He did not want to believe in his demise. In his last sick bed, his thought belonged to Kosmos. But he was not able to carry his plans further: he closed his eyes on Easter Monday for ever.

His spirits, however, lives on through his works, and especially through the Kosmos. He made our path smoother and clearly defined our objective. Our future challenge will be to follow his example.

An index of more of my translations of old Kosmos articles can be found at:

Kosmos Translations Archive

A number of Mesozoic (and post-Mesozoic) location summaries can be found at Localities.