Background
Heinrich von Falkenfeld was born on April 22, 1852 in Pressburg, Germany.
Heinrich von Falkenfeld was born on April 22, 1852 in Pressburg, Germany.
Kummer graduated from the Theresa Military Academy in 1872; the years from 1876 to 1878 were spent at the War Academy, followed by two years with the General Staff.
In 1882 Kummer participated in quelling revolts in Bosnia, and for the next five years he served in the railroad division of the General Staff. Next came a series of appointments to various infantry units. In 1888 he was appointed chief of staff of the Eighteenth Infantry Division in Mostar in the grade of major, in 1894 chief of staff of the X Army Corps in Przemysl in the grade of colonel, 1900 major general and commander of the Thirtieth Infantry Brigade in Miskolcz, then command of the Thirty-ninth Infantry Brigade in Dolnja Tuzla, and until 1910 commander of the Nineteenth Infantry Division in Pilsen. That same year Kummer was promoted general of cavalry and saw service with the Landwehr command.
Early in August 1914, Kummer headed an army group bearing his name at the eastern front in Galicia. His forces were placed on the extreme left of the Austro-Hungarian armies, next to those commanded by Count Viktor Dankl, and assigned the advance from Cracow to the Weichsel (Vistula) and Bug rivers. Initial victories at Krasnik and Lublin were erased by the Russian advance in September through Lemberg; by the end of that year, much of Austrian Galicia was in enemy hands. The resulting reorganization of the armies of the Dual Monarchy entailed dissolution of Army Group Kummer, and its erstwhile commander was assigned to the War Ministry in Vienna as an expert on military-scientific developments. Early in August 1915, Kummer was given the thankless task of preparing the army's case against former War Minister General Moritz Auffenberg, charged with releasing secret documents to the public; Kummer retired from active service the following year and died in Salzburg-Aigen on December 8, 1929.