Friedrich Wilhelm Quirin von Forcade de Biaix, baptized Quirin Frideric de Forcade, aka Friedrich Quirin von Forcade, aka Frédéric Quérin de Forcade (* 11 January 1699, Berlin; † 23 March 1765, Berlin), was a Royal Prussian Lieutenant General, the second son of Jean de Forcade de Biaix, an early Huguenot immigrant to Brandenburg-Prussia and a descendant of the noble family of Forcade. He was one of Frederick the Great's most active and most treasured officers. He was wounded three times and once left for dead on the battlefield. Together with his wife, he fathered 23 children.
He was Regimentschef of the 23rd Prussian Infantry Regiment, recipient of the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order of merit for heroism, Knight of the Order of Pour le Mérite, Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, Canon () of Havelberg, Castellan () in Neuenrade in the County of Mark, Lord Seneschal () of Zinna, President of the Ober-Collegium Sanitatis in Berlin and Lieutenant governor of Breslau.
In 1851, his name was place on the north facing commemorative plaque on the Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great in Berlin.
Early life
Friedrich Wilhelm Quirin von Forcade de Biaix was the second son of Lieutenant General Jean de Forcade de Biaix (1663–1729) and his wife, the Baroness Juliane von Honstedt, daughter of the Major General Baron Quirin von Honstedt, from Württemberg but in the service of Prussia. His baptismal Godfather was Frederick I of Prussia.
His father was a Huguenot religious exile who was among the earliest arrivals in Brandenburg-Prussia, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by the Edict of Fontainebleau in October 1685. Unlike his father and his eldest brother, choosing to not abjure from his Calvinist beliefs, he left his native Béarn in France for Brandenburg-Prussia, where Frederick I of Prussia, then Elector of Brandenburg, was not only encouraging, but actively facilitating, Huguenot immigration.
Von Forcade is erroneously referred to in some Prussian 19th century historical sources as the Marquis de Biaix, but for neither his father or him there is evidence that he was a marquis. Biaix was not a marquisate, but rather a noble house. He was also never the Seigneur de Biaix; that title, inherited from the grandfather who purchased the Biaix Manor in 1659, went to h is father's eldest brother and then to his son.
Military career
The lives and careers of both Friedrich Wilhelm Quirin von Forcade de Biaix and his father are intricately linked to the history of the 23rd Prussian Infantry Regiment, founded in 1713 and disbanded in 1806. Forcade spent the majority of his career on the infantry side of this regiment. The regiment also included a company of Grenadiers, the 2nd Grenadier Company. It was garrisoned in Berlin from 1716 until 1806. He later commanded the entire regiment, including the Grenadiers, for 17 years, (14 July 1748 - 23 March 1765). His father commanded the regiment during 13 years (February 1716 - 2 February 1729). During much of its existence, as well as more than 200 years after, it was referred to as Forcade's Regiment. The Regiment is immortalized in the German military marching composition "Das Regiment Forcade" that was in use as late as World War II.
Forcade entered Prussian military service in 1713 during the reign of King Frederick William I of Prussia (1713–40), beginning what would become one of the most notable military careers in the history of the Kingdom of Prussia, spanning some 53 years, and further serving under King Frederick the Great (1740–65).
21 September 1713, appointed as a Fähnrich, an entry-level commissioned officer with the Grenadiers of the Weiße Füsilier-Leibgarde Nr. 1, in the 1st Prussian Infantry Regiment, aka General Field Marshall Count von Wartensleben's Infantry Regiment (in 1788, called von Bornstedt's Regiment).
Great Northern War (1715)
Following Brandenburg-Prussia's declaration of war against Sweden in the summer of 1715, Forcade fought in the Pomeranian Campaigns. He fought at the Siege of Stralsund (15 June 1715 - 23 December 1715), where he was wounded for the first time, the storming of the Peenemuende Lair (21–22 August 1715) and on Rügen Island (16–18 November 1715).
11 January 1716, promoted to second lieutenant. Promoted on 26 May 1719 to first lieutenant. 24 January 1721, promoted to captain in his father's Regiment, the 23rd Prussian Infantry Regiment. At the time, still commonly referred to as the Regiment von Sydow. In 1732, promoted to major in the same regiment. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1740.
First Silesian War (1740–1742)