Baron von Holmberg

Eduard Ladislas Kaunitz, baron von Holmberg (1778–1853) was an Austrian military officer, who joined the Argentine revolutionary forces after serving alongside José de San Martín and Carlos María de Alvear during the Argentine War of Independence.

He was appointed to the Army of the North under Manuel Belgrano as commander of artillery, and later founded the first sapper corps in the Argentine Army (1813).

Son of Eduard Kaunitz and Amalia O'Donell, Holmberg studied in military academy in Prussia between 1794 and 1795. He served during the Napoleonic Wars with the Duchy of Berg and later on fought in Spain where he met and established a relationship with the future Argentine army officers José de San Martín, José Zapiola and Carlos María de Alvear. Around 1812 he traveled to Buenos Aires on the British frigate George Canning, which was transporting the Aregine fighters from Europe, attracted by the possibility of fighting in the South American wars of independence. He arrived on 9 March and was noted in the daily Gazeta de Buenos Ayres a few days later:

To this port had arrived, among others in the English frigate, Cavalry Lieutenant Colonel José de San Martín, First Adjutant to the General in Chief of the Army, marquis de Coupigny; Infantry Captain Francisco Vera; Sub-Lieutenant José Zapiola; Militia Captain Francisco Chilavert; Royal Carabineers Sub-Lieutenant Carlos Alvear y Balbastro; Infantry Sub-Lieutenant Antonio Arellano and Guardias Valonas First Lieutenant Eduardo Kailitz, Barón de Holmberg. These individuals came to offer their services to the government and have been welcomed with the consideration deserved for the sentiments they professed towards the interests of the motherland.

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