Early Life and Service
Olivier Freiherr (Baron) von Beaulieu-Marconnay was born in Charlottenburg on 14 September 1898, the son of an aristocratic Prussian army captain. When World War I started in August 1914, he was a sixteen-year-old high school student. The following year, still 16, he volunteered as a cadet for service in his father's former regiment, the 4th Prussian Dragoons. He served with the Dragoons in Russia, and participated in fighting in the Rokitno Swamps in the summer of 1916. He was promoted to leutnant in July 1916, being awarded the Iron Cross First Class later in the year.
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