Wedel received the Pour le Mérite and his name was inscribed on the Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great in 1851.

His father, Georg Wilhelm, was the Uckermark's Superior Court, and owner of the Goritz manor—his mother was Marie Salome of Eichstedt.

At fifteen years of age Wedel joined the Prussian military, enlisting as a corporal in the King's Leibregiment (Nr.

On 23 June 1740, Frederick II appointed him captain and company commander of the Grenadier Guards Battalion (Nr.

Nevertheless, Wedel received on 14 August 1743 a promotion to major in the Infantry Regiment von Kleist (Nr.

[1] Wedel was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 8 September 1751, and awarded the Pour le Mérite on 31 May 1752.

This regiment fulfilled their role with such success that 14 members were awarded the Pour le Mérite.

Due to Wedel's poor management and aggressiveness—he was ordered to attack a Russian army one-and-a-half times his size—they were crushed at the Battle of Kay.

[3] This loss left the road to Berlin open, and Frederick was forced to hurry north to Frankfurt an der Oder to repel the Russian and Austrian allied armies.