Peter Scheunemann

Peter Scheunemann (born January 7, 1870 in Hamburg , † May 27, 1937 in Bad Nauheim ) was a German officer and administrative officer in Cameroon .

Life

After attending grammar school on October 1, 1887, Scheunemann joined the Hanoverian Pioneer Battalion No. 10 of the Prussian Army as a flag junior . He became an ensign in 1888 and second lieutenant in 1889 . Scheunemann graduated from the United Artillery and Engineering School from September 1891 to July 1893 . In March 1895 he was transferred to the 2nd Alsatian Pioneer Battalion No. 19 and promoted to Prime Lieutenant on November 17, 1896 . As such, he acted as an adjutant of the battalion from October 1, 1897 . On July 5, 1900, he resigned from the army and was employed in the imperial protection force for Cameroon , where he was promoted to captain in 1904 . In 1910 he left the Schutztruppe, was employed again in the Prussian army and came to the 4th engineer inspection. With his promotion to major , Scheunemann was appointed commander of the 2nd Brandenburg Pioneer Battalion No. 28 on January 27, 1913.

With the outbreak of the First World War he was given command of the Guard Pioneer Battalion . From February 15, 1918 Scheunemann served as commander of the infantry body regiment "Grand Duchess" (3rd Grand Ducal Hessian) No. 117 on the Western Front . For his achievements during the German Spring Offensive in 1918 , he was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite on April 1, 1918 , after he had already been awarded both classes of the Iron Cross and the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords. After the war, Scheunemann was transferred and on December 24, 1918 the officers of the Army on June 19, 1919 under presentation of the character as a colonel retired from military service.

After his departure he lived in Stralsund.

In 1901 Scheunemann was appointed head of the Yaoundé station in Cameroon . In 1904 he was entrusted with the administration of the Sanga-Ngoko area. Between 1901 and 1906 he was instrumental in the subjugation of the eastern Cameroon woodland through the battles against Yesum, Njem, Ndzimu and So. In May 1906 he temporarily returned to the coast. In May 1907 he was appointed leader of the 9th Company and district chief of the Dume district . Through his research and collecting activities, he also contributed significantly to the scientific knowledge of the region. He left a zoological collection to the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, while other holdings went to the colonial collection of the Prussian State Geological Institute in Berlin.

publication

• Bush stories. Serious and cheerful things from Cameroon's good old days. Berlin 1925.

literature

• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 3: P-Z. Biblio Publishing House. Bissendorf 2011. ISBN 3-7648-2586-3 . Pp. 209-210.
• Florian Hoffmann: Occupation and military administration in Cameroon. Establishment and institutionalization of the colonial monopoly of force. Part II. Göttingen 2007, p. 168.