Wilhelm Mueller

This article deals with Major General Wilhelm Mueller. For other people see Wilhelm Müller .

Ludwig Wilhelm Mueller (born September 7, 1850 in Friedrichsthal , † February 12, 1921 in Paderborn ) was a Prussian major general and commander of the Imperial Protection Force for Cameroon .

Life

After attending high school, Mueller joined the Prussian army , became a flagjunker in the East Prussian Jäger Battalion No. 1 in Braunsberg in 1868 and advanced to secondary lieutenant until 1870 . As such, he took part in the war against France in 1870/71 and received the Iron Cross, 2nd class. From 1872 to 1878 he served as a battalion adjutant. In 1878 he was transferred to the Pomeranian Jäger Battalion No. 2 in Greifswald as Premier Lieutenant and from there in September 1881 he was assigned to serve with the Hanoverian Fusilier Regiment No. 73 for one year . In 1884 he resigned to the Jäger Battalion No. 1 and on February 11, 1886 was promoted to captain and company commander . At the end of 1892 Mueller was transferred to the infantry regiment "Graf Kirchbach" (1st Lower Silesian) No. 46 to Posen and on January 27, 1893, was assigned as company commander.

Aggregated as a major in July 1894 , Mueller resigned from the army on April 19, 1895, was employed in the imperial protection force for German South West Africa , where he was entrusted with the function of commander. In the absence of Governor and Commander Theodor Leutwein , he led the campaign against the Zwartbooi and Topnaar- Nama in 1897/98 . On November 20, 1900, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In February 1902 he left the Schutztruppe and was employed by the infantry regiment “von Stülpnagel” (5th Brandenburgisches) No. 48 in Küstrin . He was promoted to colonel on March 22, 1903 and resigned from the army shortly thereafter to become commander of the protection force for Cameroon on April 6, 1903 .

As the successor to Curt von Pavel , Mueller took on a difficult legacy. The situation of the protection force was characterized by the labor-intensive occupation of the Islamic north of the colony and by the conflict between the head of the military administration and Governor Jesko von Puttkamer . Mueller managed to improve relations with the civil administration. Even under his leadership, there were several violent clashes with the indigenous population. He himself led the campaign against the Anyang in 1904 and the Manenguba expedition to the grasslands of Western Cameroon in 1905 . After Puttkamer was recalled in 1906, he temporarily took care of the governor's affairs and undertook several expeditions against the companies in the southern district. Mueller advocated the creation of a free indigenous peasant class and supported the efforts of the Basel Mission . At the same time, however, his support for the controversial society of South Cameroon was criticized. On April 14, 1907, he received the character of major general. and was awarded the swords for the Crown Order II. Class with swords on the ring in November 1907 . In approval of his resignation request, Mueller was put up for disposal on February 18, 1908 with the statutory pension and permission to wear the previous uniform . On the occasion of his farewell, he received the Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd class with oak leaves and swords on the ring.

During the First World War , Mueller was reused as a ZD officer and worked as an inspector of the ammunition and equipment management of the stage inspection in the 4th Army . In 1919 he retired to Paderborn. He took over the chairmanship of the supervisory board of Colonial Warrior Thanks , but died in February 1921.

Publications

• Colonel Mueller's report on the Bakoko expedition. In: Deutsches Kolonialblatt. 15 (1904), pp. 286-288.
• The Anjang Campaign. In: Deutsches Kolonialblatt. 15 (1904), pp. 698-701.
• The Manenguba Expedition. In: Deutsches Kolonialblatt. 16 (1905), pp. 498-503.
• Land and people of the Bafia. In: Official Gazette for the Cameroon Conservation Area. 1 (1908), p. 30.

literature

• Florian Hoffmann: Occupation and military administration in Cameroon. Establishment and institutionalization of the colonial monopoly of force. Part 2, Göttingen 2007, pp. 143–144.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Military weekly paper . No. 49 of April 16, 1907, p. 1143.
2. ^ Military weekly paper. No. 152 of November 28, 1907, p. 3445.
3. ^ Military weekly paper. No. 35 of March 17, 1908, p. 787.
4. ↑ German Officer Association (Ed.): Honor ranking list of the former German Army. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1926, p. 700.