Friedrich Niehuus

Friedrich Niehuus
Birth name	Gerhard Heinrich Friedrich Niehuus
Nickname	Friedel
Birth date	6 February 1898(1898-02-06)
Place of birth	Mülheim an der Ruhr, Rhine Province, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	23 November 1951 (aged 53)
Place of death	Prisoner of war camp 5110/48 Woikowo, Soviet Union
Place of burial	German Military Cemetery in Chernzy
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Imperial German Army Freikorps Preliminary Reichswehr Police Luftwaffe
Rank	Major General
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Iron Cross War Merit Cross (1939)
Relations	∞ 1926 Elfriede Derendorf

Gerhard Heinrich Friedrich "Friedel" Niehuus (6 February 1898 – 23 November 1951) was a German officer of the Imperial German Army, the Freikorps, the Preliminary Reichswehr, the Police and the Wehrmacht, finally Major General of the Luftwaffe in World War II.

Life

Friedel Niehuus attended the Realgymnasium in Duisburg and then the Realgymnasium in Hamburg. Only 16 years old and without Abitur (although he had Primareife) and with permission of his parents, he joined the Imperial German Army.

• 2 October 1914 Joined the I. Recruit Depot of the Füsilier-Regiment "Fürst Karl-Anton von Hohenzollern" (Hohenzollernsches) Nr. 40 in Rastatt, Grand Duchy of Baden
  • After extensive basic training deployed to the regiment in the field on the Western front where it would stay for the entire war.
    • The regiment was subordinated to the 56. Infanterie-Brigade / 28. Division / XIV. Armeekorps / 7. Armee.
  • He served as a platoon leader, a company leader, a battalion adjutant and a regimental signals officer.
  • After the end of the war, the remnants of the regiment marched back home, arriving in Rastatt on 24 November 1918. From 26 November to 11 December, the unit was deployed to guard the border of the neutral zone near Kehl and Drusenheim. This area was subsequently evacuated, and the regiment was demobilized on 10 January 1919 and formally disbanded on 31 May 1919.
• February/March 1919 Badisches Volksheer (Freikorps)
• 17 July 1919 Joined the Badisches Reichswehr-Grenadier-Bataillon Nr. 113 of the Reichswehr-Brigade 14 in Karlsruhe
• 24 October 1919 Joined the Security Police (Sipo) in Essen
• 22 November 1919 Commanded to the Sipo in Münster
• March 1920 Sworn-in (Prussian Constitution) in Münster
• 17 May to 30 October 1920 Course at the Police School for Physical Education in Spandau
• 1920/21 Return to Essen, the Sipo was now the Schutzpolizei (Protection Police; Schupo)
  • During this time, he took part in the political struggles in the Ruhr area.
• Transferred to the Schutzpolizei Gelsenkirchen
• 14 September with effect from October 1923 Transferred to the Schutzpolizei Oberhausen as Advisor for Motor-Transport-Affairs and Leader of the Motor-Transport-Technical Special-Personnel
  • Oberhausen was occupied by the French since January 1923, therefore Schupo headquarters were in Rheine
• 7 November 1923 Transferred from Oberhausen to the Schutzpolizei Gelsenkirchen
  • Gelsenkirchen was occupied by the French since January 1923, therefore Schupo headquarters were in Iserlohn
  • Schupo Oberhausen delayed the transfer order with numerous requests because they did not want to let Niehuus go.
  • January 1924 Georg Stieler, Police President in Gelsenkirchen (since the French occupation of Berlin) ordered (at the request of the Police President of Oberhausen) that Niehuus would not be transferred after all.
  • 13 February 1924 Düsseldorf District President agrees with the preliminary decision
  • 11 March 1924 Düsseldorf District President, by order of the Prussian Minister of the Interior in Berlin, asks for Niehuus to be transferred to Gelsenkirchen
  • 21 March 1924 Police President of Oberhausen agrees to transfer Niehuus on 24 March 1924
• 25 March 1924 Arrives at the headquarters of the Schutzpolizei Gelsenkirchen in Iserlohn
  • is assigned to the I. District Main Team (I. Revierhauptmannschaft)
• 7 April with effect from 1 April 1924 Transferred to the Schutzpolizei Dortmund
  • assigned to the Motor-Transport-Technical Special-Personnel (krafttechnischer Sonderdienst)
• 1 December 1924 to 31 January 1925 Police Driving School Hanover
  • he passed his exams with a "2" meaning "good", but not "very good"; he loved horses and was an excellent rider ("with grit and passion", assessment 16 March 1935), driving was a necessity, and he later mastered it, even becoming an instructor.
• 21 April to 25 July 1925 Course at the Higher Police Academy in Eiche
• Juli 1925 Police Captain Candidate Examination passed
• 3 August 1925 Commanded to the Schutzpolizei Witten (Ruhr) as an instructor for senior NCOs (Oberwachtmeister) of the police
• 22 October 1925 with effect from 1 January 1926 Transferred to the Schutzpolizei Kassel
  • appointed leader of the Motor-Transport-Technical Special-Personnel (krafttechnischer Sonderdienst)
  • transfer delayed, arrived in Kassel on 13 January 1926
• 7 April to 11 May 1927 Training and further education course on machine guns and special vehicles in Kassel
  • at this time, he was 1.84 m tall and weighed 80 kg.
• 6 September 1927 Wounded by hand grenade fragments during a police operation
• 1 November 1927 Return to duty
• 27 May 1930 Assigned to the 2nd Police District Station in Kassel for training as a district station supervisor (Reviervorsteher)
  • arrived on 5 June 1930
• 2 July 1930 Appointed head of the 1st Police District Station in Kassel
• 1 October 1931 Appointed head of the 4th Police District Station in Kassel
• 1 April 1932 Newly Sworn-in (Reich Constitution)
• 20 June to 14 July 1932 Family vacation to Essen (wife's parents), Düsseldorf (Friedrich's parents), Paris and Amsterdam
• 15 February 1933 Appointed head of the 8th Police District Station in Kassel
• 24 August 1933 Appointed leader of the 3rd State Police Company in Kassel
  • 26 October 1933 renamed 2nd State Police Company
• 14 May with effect from 15 June 1934 Transferred to the State Police Battalion (Landespolizei-Abteilung; LPA) in Halle an der Saale
• 26 August 1934 Newly Sworn-in (on the Führer) in Halle
• 4 April 1935 Subordinated himself with signature to the rules and regulations of the Wehrmacht
  • On 1 April 1935, all state police units were taken over by the Reich.
• 7 June with effect from 1 April 1935 Transferred to direct Reich service (Reichsdienst) and appointed as a Reich official / civil servant (Reichsbeamter).
• 15 July 1935 Appointed commander of the State Police Battalion (Landespolizei-Abteilung; LPA) in Halle an der Saale
• 24 July 1935 Declared in writing his willingness to be accepted into the Luftwaffe.
• 7 August 1935 Passed the military medical examination in Berlin
• 7 August 1935 Sworn-in as a soldier
• 1 September 1935 Officially transferred to the Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe

Major Niehuus was at first commanded to Kampffliegerschule (Combat Pilot School) Faßberg for observer training with the Fliegergruppe (S). In the spring of 1936, he was transferred as an instructor to the Aviation Technical School 1 in Niedergörsdorf, west of the Old Camp (Altes Lager) in Jüterbog in the "Waldlager" area. In August 1940, he was appointed commander of the Higher Aviation Technical School which had relocated to Jüterbog from Berlin-Adlershof only months before, when the Aviation Technical School 1 was relocated to Warsaw.

In 1942, he was also appointed commandant of the air base Altes Lager. In March 1944, he was appointed commandant (Koflug) of the Flughafenbereich (airport area) 5/XI formally in Stade, as of November 1943 in Pinsk and as of August 1944 in Neudeck near Oppeln. In the fall of 1944, Luftwaffe personnel of the airport area were transferred further to the Eastern Front (or the front came to them), as of October 1944, Major General Niehuus had the field post number L 32916 with the Luftgaupostamt (Air District Post Office) in Posen. The city fell to the Red Army on 23 February 1945, it sometimes is assumed that Niehuus was taken prisoner by the Soviets during this period.

Another source states, he was finally appointed commandant of a Flughafenbereich (airport area) of the Luftgau-Kommando VIII, which had its headquarters in Prague as of 8 February 1945, and was captured near Pilsen, still listed as "Koflug", on 10 May 1945 by Red Army forces. Pilsen had been under American control since 6 May 1945 (16th Armored Division of General Patton's 3rd Army) and it seems very probable, that several German units were trying to reach Americans lines. At some point he was transferred to the prisoner of war camp 5110/48 Woikowo, which was under the terror regime of the NKVD.

Death

After years of torture, hunger, mistreatment and sickness, Friedrich Niehuus finally died on 23 November 1951 and was buried at the German Military Cemetery in Chernzy (Deutsche Kriegsbgräberstätte in Tschernzy). However, the gravestone incorrectly lists him as a "Oberst" (colonel).

Family

Friedrich was the son of Senior Post Master in Düsseldorf-Benrath Carl August Hermann Niehuus and his wife Elisabeth, née Rohr.

Marriage

On 31 May 1926 in Essen, 1st Lieutenant of the Police Niehuus married his fiancée Elfriede Charlotte Therese Derendorf (b. 2 April 1901 in Essen). They would have two children:

• Eva-Maria (b. 14 January 1928 in Kassel)
• Hinrich Friedrich (b. 20 February 1931 in Kassel)

Promotions

German Army

• 2 October 1914 Kriegsfreiwilliger (War Volunteer)
  • according to his police files, he was shortly afterwards appointed Fahnenjunker (Officer Candidate)
• 22 May 1915 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) with Patent
• 31 January 1920 Charakter als Oberleutnant der Reichswehr (Honorary 1st Lieutenant of the Reichswehr)

Police

• 24 October 1919 Polizei-Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant of the Police)
• 1 December 1919 Polizei-Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant of the Police)
• 18 December 1926 Polizei-Hauptmann (Captain of the Police) with effect and Rank Seniority (RDA) from 1 October 1926
• 1 August 1935 (RDA) Polizei-Major (Major of the State Police)

Luftwaffe

• 1 September 1935 Major with Rank Seniority from 1 August 1935
• 31 December 1937 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) with effect and RDA from 1 January 1938
• 1 August 1940 (RDA) Oberst (Colonel)
• 1 March 1944 (RDA) Generalmajor (Major General)

Awards and decorations

• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 28 August 1915
  • 1st Class on 23 July 1917
• Princely House Order of Hohenzollern (Fürstlich Hohenzollern'sches Ehrenzeichen), Cross of Honour III. Class with Swords (HEK3⚔/HE3⚔) on 24 February 1917
• Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion (Orden vom Zähringer Löwen), Knight's Cross II. Class with Swords (BZ3b⚔) on 3 October 1917
• Bremen Hanseatic Cross (Bremisches Hanseatenkreuz; BremH/BH) on 10 June 1918
• Wound Badge (1918) in Black
• DRA/German Gymnastics and Sports Badge (Deutsches Turn- und Sportabzeichen) in Bronze on 28 October 1920
• First prize of the Kassel motorcade under the command of 1st Lieutenant of the Police Niehuus at the convoy driving competition of the Great Police Exhibition in Berlin on 9 October 1926
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 2nd Class on 2 October 1936
• Sudetenland Medal
• War Merit Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class with Swords

Sources

• German Federal Archives: BArch PERS 6/1680