Nikolaus Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien (5 April 1879 – 21 August 1956) was a German naval officer and author.

Biography

Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien was born in Mallmitz (today Małomice, Poland) to Alfred zu Dohna-Schlodien (1849–1907) and Margarethe née von der Hagen (1845–1932).Biography
Dohna-Schlodien joined the

German Imperial Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...

in 1896, became a Second Lieutenant in 1899 and First Lieutenant in 1902. Immediately after the Boxer Rebellion he served on in East Asia in 1901/02 and became the Commander of the Kanonenboot in 1910–12. In 1913 he became the Navigation officer of and was promoted to a

Korvettenkapitän () is the lowest ranking senior officer in a number of Germanic-speaking navies. Austro-Hungary Belgium Germany Korvettenkapitän, short: KKpt/in lists: KK, () is the lowest senior officer rank () in the German Navy. Address The off ...

.Biography at munzinger.de

World War I

In 1915, after the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the banana freighter ''Pungo'' of the

F. Laeisz F. Laeisz ( ; short form ''FL'') is a German shipping company with offices in Hamburg, Rostock, Bremerhaven and Grabow, Germany, as well as Japan and the Philippines. History The firm was established by Ferdinand Laeisz on 24 March 1824 as a ...

line was reconstructed as a

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing control ...

and

armed merchantman An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

, renamed SMS Mowe, and placed under Dohna's command. Through his success as commander of the ''Möwe'', Dohna and his crew became popular war heroes like the crews of (commanded by

Karl August Nerger Karl August Nerger (25 February 1875 – 12 January 1947) was a naval officer of the Imperial German Navy in World War I, who achieved fame and recognition during the war for his command of the auxiliary cruiser '' SMS Wolf''. Nerger was born ...

) and (commanded by

Felix von Luckner Felix Nikolaus Alexander Georg Graf von Luckner (9 June 1881, Dresden – 13 April 1966, Malmö), sometimes called Count Luckner in English, was a German nobleman, naval officer, author, and sailor who earned the epithet ''Der Seeteufel'' (the ...

). A motion picture was made in 1917 about Dohna's exploits,Ulrike Oppelt: Film und Propaganda im Ersten Weltkrieg
and he was appointed naval adjutant to the German emperor, Wilhelm II.

Later life

After World War I Dohna-Schlodien commanded a

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, rega ...

in the

Silesian Uprisings The Silesian Uprisings (german: Aufstände in Oberschlesien, Polenaufstände, links=no; pl, Powstania śląskie, links=no) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic ...

and retired from the Navy in 1919. He worked as a merchant in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and moved to Baierbach in the 1930s, where he died in 1956. He married Hilde von Laffert, the widow of one of his good friends and colleagues, Captain Hans von Laffert, commander of in the

action of 16 March 1917 The Action of 16 March 1917 was a naval engagement in which the British armed boarding steamer and , a armoured cruiser, fought the German auxiliary cruiser , which sank with the loss of all 319 hands and six men of a British boarding party. ' ...

. Hilde had one daughter, Marion von Laffert, and Nikolaus and Hilde had two additional daughters together, Hildegarde and Margaret. Dohna-Schlodien was well remembered and respected by British naval officers. He always made sure to rescue every last survivor of any ships that he had sunk. When the Allies had invaded the Bavarian area, the Dohna-Schlodien family were treated with respect. Special instructions had been given by Allied generals to not interfere with the family and to allow them to remain in their home unfettered during the invasion.

Decorations and awards

Nikolaus Graf Dohna-Schlodien was one of only two German officers of the First World War who received the highest military awards of the five main German states (the other German officer was Karl August Nerger): *

Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Eag ...

(Prussia) *

Military Order of Max Joseph The Military Order of Max Joseph (german: Militär-Max-Joseph-Orden) was the highest military order of the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded on 1 January 1806 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, the first king of Bavaria. The order came in th ...

(Bavaria) * Military Order of St. Henry (Saxony) *

Military Merit Order (Württemberg) The Military Merit Order (''Militärverdienstorden'') was a military order of the Kingdom of Württemberg, which joined the German Empire in 1871. The order was one of the older military orders of the states of the German Empire. It was founded ...

Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order The Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order (german: Militär Karl-Friedrich-Verdienstorden) was a military order of merit of the Grand Duchy of Baden. Established 5 October 1805 by Charles Frederick, Elector and later Grand Duke of Baden, the ord ...

(Baden) *

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia es ...

of 1914, 1st and 2nd class

Publications

* ''S. M. S. Möwe''. Perthes, Gotha 1916 * ''Der Möwe zweite Fahrt''. Perthes, Gotha 1917 * ''Der Möwe Fahrten und Abenteuer. Erzählt von ihrem Kommandanten''. Perthes, Stuttgart 1927 (Republication of 1916 und 1917)

References

External links

the story of SMS Möwe
*

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dohna-Schlodien, Nikolaus Graf Zu 1879 births 1956 deaths People from the Province of Silesia People from Żagań County Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Knights of the Military Order of Max Joseph Counts of Germany German military writers Imperial German Navy personnel of World War I German male non-fiction writers 20th-century Freikorps personnel