Generalmajor Georg Friemel

SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11

NAME: Generalmajor Georg Friemel

PW NO: 15770

RANK: Generalmajor

CAPTURED: Ypenburg airfield (near Delft), Netherlands

DATE: 10 May 1940

PERSONAL
DATE OF BIRTH: 21 February 1891

PLACE OF BIRTH: Magdeburg

DATE OF DEATH: 14 October 1977

PLACE OF DEATH: Konstanz

NATIONALITY: German

RELIGION: Roman Catholic

OCCUPATION: Regular Soldier

HEIGHT: 5'7"

WEIGHT: Unknown

HAIR COLOUR: Grey

EYE COLOUR: Blue

NEXT OF KIN: Marianne Friemel, (French Zone)

Promotions:

Commands & Assignments:

3 March 1910: Entered Army service as a Fähnrich in Badisches Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 14 after passing out from the Cadet Corps.
4 June 1910-14 February 1911: Detached to War School Kassel.
29 July 1914: Detached to Demolition Command Hüningen-Idstein.
10 August 1914: Transferred to the 3rd Company of Pioneer Battalion 14.
1 January 1915: Leader of Heavy Mortar Detachment 51.
4 November 1915: Transferred to Mortar Company 28.
15 December 1915: Detached to the Recruit Depot of the XIV Army Corps.
1 January 1916: Leader of Mortar Company 29.
15 October 1916: Leader of the 5th Company of Pioneer Battalion 14.
20 January 1919: Transferred to the 2nd Company of Pioneer Battalion 14.
10 April 1919: Leader of Reichswehr Mortar Company 1.
20 June 1919: Leader of Reichswehr Mortar Battalion 14.
15 July 1919: Transferred to Reichswehr Pioneer Battalion 14.
18 September 1919: Captain on Staff of Reichswehr Pioneer Battalion 313.
19 December 1919: Leader of the Mortar Company of Reichswehr Rifle Regiment 113.
16 June 1920: Leader of Reichswehr Mortar Company 25.
1 January 1921: Chief of the 14th (Mortar-) Company of Infantry Regiment 14.
29 September 1921-12 November 1921: Detached to Mortar Training in Döberitz.
7 September 1925-19 September 1925: Detached to the Formation Exercises of the Reich Navy.
1 October 1926: Chief of the 9th Company of Infantry Regiment 14.
1 October 1929: Transferred to Cavalry Regiment 18 and detached to the staff of the 5th Division.
1 May 1933: Transferred to the staff of the 5th Division.
1 October 1934: Commander of the I. Battalion of Infantry Regiment “Heilbronn.”
15 October 1935: Commander of the I. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 34.
27 July 1937-10 May 1940: Commander of Infantry Regiment 65 of the 22nd Air Landing Infantry Division. [On 10 May 1940, the Germans unleashed the “Blitzkrieg” on the Low Countries and France. On the first day of the attack, paratroops of the 7th Flieger-Division (Generalleutnant Kurt Student) and air landing troops of the 22nd Air Landing Infantry Division (Generalleutnant Hans Graf von Sponeck) seized strategic bridges and airfields in the vicinity of Rotterdam and The Hague. Tasked with seizing the airfields at Valkenburg, Ypenburg and Ockenburg, the 22nd Air Landing Infantry Division planned to enter The Hague and capture the royal palace and key government buildings. Although the Germans initially seized the three airfields, the Dutch quickly counterattacked and recaptured them, taking over 1,000 prisoners in the process. Oberst Friemel was captured at Ypenburg and, along with the other German prisoners, was shipped to England via the Dutch port of Scheveningen on 14 May 1940. As the situation on the ground was in chaos, Generalleutnant Graf von Sponeck was forced to land on the beach near Hoek van Holland where he began assembling the scattered elements of his division in a defensive position near Loosduinen. With the plan to seize The Hague deemed a failure, Graf von Sponeck was ordered to move his forces to the southeast in support of the attack on Rotterdam.]
10 May 1940-9 October 1947: Prisoner of war in British captivity. [Friemel was the highest-ranking German prisoner of war held by the British until Generalmajor (later Generalleutnant) Johannes von Ravenstein was captured in North Africa on 29 November 1941.
- 13th June 1946 transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 via Camp 17 [from Canada where he had spent most of his time in captivity.]
- 1st October 1947 transferred to Camp 186
- 9th October 1947 Repatriated