162. day of death of Prussian female NCO

[IonBl]

Friederike (Sophia Dorothea) Krüger was born on 4. October 1789 in Friedland and died on the 31. Mai 1848 in Templin (Both eastern Germany today).


In 1813 during the Napoleon war and after the mobilization she disguised herself as a man and joined the Prussian army as August Lübeck, 1st company / Regiment Kolberg. They needed so many recruits that there were no medical exams at that time. Later her comrades kept quiet due to her courage in battle.


Finally her voice betrayed her during an attack but king Friedrich Wilhelm III allowed her to stay in the army even with her real name because her bravery had impressed his officers and himself.


During the battle of Dennewitz she was seriously wounded and promoted to “Unteroffizier” (Corporal/Sergeant) right on the field.


Among her decorations are the Iron Cross and the Russian Order of St. Georg.


In 1814 she entered Paris with the Alliance troops and left the army after Napoleons final defeat in 1815.


She married Karl Köhler, also a recipient of the Iron Cross. Since she came from a very poor family, her father was a farmer and former “bondman”, the Prussian king paid her dowry. He also became godfather of her son. The duke of Mecklenburg was the godfather of her first daughter, she had three.


From both she got also an annual rent for her merits during the war.


Friederike Krüger was not the only woman in uniform during the Napoleon war but she seems to be the most successful.


Sources:
(German)
http://www.uckermark.city-map.de/01092800/beruehmte-historische-persoenlichkeiten-der-uckermark
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friederike_Kr%C3%BCger
http://www.personenlexikon.net/d/friederike-krueger/friederike-krueger.htm
http://www.preussen-chronik.de/episode_jsp/key=chronologie_005060.html
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friederike_Kr%C3%BCger


(English)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friederike_Kr%C3%BCger

[JCR]

A great woman of prussian/german history.
Good to see she's still remembered in her home town.
We have to care more about this part of our history.
Hell, for once we were the good guys in this war
And we even won :)

The most famous female volunteer of the wars of Liberation was Eleonore Prochaska (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonore_Prochaska),
a 28 year old who served in the 1st Jäger Battallion of Lützow's Freikorps.
However, she was only discovered (officially) to be a woman after she was mortally wounded in battle.
According to her NCO this was because though she looked girlish, her language was too foul ;)

[Quietscheentchen]

Thanks for the articles, never heard of those early female soldiers before.

[Sada]

There were many instances of women fighting in guerrilla actions in napoleonic wars in Spain, but the most famous was Agustina de Aragón, who distinguished herself first as gunner in the siege of Zaragoza, afterwards she was war prissioner, she escaped, fought with guerrillas and with regular army as gunner agains until the end of the war,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agustina_de_Arag%C3%B3n

[RECON DOC]

Pics or it didn't happen.

[IonBl]

I can't say much about the spanish woman but the German ones are quite well documented.

[Sada]

I can't say much about the spanish woman but the German ones are quite well documented.
I think Recon Doc is being ironic here, and I´m sure his impersonation John Wayne wouln´t be able to stand up a single assault with his toy winchester in the face of gunner Agustina, that late in the war commanded a battery in the battle of Vitoria, something I didn´t knew. She wasn´t a legend but a real woman, well documented too, got her rank in the army and got her medals and honors that she exhibited when she was a retired old women.

There were other famous soldiers women in spanish army before: The basque Catalina de Eraúso, very probably today she would be considered a tran******, there were evidences she loved other women but what it cares is she was a fierce soldier, she fought mainly in the wars agaisnt araucans indians in Chile and she had several duels,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_de_Erauso
My favourite is my countrywoman María Pita, late XVI century, she wasn´t a soldier but the busy wife of a butcher, her second husband. When Francis Drake attacked Coruña in 1589 with the double of men than inhabitants had the city, the citizens organized quickly in militias with some regular soldiers and fought defending the walls. When the husband of María Pita was killed in the walls, she got very angry and managed to kill an english flag-bearer. After the battle, the king conceded her the honorary rank of alférez(second leutnant) and a license to trade mules with Portugal. María received her rank or alférez but not the salary attached to it and the woman had the balls of starting a legal demand agaisnt Phillip II claiming for her salary and her license for the mules trade, which she got after long legal battles. She died in her eighties after surviving the fourth husband, with a little fortune and plenty of legal evidences of her existence in spanish archives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Pita