Carl Heinrich Zimmermann
(07.09.1864 - 13.01.1949)
place of birth:  Louisendorf/Frankenfeld
Königreich Preußen:  Kdr Schutztruppe, Oberstleutnant


Carl Zimmermann was a Prussian military officer who from 1914 to 1919 was in command of Germany's Colonial Protection Forces (Kaiserliche Schutztruppe) based in Cameroon. Zimmermann grew up near Hessen Kassel, the son of pastor Wilhelm Friedrich Zimmermann and Amalie Frankfurt. He began his military career in 1883 as a One-Year Volunteer in a Prussian infantry regiment. In August 1895, he was selected by Oberstleutnant Emilio Körner to join him as a military advisor with the Chilean Army in Santiago de Chile. Two years later, Zimmermann returned to the Prussian armed forces in Germany, but was soon once again transferred overseas, this time to serve in the Colonial Protection Forces (Kaiserliche Schutztruppe) in Cameroon. He returned to Germany in 1908 and served on staff of the Kommando der Schutztruppe in Berlin's Reichs-Kolonialamt.

Back in Cameroon in 1912, Zimmermann headed up military expeditions along the southern border area of the protectorate. Prior to Germany's mobilization for the First World War, he was appointed to replace Harry Puder as Commander of the Colonial Protection Forces in Cameroon. In this capacity, Zimmermann and his men were engaged in a defensive role against deployed British, French, and Belgian forces for about one and a half years. By April 1916, the Schutztruppe's situation had become untenable and Zimmermann with his European-based troops evacuated initially to the neutral Spanish island of Fernando Pó. They were soon thereafter transferred to the Internment camp at Zaragoza, Spain for the remainder of the War. After the Armistice, Zimmermann was promoted to Oberst in December of 1919 and as active-duty Reichswehr, was brevetted in 1920 to the rank of Generalmajor.

	Oberstleutnant	19.08.1914