Adolf Schiel

{{Short description|German officer and writer (1858–1903)}} {{Expand German|topic=bio|Adolf Schiel|date=May 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Adolf Schiel | image = Colonel Adolf Schiel (Porträt).jpg | image_size = 225px | caption = Adolf Schiel photographed by Jan van Hoepen | birth_date = {{Birth date|1858|12|19|df=yes}} | birth_place = Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany | death_date = {{Death date and age|1903|8|8|1858|12|19|df=yes}} | death_place = Bad Reichenhall, Germany | occupation = Farmer, Soldier }} thumb|250px|A trade card depicting Colonel Schiel '''Adolf Friedrich Schiel''' (19 December 1858 – 8 August 1903)<ref name="justdone">[http://www.justdone.co.za/ROH/main.php?page=View_Person&PersonNumber=28865 Schiel, Adolf Friedrich: Official and Officer], ''South African Roll of Honour''</ref> was an officer in the South African Republic's military forces during the Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jooste|first1=L|title=Foreigners in the defence of South Africa|journal=South African Journal of Military Studies|date=1986|volume=16|issue=2|pages=23–24|url=http://scientiamilitaria.journals.ac.za/pub/article/viewFile/455/482}}</ref>

== Biography== Born in Frankfurt-am-Main on 19 December 1858,<ref name="justdone"/> Schiel was conscripted into the Prussian Army, serving as a cavalry trooper.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Look|first1=Ron|title=Hill of Squandered Valour: The Battle for Spion Kop, 1900|date=2011|publisher=Casemate|isbn=978-1612000077|page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Biggins|first1=David|title=Elandslaagte: An Account of the Battle and Medal Roll for the Queen's South Africa Medal 1899-1902|date=2004|publisher=Token Publishing|isbn=1870192575|page=41}}</ref> He came to the South African Republic in 1878, settling in Natal. There, he took up farming and was later appointed head of the prisons service. In 1898 he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and charged with supervising construction of a fortress adjacent to Johannesburg Prison. On the eve of war Schiel was given permission to form a Boer Commando composed, primarily, of his former prisons staff. Schiel was wounded and taken prisoner during the Battle of Elandslaagte on 20 October 1899.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gomm|first1=Neville|title=The German Commando in The South African War of 1899-1902|url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol022ng.html|journal=Military History Journal |volume=2 |issue=2 |date=December 1971|publisher=South African Military History Society|accessdate=6 September 2015}}</ref> He returned to Germany following the war where he published his autobiography, ''23 Jahre Sturm und Sonnenschein in Südafrika'' ("23 Years of Storm and Sunshine in South Africa"), and later died on 8 August 1903 in Bad Reichenhall of the wounds he had received at Elandslaagte.

==Legacy== * ''NSG Colonel Schiel'', a noted shooting club in Frankfurt named after Schiel.<ref>{{cite web|title=Niederräder Schützengesellschaft "Oberst Schiel" 1902 e.V.|url=http://www.oberst-schiel.de/|website=oberst-schiel.de|publisher=NSG Colonel Schiel|accessdate=6 September 2015|date=2004-10-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325045324/http://www.oberst-schiel.de/|archive-date=25 March 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

== Further reading == * Adolf Schiel. [https://archive.org/stream/jahresturmundso01schigoog#page/n9/mode/2up 23 ''Jahre Sturm und Sonnenschein in Südafrika'']. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1902.

==External links== * [http://www.justdone.co.za/ROH/main.php?page=View_Person&PersonNumber=28865 Schiel, Adolf Friedrich: Official and Officer], ''South African Roll of Honour''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schiel, Adolf}} Category:1858 births Category:Military personnel from Frankfurt Category:South African prisoners of war Category:1903 deaths Category:South African Republic military personnel of the Second Boer War Category:Prussian Army personnel Category:Emigrants from the German Empire Category:Immigrants to the South African Republic Category:German emigrants to South Africa