Erich Prigge
Prigge was born in 1878 at Harsefeld in the Prussian Province of Hanover. His father was a middle ranking official in the Prussian Royal Forestry Administration.
Destined for the Army from an early age, he was enrolled in the Kadettenkorps for boys aged 10/11 to 17/19. In 1896 he was posted to a regiment based first in Trier and then in Strassburg. He was commissioned as a Sekondelieutenant in 1897. Up to the outbreak of war he had a successful career in the Army.
In early 1914 he was retired from the Prussian Army and transferred to Ottoman service at the equivalent rank of Major.
He was appointed Commanding Officer of the Cavalry Non-Commissioned Officers' School in Constantinople. He rapidly became proficient in Turkish and at the outbreak of hostilities in Europe was appointed Adjutant to Liman von Sanders. Later, when hostilities were imminent, he was re-appointed to his former rank in the Prussian Army.
More than any other officer, Prigge was with Liman von Sanders throughout the Gallipoli Campaign. This relationship continued after the evacuation of the Peninsula by the Imperial forces, and to the end of the war.
In the years between the wars, Prigge pursued a successful business career. However, in 1940, at the age of 62, he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht as a Reserve Officer, dealing with inspections of armaments. He was discharged from the Army in 1944.
He became involved with management of the Red Cross after the war. He died in 1955 during a visit to Switzerland.
