Erwin Böhme

Erwin Böhme, Pour le Mérite, was a German World War I fighter ace credited with 24 aerial victories. He was born in Holzminden, and grew into an athletic outdoorsman, becoming a proficient swimmer, ice skater, skier, and alpinist. After serving his mandatory military service in 1899, and earning a civil engineering degree, he moved to Switzerland for three years of mountaineering adventure. He then became interested in German East Africa, moving there in 1908 and taking up a six year employment contract on a timber plantation in Tanganyika.