22 Facts About Adolf Heusinger

Adolf Heusinger joined the German Army as a volunteer in 1915 and later became a professional soldier.

Adolf Heusinger served as the Operations Chief within the general staff of the High Command of the German Army in the Wehrmacht from 1938 to 1944.

Adolf Heusinger was then appointed acting Chief of the General Staff for two weeks in 1944 following Kurt Zeitzler's resignation.

Adolf Heusinger was later appointed head of the military cartography office when the war ended.

Adolf Heusinger later became a general for West Germany and served as head of the West German military from 1957 to 1961 as well as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee from 1961 to 1964.

Adolf Heusinger was born in Holzminden, in the Duchy of Brunswick, German Empire.

Adolf Heusinger entered the Prussian Army in 1915 and became a in 1916.

In 1931, Adolf Heusinger was assigned to the operations staff of the Troop Office in the Ministry of the Reichswehr.

Adolf Heusinger served there, was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 20 March 1939 and to colonel on 1 August 1940.

Adolf Heusinger continued to serve in the OKH Operations Staff, and on 15 October 1940 became OKH Operations Chief.

Adolf Heusinger accompanied the field staff and assisted in the planning of operations for the invasions of Poland, Denmark, Norway, and France and the Low Countries.

Adolf Heusinger remained chief of the Operationsabteilung and was promoted to Generalleutnant on 1 January 1943.

In June 1944, Zeitzler suffered a nervous breakdown and abandoned his post, and on 10 June, Adolf Heusinger temporarily assumed his office as Chief of the General Staff of the Army.

Adolf Heusinger made available all information that he had on the conspirators who had plotted against the Fuhrer.

Adolf Heusinger reaffirmed that he had not participated in the assassination plot since he still felt an obligation to fulfil his duty as a soldier of the German Reich, despite his personal view that the war had been lost.

Adolf Heusinger was later taken prisoner by the Western Allies in May 1945.

An internee from 1945 to 1947, Adolf Heusinger testified during the Nuremberg Trials.

Adolf Heusinger served in the Blank Office Amt Blank, the office headed by Theodor Blank, which became the West German Ministry of defence in 1955.

Adolf Heusinger was appointed a Generalleutnant on 12 November 1955, in the and chairman of the Military Leadership Council.

Shortly thereafter, in June 1957, Adolf Heusinger was promoted to full general and named the first Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, and he served in that capacity until March 1961.

Adolf Heusinger was, according to news reports, wanted by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s for war crimes committed in the occupied Soviet territories.

Adolf Heusinger died in Cologne on 30 November 1982, aged 85.