10 Facts About Willy Tensfeld

Willy Tensfeld was a German SS-Brigadefuhrer and Generalmajor of the Police.

Willy Tensfeld served in several SS and Police Leader positions in occupied Ukraine and Italy during the Second World War.

Willy Tensfeld was then employed at the shipyard in Kiel until 1931.

Willy Tensfeld joined the SS on 1 September 1931 and the Nazi Party in early December.

Willy Tensfeld first served with the 40th SS-Standarte based in Kiel, eventually becoming a battalion adjutant until August 1932.

On 19 May 1943, Willy Tensfeld was transferred to succeed SS-Brigadefuhrer Hans Doring in the post of SSPF "Stalino-Donezgebiet," serving there until 4 September 1943.

Willy Tensfeld was next sent as an SSPF for special assignment under the Supreme SS and Police Leader in Italy, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Wolff, where he became the German liaison officer to the fascist regime recently established as the Italian Social Republic.

Willy Tensfeld commanded a 3,200-strong German-Italian force, including the 15th SS Police Regiment, that defeated a much larger force of about 6,000 partisans in the recently proclaimed Republic of Ossola between 12 and 17 October 1944.

Toward the end of the war, Willy Tensfeld was captured by the British on 30 April 1945 in Monza, and was held as a prisoner of war at the Island Farm Special Camp XI in Bridgend.

Willy Tensfeld was indicted by a British military tribunal in Padua for war crimes against Italian partisans and for the murder of an escaped British POW but was acquitted in April 1947.