Heusinger, Adolf

Born in the family of school teacher Ludwig Heusinger.

He volunteered for military service in June 1915 , fan-junker (candidate officer) in the 96th Infantry Regiment (7th Thuringian). From December 1915 - on the Western Front, from July 1916 - Lieutenant, wounded at Verdun . He was awarded the Iron Crosses of both degrees and two more orders. At the end of July 1917 in Flanders he was seriously wounded and was captured by the British.

In November 1919 he was released from captivity, on vacation until January 1920. He continued his service in the Reichswehr . In 1920-1931 he served in infantry units in staff positions, up to the district headquarters. From April 1925 - Chief Lieutenant.

From October 1931 to August 1934 - in the operational department of the Ministry of the Reichswehr. Since October 1932 - captain.

From August 1934 to October 1935 - the company commander in the 18th Infantry Regiment. Then, from October 1935 to August 1937 - Chief of Staff of the 1st Infantry Division. Since March 1936 - Major.

From August 1937 - in the 1st (operational) department of the general staff of the land forces. Since April 1939 - lieutenant colonel.

Lt. Col. Heusinger participated in the planning of military campaigns in Poland, Denmark, Norway, France and the Netherlands. Received strips to the Iron Crosses of both degrees (re-award). Since August 1940 - Colonel.

On October 15, 1940, Colonel Heusinger was appointed Chief of Operations of the General Staff of the Ground Forces. Thus, he became the third in the planning hierarchy of military operations of land forces, after Chief of General Staff Halder and 1st Chief Quartermaster Paulus .

After the invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, the General Staff of the Ground Forces (OKH) became primarily responsible for planning operations in this theater of operations, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces (OKV) was responsible for other theaters. In September 1942, Halder was replaced by Zeitzler , and Paulus replaced Blumentrit from January 1942. In September 1942, the position of 1st Chief Quartermaster was abolished.

Heuzinger continued to lead the operations department of the ground forces general staff. From January 1942 he became a major general, and from January 1943 he became a lieutenant general.

From June 10, 1944, due to Zeitzler's disease, Lieutenant General Heusinger became the acting chief of the ground forces general staff. In this capacity, Heusinger attended a meeting at Hitler’s headquarters on July 20, 1944 . Heusinger was standing next to Hitler when a bomb planted by Colonel von Stauffenberg exploded there.

Heuzinger was hospitalized because of his injuries, and on July 22, 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion of involvement in the conspiracy . Evidence of this Gestapo could not be found, and in October 1944, Heusinger was released. However, he was sent to the reserve Fuhrer. It was not until March 25, 1945 that Heusinger was given a specific, but insignificant position — the head of the OKW cartographic service.

On May 8, 1945, Heusinger was captured by American forces.

In captivity, Heusinger was involved as a witness at the Nuremberg trials . June 30, 1947 he was released from captivity.

In the years 1948-1950, collaborated with the " Organization of Gelena ."

In 1950, Heusinger became military advisor to the first Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer .

In 1951, a German consultant at the negotiations on the creation of the European Defense Community (EOS).

From 1952 to 1955 he was the head of the military department in the “ Office of the Form ”, later transformed into the Federal Ministry of Defense.

In June 1955 the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany - the Bundeswehr were organized, and Heusinger returned to military service. In November 1955, he was promoted to lieutenant-general and was appointed chairman of the military leadership council (Militärischer Führungsrat).

In March 1957, he replaced General Hans Scheidel as head of the department of the armed forces of the German Defense Ministry.

In June 1957, Heusinger was promoted to the rank of full general and became the first inspector general of the Bundeswehr.

In April 1961, Heusinger was appointed chairman of the NATO military committee (in Washington ).

In December 1961, the USSR unsuccessfully demanded the US to extradite Huizinger, declaring him a war criminal, guilty of mass murder of civilians in the USSR ^[3] .

In March 1964, Heusinger resigned from military service.

• Biography A. Heusinger at the offsite of the Ministry of Defense of Germany
• Biography A. Heusinger
• Biography A. Heusinger on geocities.com
• M. Leontyev's film “The Orange Children of the Third Reich,” mentioning A. Heusinger