{{Short description|German Wehrmacht general (1894–1980)}} {{Infobox military person | name = Friedrich Hossbach | birth_date = {{birth date|1894|11|22|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1980|9|10|1894|11|22|df=y}} | birth_place = Unna, German Empire | death_place = Göttingen, West Germany | image = File:Major Friedrich Hoßbach (cropped).jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = Hossbach in 1934 | nickname = | allegiance = German Empire<br/>Weimar Republic<br/>Nazi Germany | branch = German Army | service_years = 1913–1945 | rank = ''General der Infanterie'' | commands = 82nd Infantry Division<br/>LVI Panzer Corps<br/>4th Army | unit = | battles = World War I<br>World War II | awards = Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves | other_work = }} '''Friedrich Hossbach''' (22 November 1894 – 10 September 1980) was a German staff officer in the ''Wehrmacht'' who, as a military adjutant to Adolf Hitler in 1937, created the document detailing Hitler's expansionist plans. It later became known as the Hossbach Memorandum.
==Early life== Hossbach joined the Imperial German Army in 1913 and served throughout World War I, finishing the war as an ''Oberleutnant'' and orderly officer on the staff of XVIII Army Corps. He remained in the post-war ''Reichswehr'' of the Weimar Republic, as a career officer. Assigned to the general staff, he was the army adjutant to Adolf Hitler from 1934 to 1938.{{sfn|Webb|2024|p=95}}
==Career== As Hitler's adjutant, Hossbach created the document that later became known as the Hossbach Memorandum, a report of a meeting held on 5 November 1937 between Hitler and Feldmarschall Werner von Blomberg, General Werner von Fritsch, Admiral Erich Raeder, Generaloberst Hermann Göring, Baron Konstantin von Neurath and Hossbach. The account of Hossbach was found among the Nuremberg papers, where it was an important piece of evidence.<ref>Documents of German Foreign Policy, I, pp. 29-39</ref>
In early 1938, Hossbach was present when Hitler was presented by Goering with a file purporting to show that General von Fritsch, the commander-in-chief of the Army, was guilty of homosexual practices. In defiance of Hitler's orders, Hossbach took the file to Fritsch to warn him of the accusations that he was about to face. Fritsch gave his word as an officer that the charges were untrue, and Hossbach passed that message back to Hitler. That did not, as it might have, cost Hossbach his life, but he was dismissed from his post as Hitler's adjutant two days later.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=315}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-088-3724-06A, Russland, Generale vor Holzhaus.jpg|thumb|270px|General Hossbach (4th from left) in the Soviet Union, with Field Marshal Ernst Busch, General Hans Krebs, General Rudolf von Roman, Colonel General Walter Weiß and General Hans Speth, May 1944]] Hossbach returned to the general staff in 1939 and was promoted to major general on 1 March 1942. Exactly five months later, he was promoted again to lieutenant general, and his last promotion occurred on 1 November 1943, when he became general of infantry and was given command of the LVI Panzer Corps. He spent the next two years on the eastern front. He took over as commander of the Fourth Army on 28 January 1945 but was dismissed two days later for defying Hitler's orders and withdrawing his troops from East Prussia in fear of a second Stalingrad.{{sfn|Wistrich|1995|p=126}} While receiving medical care in Göttingen, Hossbach was taken prisoner by the US Army.<ref name="ziemke1975">{{Cite book |last=Ziemke |first=Earl F. |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Occ-GY/index.htm |title=The US Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944-1946 |publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army |pages=231-232 |year=1975 |location=Washington DC |lccn=75-619027 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213200328/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Occ-GY/index.htm |archive-date=2007-12-13}}</ref>
==Awards== * Iron Cross (1914) 2nd Class (26 September 1914) & 1st Class (26 May 1916){{sfn|Thomas|1997|p=302}} * Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg<ref name=”RDR”>''Reichswehrministerium'' (Ed.): ''Rangliste des Deutschen Reichsheeres.'' E.S. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin: 1930, p. 145.</ref> * Military Merit Cross of Austria-Hungary, 3rd class with war decoration<ref name=”RDR” /> * Wound Badge in black<ref name=”RDR” /> * Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918<ref name=”RDR” /> * Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (11 May 1940) and 1st Class (30 May 1940){{sfn|Thomas|1997|p=302}} * Honour Roll Clasp of the Army (22 July 1941){{sfn|Thomas|1997|p=302}} * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves ** Knight's Cross on 7 October 1940 as ''Oberst'' and commander of Infanterie-Regiment 82 ** Oak Leaves on 11 September 1943 as ''Generalleutnant'' and acting commander of LVI. Panzerkorps
==References==
===Citations=== {{Reflist|25em}}
===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} * Jones, Michael (2011) "Total War. From Stalingrad to Berlin". John Murray, London. {{ISBN|978 1 8485 4231 0}} * {{Cite book |last=Fellgiebel |first=Walther-Peer |author-link=:de:Walther-Peer Fellgiebel |year=2000 |orig-year=1986 |title=Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile |trans-title=The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches |language=de |location=Friedberg, Germany |publisher=Podzun-Pallas |isbn=978-3-7909-0284-6 }} *{{cite book |last= Shirer |first= William L. |author-link= William L. Shirer |title= The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich |title-link= The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich |year= 1960 |publisher= Simon & Schuster |location= New York |lccn = 60-6729 }} * {{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Franz |year=1997 |title=Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 1: A–K |trans-title=The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 1: A–K |language=de |location=Osnabrück, Germany |publisher=Biblio-Verlag |isbn=978-3-7648-2299-6 }} *{{cite book |last=Wistrich |first=Robert S. |author-link=Robert S. Wistrich |title=Who's Who in Nazi Germany |publisher=Routledge |year=1995 |isbn=0-415-12723-8 }} *{{cite book |last1=Webb |first1=James Jack |title=Generals and Admirals of the Third Reich: For Country or Fuehrer |volume=2: H–O |publisher=Casemate Publishers |location=Havertown, PA |year=2024 |isbn=978-1-952-71517-4 }}
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{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{succession box |before=Generalmajor Gerhard Berthold |after=Generalleutnant Kurt Pflieger |title= Commander of 31. Infanterie-Division |years=20 January 1942 – 24 February 1942 }} {{succession box |before=Generalleutnant Josef Lehmann |after=Generalleutnant Alfred Bäntsch |title= Commander of 82. Infanterie-Division |years=1 April 1942 – 6 July 1942 }} {{succession box |before=Oberst Hermann Flörke |after=Oberst Kurt Moehring |title= Commander of 31. Infanterie-Division |years=15 May 1943 – 2 August 1943 }} {{succession box |before=General der Panzertruppe Ferdinand Schaal |after=General der Infanterie Anton Grasser |title= Commander of LVI Panzer Corps |years=1 August 1943 – 14 November 1943 }} {{succession box |before=General der Infanterie Anton Grasser |after=General der Infanterie Johannes Block |title= Commander of LVI Panzer Corps |years=9 December 1943 – 14 June 1944 }} {{succession box |before=General der Infanterie Kurt von Tippelskirch |after=General der Infanterie Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller |title= Commander of 4. Armee |years=18 July 1944 – 29 January 1945 }} {{s-end}}
{{Knight's Cross recipients of the 31st ID}} {{Authority control}} {{Subject bar | portal1=Biography | commons=y }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hossbach, Friedrich}} Category:1894 births Category:1980 deaths Category:Adjutants of Adolf Hitler Category:Generals of the infantry (Wehrmacht) Category:German Army personnel of World War I Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States Category:Military personnel from North Rhine-Westphalia Category:Military personnel from the Province of Westphalia Category:Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class Category:People from Unna Category:Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class Category:Recipients of the Hanseatic Cross (Hamburg) Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves Category:Reichswehr personnel