Theodor Busse
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General of the Infantry (General der Infanterie) Theodor Busse (15 December 1897 in Frankfurt † 21 October 1986 in Wallerstein). General in the German Wehrmacht (Army) in World War II.
Born in Frankfurt (Oder), he joined the Imperial German Army as an officer cadet in 1915, and was commissioned in February 1917. Seeing action in World War I, after the armistice he was accepted into the new Reichswehr where he steadily rose in rank.
Busse was a General Staff officer in April 1939, and prepared a training program which was approved by the Chief of the General Staff in August. The program covered a period from 1 October 1939 to 30 September 1940. Between 1940 and 1942 he served as the Chief of Operations to General (later Field Marshal) Erich von Manstein in the 11th Army on the Eastern Front. He remained serving on Manstein's staff from 1942 until 1943 as Chief of Operations of Army Group Don and then from 1943 until 1944 he was Chief of Staff of Army Group South, both Army Groups on the Eastern Front. While serving with Army Group South he was awarded the Knight's Cross on January 30, 1944. He spent a short time in reserve and was then appointed General Officer Commanding German 121st Division. In July 1944 he commanded I Corps and on 21 January 1945 he took over command of the 9th Army which was his final command. During the last month of the war he commanded the 9th Army in the Battle of Berlin. Specifically, Busse commanded the 9th Army during the Battle of Seelow Heights, the Battle of the Oder-Neisse, and the breakout to reach the American lines known as the Battle of Halbe.
Busse took command of the German Ninth Army on 21 January 1945 but his appointment was never confirmed. It would appear that it was customary for commanders of formations of the status of an Army and higher to be on six months probation before their final appointments as Commanders-in-Chief.
Between 1945 and 1946, Busse was a Prisoner of War.
At the Nuremberg Trials:
- Various witnesses were asked why they took over command of the Army at the end of the war when the situation was already desperate. Busse, for instance, said that he was moved by the sight of miserable groups of countrymen travelling west and wished to protect them from the enemy coming from the East. He said that he followed the example of many other soldiers who have preferred death to surrender.
After the war he was West Germany's director of civil defense, and wrote and edited a number of works on the military history of World War II.
[edit] Books by Busse
- "Kursk: The German View" by Steven H. Newton. The first part of the book goes to a new translation of a study of Operation Citadel (the great tank battle of Kursk) edited by General Theodor Busse, which offers the perspectives of key tank, infantry, and air commanders.
[edit] Bibliography
- Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 42 available from the Avalon Project at the Yale Law School.
- The Generals of WWII Busse Theodor, General of Infantry (1897-1986)
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 42. See Bibliography
- ↑ The Generals of WWII. See Bibliography
- ↑ Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 42. See Bibliography
- ↑ Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 42. See Bibliography
