Adolf Heusinger

Adolf Heusinger
Heusinger in Bundeswehr uniform, c. 1960
Born	(1897-08-04)August 4, 1897 Holzminden, Brunswick, German Empire
Died	November 30, 1982(1982-11-30) (aged 85) Cologne
Allegiance	German Empire  Weimar Republic  Nazi Germany West Germany NATO
Years of service	1915–1945 1955–1964
Rank	General

General Adolf Heusinger (August 4, 1897 – November 30, 1982) was a German general who served as head of the West German military from 1957 to 1961 and as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee from 1961 to 1964. Heusinger joined the German Army as a volunteer in 1915 and later became a professional soldier. He was promoted to lieutenant-general during World War II and served as acting Chief of the General Staff of the Army for two weeks in 1944, and was head of the military cartography office when the war ended.

Heusinger was born in Holzminden, in the Duchy of Brunswick, German Empire. He entered the Prussian Army in 1915, becoming an officer in 1917. Following the war, Heusinger was retained in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic. In 1931, Heusinger was assigned to the operations staff of the Troop Office (Truppenamt) in the Ministry of the Reichswehr, the German Army's covert General Staff in circumvention of the Treaty of Versailles, which forbade that institution. In August 1937, Heusinger was assigned to the Operations Staff of the re-established Army General Staff. He served there, being promoted to lieutenant colonel on March 20, 1939, and remained in that position until October 15, 1940, when he became its chief.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the German Army High Command (the OKH) assumed its wartime organization. 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. He was promoted to colonel on August 1, 1940 and became chief of the Operationsabteilung in October 1940, making him number three in the Army planning hierarchy, after the Chief of the General Staff, General Franz Halder, and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff/Chief Quartermaster, General Friedrich Paulus.