Background
Friedrich Hossbach was born in Unna on 21 November 1894.
Friedrich Hossbach was born in Unna on 21 November 1894.
He began his military career as a cadet in October 1913 and was promoted to Lieutenant in October 1914, spending the war on the eastern front. In 1920 he joined the Reichswehr and seven years later he was appointed a Captain in the War Office. Promoted to Major in 1934, Hossbach became Adjutant to the Führer and Chief of the Central Section of the General Staff and Wehrmacht, a position he held until 28 January 1938.
Made a Colonel on 1 March 1937, Hossbach gave his name eight months later to a famous memorandum - the Hossbach Protocol - when he recorded the minutes of the conference given by Hitler to the Commanders-in-Chief of the land, air and sea forces and to the Foreign Minister at a secret meeting held in the Reich Chancellery. At this conference Hitler outlined a long-term plan of continental expansion, asserting the right to greater lebensraum of the German 'racial community' and his determination to overthrow Austria and Czechoslovakia in the near future. The full account, based on Colonel Hossbach's careful notes, was revealed at the Nuremberg trials and is one of the most complete and important statements of Hitler’s foreign policy intentions.
Hossbach was dismissed from his post as Adjutant at the time of the Blomberg-Fritsch crisis, but restored to the General Staff in 1939. Promoted to Major General on 1 March 1942, made Lieutenant-General exactly five months later and then General of Infantry on 1 November 1943, Hossbach was given command of the Sixteenth Panzer Corps.
He spent the next two years on the Russian front, taking over as Commander of the Fourth Army on 28 January 1945, only to be dismissed two days later for withdrawing his troops in East Prussia in disregard of the Führer's orders. General Hossbach died on 10 September 1980.