Busse, Theodor Ernst Hermann August, born on 15-12-1887 in Frankfurt an der Oder,

joined the Imperial German Army as an officer cadet in 1915. During World War I he won the Knights Cross with Swords of the Hohenzollern Order

. After the armistice he was accepted as one of 2000 officers into the new 100.000 men Reichswehr, eight Infantry and two Cavalry divisions, where he steadily rose in rank. Busse was a General Staff Officer in April 1939 and between 1940 and 1942 he served as the Chief of Operations to then General der Infanterie,
Erich von Manstein in the 11
th Army

on the Eastern Front.

Arguably the biggest break of Busse’s life came on 12-09-1941, when the airplane carrying
Ritter Eugen von Schobert

crashed, killing everyone aboard. His successor—and the man to whom Busse would be linked throughout the rest of the war—was Erich von Manstein. Busse served von Manstein as operations officer during the Eleventh Army’s conquest of the Crimea and held the same post at Army Group Don during the Stalingrad campaign. In March 1943 von Manstein chose Busse over
Henning von Tresckow

(another gifted staff officer who happened to be a ringleader in the
Graf von Stauffenberg,

anti-Hitler conspiracy within the army) to become Chief of Staff. While serving with von Manstein’s Army Group South Busse was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross

on 30-01-1944. He spent a short time in the Führer Reserve and was then appointed General Officer Commanding German 121
st Infantry Division

, where he succeeded General der Infanterie Helmuth Prieß

General Priess was killed on 21-10-1944, age 48 in Hasenrode, East Prussia. In July 1944 Busse here with
Joseph Goebbels 
commanded I Army C under Generaloberst
Heinrich von Vietinghoff. During the last five months of the war, Busse commanded the 9
th Army which was by then part of Army Group Vistula. The 9
th Army was activated on 15-05-940 with Generaloberst der Infanterie, OB Heeresgruppe G, Schwertenträger,
Johannes Blaskowitz 
in command as the Soviets continued to advance into Germany, Busse fought to protect the German capital city in the Battle of Berlin. Specifically, Busse commanded the 9
th Army during the Battle of Seelow Heights and the Battle of the Oder-Neis.

The plan was proposed to Hitler to mollify him; Hitler was in a rage earlier that day after he discovered that forces under SS Obergruppenführer, Kommandeur der SS-Panzer Grenadier Division “Wiking”
, Felix Steiner

and General der Panzertruppe, Commanded of the Twelfth Army
Walter Wenck “the Boy General” would not be coming to his relief in Berlin. The XLI Panzer Corps commanded by the reliable Generalleutnant der Artillerie, Kommandeur der XXXXI Panzerkorps,
Rudolf Holste 
an old regimental comrade of Busse, would be brought back across the Elbe. The Battle of Halbe, did allow a remnant of Busse’s army and some German civilians to escape to the West.

has only been mentioned in a handful of parodies. As with fellow non-featured General Walter Wenck, his name sometimes fell victim to mondegreens in the likes of “pussy”, “busy” etc. He once asked Hitler for a vacation. Busse was Wilhelm Burgdorff”s

brother-in-law in real life, and in one parody, Burgdorf admits he is very cool. When Helmuth Weidling

advised unconditionally surrender of the city to the Soviets, Burgdorf shouted that Hitler had forbidden surrender. After midnight, in the early hours of 2 May 1945, following the earlier suicides of Hitler and Goebbels, Burgdorf, age 50 and his colleague Chief of staff Hans Krebs, age 47

committed suicide by gunshot to the head. Soviet personnel found the bodies of Krebs and Burgdorf in the bunker complex. Helmuth Weidling died on 17-11-1955, age 64 in the custody of the KGB in Vladimir. KGB records listed the cause of death as “arterial and cardiac sclerosis along with circulatory collapse.”
Death and burial ground of Busse, Theodor Ernst Hermann August.
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