Hösslin, Roland Richard Ernst Balthasar von, born 21-02-1915, in Munich, Bavaria, from an old family of cavalry officers; he was the son of Generalmajor Hubert von Hößlin and his wife Rosa born Rist. Hubert Hößlin married Rosa Rist in 1914. Her son Roland is one of the resistance fighters murdered on July 20, 1944 and one of the former officers of the Bamberg 17th (Bavarian) Cavalry Regiment
, under command of then Oberst, later Generalleutnant Max Fremerey
around Oberst Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg,
who belonged to the core of the military opposition to Hitler and National Socialism. In addition to Roland, the couple had the children Hartmut and Luitgard. Generalmajor Hösslin survived the war and died 23-06-1968, old age 86, in Pöcking.
Roland von Hößlin graduated from the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich in 1934, then joined the Reichswehr and became a cadet in the 17th (Bavarian) Cavalry Regiment in Bamberg. On 01-04-1936 he was promoted to leutnant. In 1939, during World War II, he took part in the invasion of Poland as a leutnant and adjutant in Reconnaissance Department 10. He later became an instructor at the Panzer Troops School in Krampnitz near Potsdam. From March to July 1941 he served as an orderly officer on the staff of the German Afrika Korps, in Libya under the later Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
Hößlin was promoted to Hauptmann at the age of only 27. As commander of a tank reconnaissance detachment, he succeeds in storming enemy positions near El Alamein, taking 300 prisoners in the process. He received the Knight’s Cross for special bravery. Badly wounded, he is finally brought back to Germany. After his recovery, his right hand remains mutilated. On 20-10-1941, he was appointed chief of the 3rd company of the 33rd Panzer Reconnaissance Division, in February 1942 he was promoted to Hauptmann and after the failure of his commander, he took over the leadership of the 33rd Reconnaissance Division. On 12-07-1942, Hößlin was appointed leader of the reconnaissance detachment 33 in the fight against parts of the 5th Indian Division, nicknamed the “Ball of Fire”,
under command of Major-General Geoffrey Evans
, was seriously wounded in the right arm and was operated on in Berlin by the surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch.
On 23-07-1942, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross.
In March 1943 he was visited by Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, who, before his transfer to Tunis, obtained information from Hößlin on the African theater of war. In the fall of 1943, Hößlin took part in a commander’s course. Major-General Geoffrey Evans survived the war and died 27-01-1987, age 86, in Chelsea, London, England
In February 1944, Hößlin became commander of the officer applicant school (tank reconnaissance training department for officer applicants) in Insterburg (East Prussia). In April 1944, during a visit by his former regimental comrade Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg in Berlin, he was initiated into the plans of the conspirators to overthrow Adolf Hitler. At the beginning of June 1944 it was agreed in Berlin that in the event of a successful overthrow he would march from Insterburg to Königsberg with the staff of his department, an armored company and a company on wood gas vans in East Prussia (Military District I) and there the Gauleitung, the government, the public Building intended to occupy the telegraph office and other facilities. For this, Hößlein calculated a journey time of around six hours to Königsberg. On 15-07-1944, Stauffenberg wanted to trigger the coup d’etat for the first time and the planned units of the replacement army were already alarmed. Hößlin set his department on the march to Königsberg, but had the operation called off when the alarm was lifted. On 20-07-1944, Adolf Hitler was assassinated and surprised Hößlin, who only received the first telex from the Bendler block at 6:00 p.m., i.e. at a time when it was already known that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt.
Death and burial ground of Hösslin, Roland Richard Ernst Balthasar von.
On August 01-08-1944, the department was relocated to Meiningen and Hößlin was promoted to major. On 23-08-1944, Hößlin was arrested by the Gestapo in Meiningen and taken to Berlin to prison on Lehrter Strasse
and later to prison in Tegel, where he was dishonorably released with other Wehrmacht conspirators. In his farewell letter to his parents, Roland writes: “My actions were only driven by duty”. On 13-10-1944, the People’s Court under President Roland Freisler,
together with the accused Georg Schulze-Büttger
and Hans-Jürgen Graf von Blumenthal,
tried Hößlin and he was sentenced to death for the most serious treason and hanged in Plötzensee on the afternoon of the same day.




A commemorative plaque in Bamberg Cathedral
commemorates the five “Bamberg Horsemen” who lost their lives fighting the Nazi regime, including Roland von Hößlin.

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