Generalmajor Heinrich-Hermann von H?lsen

[Daniel Cole]

Can someone provide me with some information on WWII Generalmajor Heinrich-Hermann von H?lsen. He was captured in Africa and sent to Camp Clinton in Mississippi. Curious about his career, photo, awards, etc. My brother in-law's last name is Van Hilsen, but he said once that it was von Hulsen and was changed to sound Dutch. I'm curious to prove one way or another.

Wasn't sure with forum to post under as I look at the Imperial 99% of the time.

Thanks,

Dan

[Claudio]

Generalmajor Heinrich-Hermann von H?lsen (1895 ? 1982)

Hi Dan!

Please check this website which provides information if you want pay for their services:

http://home.foni.net/~adelsforschung2/portefeuille03.htm

I found these entries in their list:

? H?lsen, Heinrich-Hermann v., Generalmajor (1895-1982), Kurzlebenslauf

? H?lsen, Heinrich-Hermann v., Generalmajor (1895-1982), Kurzvita mit Bildnis

They could give a brief Curriculum Vitae of this Generalmajor plus also a picture. The website is only in German, unfortunately.

Furthermore I found more information on the net:

Von H?lsen was commander of 9th Panzer Division from 27 July 1942 until 4 August 1942 and of the 21st Panzer Division from 15 March 1943 until he was taken prisoner of war on 13 May 1943.

There were quite a lot of von H?lsen that reached a high rank in the military service. There was also a Freikorps during the early 20ies called ?H?lsen?. Consult this link and scroll down the pictures until you see a photo of a member of the H?lsen Friekorps.

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=4746

I am sure that other GMIC forumites can add a lot more info to the above-mentioned general.

Ciao,

Claudio

[Daniel Cole]

Thanks Claudio,

I 'll check the German refs. I'm fluent (for the most part) so that shouldn'r be a problem. I had found the stuff on the Axis forum also. I'm to get from our fellow forumites a listing of awards, etc. Sounds like if my brother in law is correct there are lots of family members to look at.

Dan

[webr55]

Don't waste your money on that paysite. Here's what the German Generals' bios series has about him:

Generalmajor Heinrich-Hermann von Hülsen

Born: 08 Jul 1895 in Weimar

Died: 06 Jun 1982 in Celle

Promotions:

Leutnant (13 Aug 1914); Oberleutnant (01 Mar 1924); Rittmeister (01 Feb 1929); Major (01 Jun 1935); Oberstleutnant (01 Jan 1938); Oberst (01 Dec 1940); Generalmajor (01 May 1943)

Career:

Entered Army Service (13 Aug 1914)

Passed Out the Cadet-Corps as Leutnant in the 4th Foot Guards-Regiment (13 Aug 1914-02 Jan 1915)

Temporary Leader of 6th Company of the 4th Foot Guards-Regiment (02 Jan 1915-01 Nov 1915)

Ordinance-Officer with the Staff of the 43rd Infantry-Brigade (01 Nov 1915-14 Jan 1916)

Transferred to the Regiment-Staff of the 4th Foot Guards-Regiment (14 Jan 1916-07 Feb 1916)

Temporary Adjutant & Court-Officer of the Fusilier-Battalion of the 4th Foot Guards-Regiment (07 Feb 1916-21 May 1916)

Adjutant & Court-Officer of the Fusilier-Battalion of the 4th Foot Guards-Regiment (21 May 1916-09 Jun 1918)

At the same time, Temporary Regiment-Adjutant of the 4th Foot Guards-Regiment (16 Apr 1918-27 Apr 1918)

At the same time, Temporary Leader of the Fusilier-Battalion of the 4th Foot Guards-Regiment (27 May 1918-31 May 1918)

Ordinance-Officer with the High Command of Army-Group Deutscher Kronprinz (09 Jun 1918-17 Oct 1918)

Regiments-Adjutant of the 4th Foot Guards-Regiment (17 Oct 1918-27 Dec 1918)

Regiments-Adjutant of Regiment Reinhard (27 Dec 1918-06 Jun 1919)

Regiments-Adjutant of the 29th Reichswehr-Infantry-Regiment (06 Jun 1919-01 Jan 1921)

Platoon-Leader in the 8th (MG) Company of the 9th Infantry-Regiment (01 Jan 1921-10 Aug 1921)

Detached to the 9th Mounted-Regiment (10 Aug 1921-01 Oct 1921)

Transferred into the 9th Mounted-Regiment (01 Oct 1921-01 Oct 1925)

Transferred into the Training-Battalion of the 7th Infantry-Regiment (01 Oct 1925-01 Oct 1928)

Chief of 1st Squadron of the 7th Mounted-Regiment (01 Oct 1928-01 Oct 1933)

Adjutant of Military-Region-Command Stettin (01 Oct 1933-01 Oct 1934)

Adjutant of Artillery-Leader II (01 Oct 1934-15 Oct 1935)

Adjutant of the 2nd Division (15 Oct 1935-06 Oct 1936)

Commander of II. Battalion of the 6th Cavalry-Regiment (06 Oct 1936-01 Aug 1938)

Commander of the 11th Cavalry-Regiment (01 Aug 1938-28 Aug 1939)

Commander of the 44th Reconnaissance-Battalion (26 Aug 1939-05 Dec 1939)

Adjutant with High Command 1 (05 Dec 1939-01 Apr 1941)

Commander of the 2nd Mounted-Regiment (01 Apr 1941-17 Aug 1941)

Führer-Reserve OKH (01 Dec 1941-16 Apr 1942)

Detached to the Staff of the 24th Panzer-Division (01 Dec 1942-20 Jan 1942)

Detached to Panzer-Troop-School (16 Apr 1942-25 May 1942)

Commander of the 9th Rifle-Brigade (25 May 1942-05 Jul 1942)

Commander of the 9th Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment (05 Jul 1942-15 Dec 1942)

At the same time, Delegated with the Leadership of the 9th Panzer-Division (27 Jul 1942-03 Aug 1942)

Führer-Reserve OKH (15 Dec 1942-25 Apr 1943)

Delegated with the Leadership of the 21st Panzer-Division (25 Apr 1943-01 May 1943)

Commander of the 21st Panzer-Division (01 May 1943-13 May 1943)

Captured in Tunisia, in British Captivity (13 May 1943-17 Feb 1947)

Released (17 Feb 1947)

Awards & Decorations:

- Deutsches Kreuz in Gold: am 02.11.1941 als Oberst und Kommandeur des Reiter-Regiment 2

- RK des Kgl. Preuss. Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern: 03.05.1918

- 1914 EK I

- 1914 EK II

- Verwundetenabzeichen, 1918 in Schwarz

- Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer

- Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse

- Spange zum EK II

- Spange zum EK I

- Ärmelband Afrika

Edited September 4, 2023 by webr55

[webr55]

This is him:

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by webr55

[Guest Rick Research]

I would think it unlikely in the extreme that a von H?lsen would be transformed into a van Hilsen.

The Mormon genealogy website

<a href="http://www.familysearch.org/" target="_blank">http://www.familysearch.org/</a>

(search "Hilsen" because if you use "van Hilsen" what comes up is 8 trillion Vanns ) has Dutch van Hilsens and Danish, Norwegian, and German Hilsens. Perfectly good name flying under its own colors.

Bear in mind that absolutely nothing to be found there is VERIFIED, it is simply AS SUBMITTED. You have to hunt down confirmation of anything found there.

That's a very interesting portrait of the General, BTW-- there he is in a TROPICAL tunic, wearing a FELDGRAU M43 field cap! (obviously taken in captivity, given his rank date.)

[Daniel Cole]

Thanks Gents!,

That will give me enough to go on. I'll confirm the family thing with my bother in law. He said the name was changed here in the USA to sound Dutch instead of German. I have heard of that happening before because of fear of reprisal during the war. I need to confirm when that happened or if indeed it DID happen.

None the less, lots need to be checked out. I was curious because after stumbling on VON HUELSEN, I remember what he had said and thought, maybe what he said is corrrect.

Cheers,

Dan

[Guest Rick Research]

My family was Viciously De-Umlautized, along with all the other Svenskers, between the county seat's City Directory edition of 1916 (in the Happy Time When All Accent Marks Were Equal) to 1917

magically (and idiotically) transformed into "something German."

But the spelling didn't change.

(Oddly enough, in the People's Republic Of Today, whilst I could get any of the nice SPANISH accent marks on my Official Documents, I can NOT on my still-officially-nonexistent SWEDISH ?. Norwegians, Danes, Germans, Austrians, even Zose Frainchs so numerous hereabouts, still Need Not Apply-- take ZAT all you C?t?s!!! )

[RJ-4125]

I have his gun and holster a P35 (FN Browning High Power, made in occupied Austria, Waffen stamped). The firearm was obtained from the US Service Member who brought it back to the USA in 1944. Of course there is a big story behind this.