Theodor von Hippel

Theodor-Gottlieb von Hippel (19 January 1890 – 1 January 1977)[1] was the German Army and intelligence officer responsible for the formation and training of the Brandenburgers commando unit.

This article is about the 20th century intelligence officer. For the 18th century satirist, see Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel the Elder. For his nephew, see Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel the Younger.

Theodor von Hippel
Born	(1890-01-19)19 January 1890 Thorn, Province of West Prussia, German Empire present-day Toruń, Poland
Died	1 January 1977(1977-01-01) (aged 86) Kiel, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire  Weimar Republic (to 1933)  Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Army (Wehrmacht)
Years of service	1914–18 1935–43
Rank	Oberstleutnant
Commands held	Lehr-Regiment Brandenburg z.b.V. 800
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Invasion of Poland Battle of France North African Campaign
Awards	Iron Cross 1st Class

World War I and interwar period

On October 18, 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, Hippel volunteered for service in the Schutztruppe for German East Africa, where he served under General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in the East African theatre, where Lettow-Vorbeck had conducted a guerrilla campaign against Allied colonial troops. In 1922, Hippel earned a doctorate in state economics (Dr. rer. cam., Doktor der Staatswirtschaftskunde) from the University of Tübingen.[1] Hippel reentered the army in 1935. On November 1, 1937, he was transferred to the German military intelligence service known as the Abwehr.

Inspired by the example of Lettow-Vorbeck, Hippel proposed that small units, trained in infiltration and sabotage and fluent in foreign languages, could operate behind enemy lines, wreaking havoc on the enemy’s command, communication and logistical chains. He approached the Reichswehr, where his unconventional idea was rejected. He then approached the commander of Abwehr, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris who accepted Hippel's idea. Hippel was assigned to "Section II", the Abwehr branch dealing with clandestine operations. Since the project was top secret, this unit was designated "Special Duty Training and Construction Company" (Lehr und Bau Kompagnie) to mask its true function.

World War II

The unit's first operation took part during the Invasion of Poland. By mid-year, small teams of commandos had entered Poland to infiltrate key factories, mines and power stations. The X-Day for Case White was set for September 1.

On the evening of August 31, a team of the Brandenburgers infiltrated Danzig. At 4:17 local time, they surrounded and attempted to seize the city's post office. Simultaneously, the saboteur teams began to blow up their target facilities where they had been, up until then, employed. Meanwhile, other Brandenburgers slipped across the frontiers, infiltrated behind Polish defensive positions and seized crucial bridges across the river Vistula. Hippel was promoted to Oberstleutnant on June 1, 1941.

Although Bataillon Ebbinghaus was disbanded at the end of the invasion of Poland, it had performed well enough to be reconstituted, under its old Lehr und Bau Kompagnie codename, as a regiment for the 1940 invasion of France and the low countries. By this time, Admiral Canaris had begun to push Hippel aside and take a direct role in the Brandenburgers' operations himself. Hippel was sent to North Africa in February 1943, where he commanded a German-Arab unit in Tunis, surrendering to the Allied troops with the rest of the Axis forces in Tunisia in May 1943.

Post-war life

After the war, Hippel returned to Germany and in 1959 he was living in Emmingen ab Egg in Baden-Württemberg.[2] He died on 1 January 1977 in Kiel at the age of 86.

References

1. Immo Eberl, Helmut Marcon (1984): 150 Jahre Promotion an der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Tübingen: Biographien der Doktoren, Ehrendoktoren und Habilitierten 1830–1980. Stuttgart, Germany: K. Theiss. ISBN 3-8062-0409-8, p. 235.
2. Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelige Häuser B Vol. IV, Vol. 20 of the total series, Limburg (Lahn) : C. A. Starke, 1959

• Breuer, William B. Daring Missions of WWII. ISBN 0-471-40419-5.
• Eric LeFevre. Brandenburg Division, Commandos of the Reich. Paris, France: Histoire & Collections. 2000 (translated from the French by Julia Finel. Originally published as La Division Brandenburg 1939-1945. Paris: Presses de la Cité. 1983). ISBN 2-908182-73-4.