Theodor Busse (15 December 1897 – 21 October 1986) was a General der Infanterie who commanded the German 9th Army at the end of World War II.
Biography[]
Theodor Busse was born on 15 December 1897 in Frankfurt an der Oder, German Empire, and he entered the Imperial German Army as an officer cadet in 1915. After the Treaty of Versailles, he was one of the 2,000 officers who remained in the German Reichswehr, and he became the chief of operations of Erich von Manstein's German 11th Army during the war with the Soviet Union. From 1942 to 1943, he served as chief of staff of Army Group Don, and then of Army Group South from 1943 to 1944, and he was given command of the German 9th Army during the last months of World War II. Busse's army fought against the Soviet Red Army at the Battle of Seelow Heights in April 1945, inflicting heavy losses on the Bolsheviks before being forced to retreat. Busse and Walther Wenck linked up to fight the Soviets at the Battle of Halbe, allowing for some German troops to escape to the west to surrender to the Allied Powers instead of spend time in Soviet POW camps. From 1945 to 1948, he was held as a prisoner of war, and he served as the director of civil defense of West Germany. Busse died in Wallerstein in 1986 at the age of 88.