Wilhelm Faupel (29 October 1873 – 1 May 1945) was a Lieutenant-General of the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in the Interwar Years.
Biography[]
Wilhelm Faupel was born on 29 October 1873 and served in a medical unit that was sent to China to put down the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, and in 1904 he fought against the Herero Uprising in German South-West Africa. During World War I, Faupel earned the Pour le merite medal for bravery, and in 1919 he took over the Gorlitz Freikorps. He was promoted to Major-General in 1921, and from 1921 to 1926 he was an advisor to Argentina and was also an advisor to Peru, serving as Inspector-General of the Peruvian Army. From February to October 1937, Faupel served as the ambassador to Spain, having joined the Nazi Party that same year. He argued that the Wehrmacht should dispatch three divisions to fight in the Spanish Civil War on the side of Nationalist Spain, but Konstantin von Neurath and Werner von Blomberg argued against him, saying that Germany was not fully-rearmed and could not fight a war yet. Promoted to Lieutenant-General in 1939, he had no commands during World War II and committed suicide on 1 May 1945 when the Red Army closed in on Berlin.