Hans Hasse

Hans Hasse
Birth name	Johann Heinrich Hasse
Birth date	8 October 1878(1878-10-08)
Place of birth	Glogau (northwest of Breslau), Lower Silesia, Province of Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	20 November 1968 (aged 90)
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Prussian Army Imperial German Army Reichswehr Luftwaffe
Years of service	1898–1919 1934–1943
Rank	Major General
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Iron Cross House Order of Hohenzollern
Relations	∞ 1922 Karin Funke ∞ 1930 Lieselotte Ebell

Johann "Hans" Heinrich Hasse (8 October 1878 – 20 November 1968) was a German officer of the Prussian Army, the Imperial German Army, the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht, finally Generalmajor of the Luftwaffe in WWII.

Life (chronology)

Die Kämpfe zur See im russisch-japanischen Kriege was translated by Leutnant Hasse in 1907 (Berlin, Verlag der Hofbuchhandlung Karl Siegismund, 1907) from the Russian original. The book's author, Nikolai "Niclas" Lawrentjewitsch Klado (1862–1919), was a admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy, naval historian and theorist as well as Professor at the Naval Academy. In 1910, he was also promoted to major general and retired 1916. After the October Revolution, Klado was named head of the Naval Academy from 1917 until his death in 1919. Klado authored well over 100 works on naval strategy and tactics, naval history and the history of naval warfare.

• 15 March 1897 Abitur at the Städtisches Gymnasium zu Liegnitz
• 1 April 1897 Entered the Army as a One-Year-Volunteer or Einjährig-Freiwilliger
  • served with the new 10. Württembergisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 180 in Tübingen (Kingdom of Württemberg)
• 13 November 1897 Transferred to the Infanterie-Regiment „von Courbière“ (2. Posensches) Nr. 19 in Görlitz as Officer Candidate, later Company-Officer
  • altogether nine months in Russia for language studies
  • 1903 Passed the Russian interpreter exam
  • 1 October 1904 to 30 September 1907 Adjutant and court officer
  • 1 October 1907 to 21 July 1910 Commanded to the War Academy in Berlin
• 1 April 1911 to 31 December 1918 General Staff Officer of the Army
  • 1 April 1911 Commanded to the Great General Staff or Großer Generalstab
    • 1911/12 Served in the Russia Department
    • 1913 Department III b, the military intelligence service of the Prussian/German army until the end of the war; He set up the counter-espionage sub-department and maintained a spy network. He also wrote the secret publication on counter-espionage. He served under Walther Nicolai, the head of German intelligence during World War I.
  • 22 March 1914 Transferred to the General Staff of the Army
• Signals-Officer in the General-Staff of an Army-Corps (02 Aug 1914-19 Jan 1915)
• Signals-Officer in the General-Staff of the Royal & Imperial Austro-Hungarian Army-Group Pflanzer-Baltin (20 Jan 1915-30 Jun 1916)
• Signals-Officer in the General-Staff of the Royal & Imperial Austro-Hungarian Army-Group (Heeresgruppe) Erzherzog Karl Franz Joseph (01 Jul 1916-19 Oct 1916)
• Signals-Officer in the General-Staff of the Royal & Imperial Austro-Hungarian Army-Front (Heeresfront) Erzherzog Karl Franz Joseph (20 Oct 1916-21 Nov 1916)
• Signals-Officer in the General-Staff of the Royal & Imperial Austro-Hungarian Army-Front (Heeresfront) Erzherzog Joseph (22 Nov/2 Dec 1916-19 Dec 1917)
• Member of the Armistice-Commission in St. Petersburg (20 Dec 1917-24 Apr 1918)
• With the General-Staff of Army-Group-Command Eichhorn then Kiev (25 Apr 1918-31 Mar 1919)
• 13 March 1919 Retired from active duty
• 1920 to 1925 Permanent volunteer (with Carl Oberg and others) of the Escherich Organisation (Organisation Escherich), an anti-Bolshevik Freikorps-like paramilitary organization
• July 1923 to 31 August 1925 Hugo Stinnes Aktiengesellschaft for Eastern Trade and Industrial Enterprises
  • took over the Turkish business of the AG
• 1925 Bought and managed a meadow estate in Murnau (Upper Bavaria), but kept his apartment in Berlin
• 1930 to 1932 Two years of spa treatment in Switzerland (Lugano, Ascona, Locarno) after severe sciatica
  • This is the official version, other sources suspect that he was active for the German secret service in Switzerland.
• 1932 to 1934 Lived with his family in Feldafing, later Söcking near Starnberg
• October 1934 Moved to Berlin

Luftwaffe

• 27 October 1934 Application for employment in the Luftwaffe with extensive application documents
• 28 February 1935 with effect from 12 December 1934 Aviation liaison officer with the Replacement Inspection Berlin (Luftkreiskommando II)/4.
• 1 February 1935 employed as an A-Bearbeiter and commanded to the Reichswehr Central Advertising Office Berlin (on probation)
  • Group-Leader Luftwaffe with the Military-Replacement-Inspection Berlin
  • as of 16 May 1935 Supplemental-Officer (Ergänzungsoffizier)
• Commander of Luftwaffe-Construction-Brigade III (10 Mar 1941-30 Nov 1942)
  • the Luftwaffen-Bau-Brigade III was formed for Operation Barbarossa and served on the Eastern Front. The members were recruited from labor service men (RAD) and from older, technically trained craftsmen as well as from prisoners of war and volunteers (Hiwis). The area of ​​responsibility of the Luftwaffe construction crews and Luftwaffe engineers extended to construction projects of all kinds, especially on airfields (runway construction). The units continued to be used to fight partisans and on threatened sections of the front.
  • fully activated as Generalmajor on 1 November 1941
• 30 November 1942 De-mobilized; retired from active service with the right to wear the uniform
• 1 December 1942 Placed to the Disposal of the Luftwaffe (z. V.) without being re-mobilised
• 21 May with effect from 31 May 1943 Retired

Memberships

• Technische Nothilfe (Technical Emergency Corps), Autumn 1919 to Spring 1926
• Reichsverband Deutscher Offiziere (Reich Association of German Officers), Starnberg
• League for the Protection of German Culture (Anti-Bolshevik League), Berlin

Family

Hans was the son of Royal Kreisgerichtsrat (district court councilor) Johann Heinrich Hasse (1833–1878) and his wife (∞ Görlitz 1 July 1873) Marie Friederike Dorothea Clara, née Storch (1852–1925), daughter of Reichsbank director Julius Cäsar Storch (1815–1882). His two brothers were reserve officers in WWI.

His oldest brother Heinrich was severely wounded at the front. He later would become government councilor (Regierungsrat) at the Higher Insurance Office in Berlin and died 1930. His other brother was Ernst Hasse (1875–1937), Reichsbank director, since 1933 member of the Reichsbank Directorate, since September 1933 Member of the Supervisory Board of the Golddiscontbank and since 1935 Member of the Supervisory Board of the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank.

Marriages

Karin

On 10 April 1922 in Berlin-Dahlem, Hasse married his fiancée Eva Karin Funke. They separated in June 1928 (she had a tender, but non-sexual love affair with the retired Major Konrad Weyert since February 1928), the childless marriage was divorced (o¦o) on 9 November 1928.

Lieselotte

On 16 April 1930 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Hasse married Wilhelmine Lieselotte Ebell (b. 9 August 1906 in Cologne), daughter of civil engineer Bernhard August Karl Ebell. They had one child.

Promotions

• 13.11.1897 Fahnenjunker (Officer Candidate)
• 27.1.1898 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
• 25.11.1898 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)
• 4.8.1909 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
• 1.9.1913 Hauptmann (Captain) without Patent (überzählig)
  • received Patent a short time later from 1.10.1913
• 22.3.1918 Major

Luftwaffe

• 12.12.1934 Major a. D. and civil servant of the Luftwaffe
• 16.5.1935 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel; Ergänzungsoffizier) with effect from 1.4.1935 and Rank Seniority (RDA) from 1.1.1935
• 31.7.1937 Oberst (Colonel; Ergänzungsoffizier) with effect from 1.8.1937
• 1.11.1941 Generalmajor (Major General)

Awards and decorations (excerpt)

• Prussian Order of the Crown (Kronenorden), 4th Class on 10 September 1913
• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  • EK II on 30 September 1914
  • EK I on 27 July 1915
• Austria-Hungary Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with the War Decoration (ÖM3K) on 3 November 1914
• Order of the Iron Crown (Austria), Knight 3rd Class with the War Decoration (ÖEK3K) in December 1915
• Military Merit Order (Bavaria), 4th Class with Swords (BMV4⚔) on 24 November 1916
• Order of Leopold (Austria), Knight's Cross with the War Decoration (ÖL3K) on 18 January 1917
• House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (HOH3⚔) on 4 June 1918
• Nothelferzeichen der Technischen Nothilfe (Emergency Aid Badge of the Technical Emergency Aid) in Gold
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords
• Austrian War Commemorative Medal (Österreichische Kriegserinnerungsmedaille) with Swords
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th Class
• Eastern Front Medal (presumed)

Sources

• Bundesarchiv BArch PERS 6/1339