Friedrich Hoßbach Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Hossbach ( 22 November 1894 – 10 September 1980 ) was a German staff officer who in 1937 was the military adjutant to the Fuehrer of the Third Reich , Adolf Hitler . He was also a recipient of the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves . The Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership . Early career . The son of a secondary - school teacher , he joined the Imperial German Army " ( Reichsheer ) " in 1913 as a " Fähnrich " ( Ensign ) and quickly rose to the rank of a Lieutenant . Hossbach served on the Eastern Front during World War I as adjutant of his infantry regiment . On 2 March 1918 he became staff member of the XVIII Corps , from September 2 as " Oberleutnant " ( First Lieutenant ) . His services were retained in the post - war " Reichswehr " of the Weimar Republic , where he was assigned to the General Staff in the rank of a " Hauptmann " ( Captain ) on 1 March 1927 . After the Nazi " Machtergreifung " he was promoted to a Major on 4 August 1934 , and appointed as Hitler ' s adjutant , though retaining his staff position , from 1935 within the " Wehrmacht " . The Hossbach Memorandum . His most important contribution to history is his creation of the Hossbach Memorandum . This was a report of a meeting held on November 5 , 1937 between Hitler and Feldmarschall von Blomberg , General von Fritsch , Admiral Dr . Raeder , Generaloberst Hermann Göring , Baron von Neurath and Hossbach . His account was found among the Nuremberg papers , where it was an important piece of evidence . In early 1938 , Hossbach was present when Hitler was presented by Goering with a file purporting to show that General von Fritsch , the Commander - in - Chief of the Army , was guilty of homosexual practices . In defiance of Hitler ' s orders , Hossbach took the file to von Fritsch to warn him of the accusations he was about to face . Fritsch gave his word as an officer that the charges were untrue , and Hossbach passed this message back to Hitler . This did not , as it might have , cost Hossbach his life , though he was dismissed from his post as Hitler ' s adjutant two days later . World War II . Hossbach rose to the rank of General of Infantry , commanding the 82nd Infantry Division , the LVI Panzer Corps , and latterly Fourth Army on the Russian front , until being dismissed on January 28 , 1945 for attempting to break out of East Prussia in defiance of Hitler ' s orders . War crimes . Hossbach was responsible for planning and executing the operation at Ozarichi to set up typhus camps in the path of the advancing Russian army so as to cause a typhus epidemic amongst the soldiers . The population was rounded up into camps with no shelter and patients suffering from typhus were deliberately brought into the camps . The Russian army managed to avoid an epidemic by deploying a recently developed typhus vaccine . The civilian deaths have been estimated at over 10 , 000 . At the end of the war , Hossbach was being treated for a minor illness in Göttingen when US troops approached the town . As a traditionalist conservative largely opposed to the Nazi regime , Hossbach had been warned by friends to expect a visit from the Gestapo – who arrived at his house an hour before the Americans . Hossbach , armed with his pistol , proceeded to engage the visitors in a firefight until they fled , and was taken into American custody . Awards . Three different commanding officers recommended Hoßbach for the Knight ' s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords during the course of 1944 , nevertheless the request was turned down each time .