Adolf Heusinger Adolf Heusinger ( August 4 , 1897 – November 30 , 1982 ) was a German General . He briefly served as Chief of the General Staff of the Army during World War II and served as the first Inspector General of the Bundeswehr , the West German armed forces , from 1957 to 1961 . Heusinger served as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee from 1961 to 1964 . Biography . Early years . Heusinger was born in Holzminden , in the Duchy of Brunswick , German Empire . He entered the Imperial German Army on June 17 , 1915 , and was assigned to " 7 . Thüringisches Infanterie - Regiment Nr . 96 " , an infantry regiment raised in the Thuringia region of Germany ( including the Reuss principalities ) . He was promoted to Ensign ( " Fähnrich " ) on March 31 , 1916 , and was commissioned a lieutenant on July 4 , 1916 . He was wounded several times in combat at Verdun and in Flanders , and was taken prisoner by the British on July 31 , 1917 . During World War I , he was decorated with the Prussia n Iron Cross 2nd Class and Iron Cross 1st Class , Brunswick ' s War Merit Cross 2nd Class , the Reuss Silver Merit Medal with Swords , the Reuss Honor Cross 3rd Class with Swords and the Wound Badge in Black . After World War I , and upon being freed from British captivity , Heusinger returned to Germany and entered the " Reichswehr " , the small 100 , 000 - man army Germany was permitted to keep under the Treaty of Versailles . He served in a variety of infantry and staff assignments until October 1931 , when he was assigned to the operations staff of the Troop Office ( " Truppenamt " ) in the Reichswehr Ministry ( " Reichswehrministerium " ) . The Troop Office acted as the German Army ' s General Staff during the Weimar Republic era , as the Treaty of Versailles also forbade that institution . Promotions were slow in the small " Reichswehr " ; Heusinger was made a senior lieutenant ( " Oberleutnant " ) in April 1925 and a captain ( " Hauptmann " ) in October 1932 . Heusinger served in Berlin with the Troop Office until August 1934 , and then returned to troop assignments . He was made chief operations officer of the 11th Division in October 1935 , where he served until August 1937 . In the meantime he was promoted to major in March 1936 . With rise of the Nazis in Germany and Adolf Hitler ' s assumption of power , the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles were ended and the German General Staff officially reestablished . In August 1937 , Heusinger was assigned to the Operations Staff ( " Operationsabteilung " ) of the Army General Staff as a general staff officer . He would serve there , being promoted to lieutenant colonel in April 1939 , until October 15 , 1940 , when he became its chief . World War II . With the outbreak of the Second World War , the German Army High Command ( " Oberkommando des Heeres " , or OKH ) assumed its wartime organization . Heusinger accompanied the field staff and assisted in the planning of operations in Poland , Denmark , Norway , and France and the Low Countries . He was promoted to colonel on August 1 , 1940 and , as noted above , became chief of the " Operationsabteilung " in October 1940 , making him number three in the Army planning hierarchy , after the Chief of the General Staff , General Franz Halder , and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff / Chief Quartermaster ( " Oberquartiermeister I " ) , General Friedrich Paulus . After the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 , the OKH became primarily responsible for planning operations in that theater , while the Armed Forces High Command ( " Oberkommando der Wehrmacht " , or OKW ) was responsible for other theaters . Halder was replaced as Chief of the General Staff in September 1942 by General Kurt Zeitzler . Paulus left the OKH in December 1941 and was succeeded in January 1942 by General Günther Blumentritt , who held the " Oberquartiermeister I " position until September 1942 when it was abolished . Heusinger remained chief of the " Operationsabteilung " and was promoted to Generalmajor on January 1 , 1942 and Generalleutnant on January 1 , 1943 . In June 1944 , General Zeitzler became ill , and on June 10 , Heusinger temporarily assumed his office as Chief of the General Staff of the Army . In this capacity , he attended the meeting at Adolf Hitler ' s " Wolf ' s Lair " on July 20 , 1944 and was standing next to Hitler when the bomb planted by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg exploded . Heusinger was hospitalized for his injuries in the explosion , and was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo to determine his role , if any , in the July Plot . Although there was evidence that Heusinger had contact with many of the conspirators , there was insufficient evidence to directly connect him to the plot , and he was freed in October 1944 . However , he was placed into the " Führer - Reserve " and was not assigned to another position until March 25 , 1945 , when he was made chief of armed forces mapping matters ( " Chef Wehrmacht - Kartenwesen " ) . He was taken prisoner by the Western Allies in May 1945 . Post - World War II . A prisoner of war from 1945 to 1947 , Heusinger testified during the Nuremberg Trials . In 1950 , he became an advisor on military matters to Konrad Adenauer , the Chancellor of West Germany . He served in " Amt Blank " , the office headed by Theodor Blank which would become the West German Ministry of Defense in 1955 . With the establishment of the " Bundeswehr " in 1955 , Heusinger returned to military service . He became a " Generalleutnant " in the " Bundeswehr " and chairman of the Military Leadership Council ( " Militärischer Führungsrat " ) . In March 1957 , he succeeded Hans Speidel as chief of the " Bundeswehr ' s " all - armed forces department ( " Chef der Abteilung Gesamtstreitkräfte " ) . Shortly thereafter , in June 1957 , Heusinger was promoted to full general and named the first Inspector General of the Bundeswehr ( " Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr " ) , and served in that capacity until March 1961 . In April 1961 , he was appointed Chairman of the NATO Military Committee in Washington , D . C . , where he served until 1964 , when he retired . He was according to news reports , wanted by the Russians in the early 1960s in respect of organizing the Koriukivka massacre . Heusinger died in Cologne on November 30 , 1982 . Portrayal in the media . In the 2004 German production , " Stauffenberg " , Heusinger is portrayed by actor Ludwig Boettger .