Hans Speidel – Chef des Generalstabes 8. Armee & 20 July Plot

Postwar Signature of Hans Speidel. Hans Speidel (28 October 1897 – 28 November 1984) was a German general and diplomat, who was one of the major military leaders of West Germany during the early Cold War. The first full General in West Germany, he was a principal founder of the Bundeswehr and a major figure in German rearmament, integration into NATO and international negotiations on European and Western defence cooperation in the 1950s. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the NATO ground forces in Central Europe from 1957 to 1963 and then as President of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs from 1964.

Speidel joined the German Army in 1914, fought in the First World War, and stayed with the Army as a career soldier after the war. He served as chief of staff to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel during the Second World War and was promoted to lieutenant general in 1944. Speidel participated in the 20 July Plot to assassinate Hitler, and he was tasked with recruiting Rommel for the resistance. After the plot failed he was arrested by the Gestapo. At the end of the war, he escaped from Nazi prison and went into hiding. He was the only major member of the 20 July Plot to survive the war.

During the early Cold War, Speidel emerged as one of the major military leaders of West Germany, and played a key role in German rearmament, Western international negotiations on defence cooperation and West German integration into NATO. He is thus regarded as one of the founders of the Bundeswehr.