Army Personnel Office (Wehrmacht)

The Army Personnel Office (HPA; Heeres Personal Amt, Heerespersonalamt or Heeres Personalamt) was a German military agency formed in 1920 and charged with the personnel matters of all officers and cadets of the army of the Reichswehr and later the Wehrmacht. With increased recruitment of officers in 1935 and especially in the Second World War, it was given multiple new tasks. The growing demands led to numerous organisational changes.

In October 1942, Major General Rudolf Schmundt became the new head of the HPA. After his death from injuries received during the assassination attempt on Hitler's life of 20 July 1944, General Wilhelm Burgdorf took over the function.

The agency had several departments (Abteilung).

• Abteilung P 1: Planning human resources, personnel management of the officers
• Abteilung P 2: Disciplinary matters of the officers
• Abteilung P 3: Staffing of the General Staff officers; transferred to the central department of the General Staff of the Army in 1935
• Abteilung P 4: Personnel management of the officers of the special careers; was renamed P 3 on 1 April 1939
• Abteilung P 5: Orders and decorations (Orden und Ehrenzeichen) department

Chiefs of the Heerespersonalamt

No.	Portrait	Chief	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Braun, JohannGeneralleutnant Johann von Braun (1867–1938)	7 December 1918	1 April 1922	3 years, 115 days
2		Heye, WilhelmGeneralleutnant Wilhelm Heye (1869–1947)	1 April 1922	1 October 1923	1 year, 183 days
3		Reinicke, HermannGeneralmajor Hermann Reinicke (1870–1945)	1 October 1923	1 February 1927	3 years, 123 days
4		Stülpnagel, JoachimOberst Joachim von Stülpnagel (1880–1968)	1 February 1927	1 October 1929	2 years, 242 days
5		Hammerstein, GüntherOberst Günther von Hammerstein-Equord (1877–1965)	1 October 1929	1 November 1930	1 year, 31 days
6		Bussche, ErichGeneralleutnant Erich von dem Bussche-Ippenburg (1878–1957)	1 November 1930	1 October 1933	2 years, 334 days
7		Schwedler, ViktorOberst Viktor von Schwedler (1885–1954)	1 October 1933	4 February 1938	4 years, 126 days
8		Keitel, BodewinGeneralmajor Bodewin Keitel (1888–1953)	4 February 1938	1 October 1942	4 years, 239 days
9		Schmundt, RudolfGeneralmajor Rudolf Schmundt (1896–1944)	1 October 1942	1 October 1944 †	2 years, 0 days
10		Burgdorf, WilhelmGeneral der Infanterie Wilhelm Burgdorf (1895–1945)	12 October 1944	2 May 1945 †	202 days

See also

• Chief of the Luftwaffe Personnel Office (Luftwaffe equivalent)
• Chief of the Kriegsmarine Personnel Office (Navy equivalent)

References

Bibliography

• Stone, David (2009). Hitler's Army, 1939–1945: The Men, Machines and Organization. Minneapolis, MN: Zenith Press. ISBN 978-0-7603-3750-9.