Friedrich Heinrich Richard Hentsch  
(18.12.1870 - 13.02.1918)
place of birth:  Köln, Rheinpreußen  (Cologne, Rhenish Prussia)
Königreich Sachsen:  Chef der Nachrichtenabteilung;  Oberst


Oberstleutnant Richard Hentsch was a Royal Saxon military officer who served during the Great War as director of the Imperial Germany's military intelligence branch. Similar to Second Army commander Karl von Bülow, Hentsch tended to err on the gloomy side of matters. As Chief of General Staff Helmuth von Moltke's trusted emissary, Hentsch is best known for being sent to the Western Front in September 1914 to order a general retreat, as a 25-mile wide gap had formed between the First and Second Armies near the River Marne. First Army commander Alexander von Kluck blamed Hentsch for robbing him of a decisive victory, but the whole front had been lost largely because the Schlieffen Plan had not been implemented in accordance with the author's intentions.

Richard Hentsch  was awarded the Pour le Merite in 1917 for his efforts in orchestrating the military administration of occupied Romania. Following an extended illness throughout the war, he died in Bucharest in February 1918. 

 
 
Oberst ................................... 17.01.1916

Pour le Mérite .................... 23.09.1917

Militär-St-Heinrich .......... 00.
 
 
 

  
 
Curriculum Vitae
   
00.00.1888 Infanterie-Regiment „Großherzog Friedrich II. v. Baden“ (4. Königlich Sächsisches) Nr. 103 - Bautzen  (Avantageur)
22.01.1890 Sekonde-Lieutenant
00.00.0000 Preußische Kriegsakademie - Berlin
00.00.0000 Infanterie-Regiment „Großherzog Friedrich II. v. Baden“ (4. Königlich Sächsisches) Nr. 103 - Bautzen
21.04.1897 Premier-Lieutenant
00.00.1899 Großer Generalstab - Berlin  (detached for duty)
19.04.1901 Hauptmann
00.00.1902 Großer Generalstab - Berlin  (permanently assigned)
00.00.0000 Königlich Sächsischer Generalstab - Dresden  (Central Department)
00.00.0000 XII. (I. Königlich Sächsisches) Armeekorps - Dresden  (on general staff)
00.00.0000 Infanterie-Regiment „Großherzog Friedrich II. v. Baden“ (4. Königlich Sächsisches) Nr. 103 - Bautzen  (Coy Cdr)
00.00.1906 Großer Generalstab - Berlin
27.03.1909 Major
00.00.1912 XIX. (II. Königlich Sächsisches) Armeekorps - Leipzig  (Ia on  Maximilian von Laffert's general staff)
01.04.1914 Großer Generalstab - Berlin
20.04.1914 Oberstleutnant
   
Great War
   
03.08.1914 Großes Hauptquartier, Chef der Nachrichtenabteilung  (Chief of Intelligence Section at Great HQ)
00.12.1914 Balkan Front  (Special Service)
12.09.1915 Heeresgruppe Mackensen-Serbien  (August von Mackensen's Chief Quartermaster)
17.01.1916 Oberst
14.06.1916 Heeresgruppe Mackensen-Rumänien   (August von Mackens's Chief of Staff)
01.03.1917 General-Gouvernment - Bucharest  (Tülff von Tschepe und Weidenbach's Chief of General Staff)
   
   
 
 
 

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