Willy Tensfeld

Willy Tensfeld (27 November 1893 – 2 September 1982) was a German SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of the Police. He served in several SS and Police Leader positions in occupied Ukraine and Italy during the Second World War.

Willy Tensfeld
Born	27 November 1893 Bornhöved, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	2 September 1982 (age 88) Hamburg, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire  Weimar Republic  Nazi Germany
Service / branch	Imperial German Navy Reichsmarine Schutzstaffel
Years of service	1909-1923 1931-1945
Rank	SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of Police
Commands	SS and Police Leader, "Charkov;" "Shitomir" (Acting); "Stalino-Donezgebeit;" "Oberitalien-West"
Battles / wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class German Cross in Gold War Merit Cross, 1st and 2nd class with Swords

Early life

Tensfeld was born in Bornhöved in the Segeberg district of Schleswig-Holstein. After school, Tensfeld joined the German Imperial Navy in 1909 and was deployed during the First World War with the U-Boat service. After the end of the war he remained in the Reichsmarine under the Weimar Republic until being discharged in 1923. He was then employed at the shipyard in Kiel until 1931.^[1] He joined the SS (SS number 14,724) on 1 September 1931 and the Nazi Party (membership number 753,405) in early December.^[2]

Peacetime SS career

Tensfeld first served with the 40th SS-Standarte based in Kiel, eventually becoming a battalion adjutant until August 1932. At that time, he was made Chief of Staff in SS-Abschnitt (District) XIV in Bremen until the end of November 1933. His next postings were as commander of the 17th SS-Standarte in Harburg-Wilhelmsburg (1 December 1933 to 16 March 1935) and the 19th SS-Standarte in Münster (16 March 1935 to 1 April 1936). From April 1936 to 1 January 1939 he was commander of SS-Abschitt IX headquartered in Nuremberg (Würzburg from January 1938). From 1 January 1939 to 1 June 1942 he was Chief of Staff in the SS-Oberabschnitt (Main District) "Northwest" (renamed "Nordsee" in April 1940) based in Altona, Hamburg.^[3]

Second World War

After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Tensfeld was appointed the first SS and Police Leader (SSPF) "Charkov" in the Ukraine from 4 August 1941 to 19 May 1943, also serving as the temporary SSPF in "Shitomir" from April to May 1943 when the incumbent, SS-Gruppenführer Otto Hellwig, was on leave. On 19 May 1943, Tensfeld was transferred to succeed SS-Brigadeführer Hans Döring in the post of SSPF "Stalino-Donezgebiet," serving there until 4 September 1943.^[4]

Tensfeld was next sent as an SSPF for special assignment under the Supreme SS and Police Leader in Italy, SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, where he became the German liaison officer to the fascist regime recently established as the Italian Social Republic. Then on 23 January 1944, he was named SSPF "Oberitalien-West" (Upper Italy-West) with his headquarters at Monza in Lombardy.^[5] Tensfeld commanded a 3,200-strong German-Italian force, including the 15th SS Police Regiment, that defeated a much larger force of about 6,000 partisans in the recently proclaimed Republic of Ossola between 12 and 17 October 1944.^[6] For his actions, Wolff recommended Tensfeld for the German Cross in Gold, which he was awarded on 15 February 1945.^[1]

Toward the end of the war, Tensfeld was captured by the British on 30 April 1945 in Monza, and was held as a prisoner of war at the Island Farm Special Camp XI in Bridgend. He was indicted by a British military tribunal in Padua for war crimes against Italian partisans and for the murder of an escaped British POW but was acquitted in April 1947.^[7] Released from custody later that year, he returned to Germany and died in Hamburg in 1982.^[8]

SS and Police ranks
Date	Rank
March 1932	SS-Sturmführer
October 1932	SS-Sturmhauptführer
January 1933	SS-Sturmbannführer
September 1933	SS-Obersturmbannführer
June 1934	SS-Standartenführer
September 1936	SS-Oberführer
January 1941	SS-Brigadeführer
June 1942	Generalmajor of Police

Awards

Below is a partial list of Tensfeld's awards:^[9]

• Iron Cross 1st class (September 1943) and 2nd class (March 1943)
• German Cross in gold (February 1945)
• War Merit Cross 1st and 2nd class with Swords

References

1. Yerger 1997, p. 63.
2. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. 2000, p. 15.
3. Yerger 1997, pp. 97, 132, 145, 178–179.
4. Yerger 1997, pp. 63, 67.
5. Yerger 1997, p. 72.
6. Scomazzon 2021, pp. 58–59.
7. Caroli 2022, p. 69.
8. Yerger 1997, p. 64.
9. Yerger 1997, pp. 63–64.

Sources

• Caroli, Paolo (2022). Transitional Justice in Italy and the Crimes of Fascism and Nazism. Routledge Research in Legal History. ISBN 978-1-000-59333-4.
• Schiffer Publishing Ltd., ed. (2000). SS Officers List: SS-Standartenführer to SS-Oberstgruppenführer (As of 30 January 1942). Schiffer Military History Publishing. ISBN 0-7643-1061-5.
• Scomazzon, Francesco (2021). The Alps and Resistance (1943-1945): Conflicts, Violence and Political Reflections. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-527-57486-1.
• Yerger, Mark C. (1997). Allgemeine-SS: The Commands, Units and Leaders of the General SS. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7643-0145-4.

External links

• Willy Tensfeld Profile at Special Camp XI
• Short biography of Willy Tensfeld (in Polish)
• Monza under the Nazi Occupation