Hans von Seeckt

Johannes "Hans" Friedrich Leopold von Seeckt (22 April 1866 – 27 December 1936) was a German military officer who served as Chief of Staff to August von Mackensen and was a central figure in planning the victories Mackensen achieved for Germany in the east during the First World War.

During the years of the Weimar Republic he was chief of staff for the ''Reichswehr'' from 1919 to 1920 and commander in chief of the German Army from 1920 until he resigned in October 1926. During this period he engaged in the reorganization of the army and laid the foundation for the doctrine, tactics, organization, and training of the German army. By the time Seeckt left the German Army in 1926 the ''Reichswehr'' had a clear, standardized operational doctrine, as well as a precise theory on the future methods of combat which greatly influenced the military campaigns fought by the ''Wehrmacht'' during the first half of the Second World War. While Seeckt undertook multiple programs to get around the military limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles which formally ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers after World War I, he has been criticized for failing to expand the reserves of officers and trained men available to the army, the main obstacle to rearmament during the Republic.

Seeckt served as a member of parliament from 1930 to 1932. From 1933 to 1935 he was repeatedly in China as a military consultant to Chiang Kai-shek in his war against the Chinese Communists and was directly responsible for devising the encirclement campaigns, that resulted in a string of victories against the Chinese Red Army and forced Mao Zedong into a 9,000 km retreat, also known as the Long March.

A large military barracks in Celle was built in 1935 and named after von Seeckt. After the Second World War it was renamed Trenchard Barracks by BAOR as part of the Bergen-Hohne Garrison. Provided by Wikipedia