German Field Marshal. Commander of the German occupation troops in Norway during the Second World War, he conceived the plans of invasion of Denmark and Norway. Born Nikolaus von Jastrzembski, descendant of an ancient aristocratic family of Polish origin, he changed his surname to "Falkenhorst" when he started his military career, by serving as an officer cadet in the 7th Grenadier Regiment in 1903. He married Elise Margarette Ulrich on October 8, 1908, and was appointed lieutenant in 1911. Falkenhorst took part in the World War I, serving on several fronts and was decorated with two Iron Crosses, the first and second class. At the end of the World War I, Nikolau von Falkenhorst was appointed colonel of the Ostseedivision, the German contingent sent in Finland. After serving in the Freikorps in 1919, he was transferred to the Reichswehr, where he served between 1925 and 1927 in the Operations Division of the War Department. Promoted to brigadier general on October 1, 1932, he was military attaché at the German embassies in Prague, Belgrade and Bucharest between 1933 and 1935. After serving as Chief of Staff of the Third Army in 1937, he commanded the Twenty-First Army Corps during the Polish campaign. On February 21, 1940, he received orders from Hitler to devise the plan of invasion of Denmark and Norway, and in just five days Falkenhorst has devised an operational plan. This plan was a huge military success and Denmark capitulated in three hours, the Norwegian army taken by surprise opposed a disorganized resistance. For his success, von Falkenhorst received the Knight's Cross on April 30, 1940. Successively, he was assigned to the command of the occupying German forces in Norway. In June 1941, he was commissioned to plan and conduct the Operation Silver Fox, the German attack on the Soviet port of Murmansk. The operation was a failure, with German troops blocked just fifty kilometers from their goal. On January 15, 1942, he ceded the command of the German troops deployed in Lapland to General Eduard Dietl, to return to take command of the German troops in Norway. On December 18, 1944, he was dismissed of his command for his opposition to orders of Josef Terboven, the commissioner of the Reich allocated in Norway. The General remained in the Scandinavian country, but had no other operational duties until the end of the war. He surrendered to the Allies together with his troops in May 1945, was arrested on August 2, 1946. Tried for war crimes by a Anglo-Norwegian military tribunal, he was found guilty of having implemented the orders of Hitler and sentenced to death by firing squad. Later, his sentence was commuted to twenty years in prison. Released from prison of Werl on July 23, 1953, because of his poor health, he lived in Holzminden until his death.