Dr. Theodor von Hippel (born 19 January 1890, date of death unknown) was the German army and intelligence officer responsible for the formation and training of the Brandenburgers commando unit. As a Hauptmann (Captain), von Hippel had served under General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck during the First World War in the East African theatre, where Lettow-Vorbeck had conducted a brilliant guerrilla campaign against Allied colonial troops. At the same time in the Middle East, T. E. Lawrence was enjoying great success employing similar guerrilla style hit-and-run tactics against Germany's Turkish allies.