Hermann Philipp Detzner (16 October 1882 – 1 December 1970) was an officer in the German colonial security force (Schutztruppe) in Kamerun (Cameroon) and German New Guinea, as well as a surveyor, an engineer, an adventurer, and a writer.In early 1914, the German government sent Detzner to explore and chart the interior of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, the imperial protectorate on the island of New Guinea. When World War I broke out in Europe, he was well into the interior and without radio contact.