Background
Erich Brandenberger was born on July 15, 1892 in Augsburg, Bayern, Germany.
Erich Brandenberger was born on July 15, 1892 in Augsburg, Bayern, Germany.
He was educated locally.
He became an officer candidate on 1 July 1911 and two years later was commissioned in the artillery. At the start of war in 1939 he was CofS, 23d Corps and had been a full colonel for three years. Promoted on 1 July 1940, Generalmajor Brandenberger took over the 8th Pz Div on 20 Feb 1941. For the invasion of Russia his division was in the 56th Panzer Corps of Hoeppner's 4lh Pz Gp in Leeb's AG North. Brandenberger spearheaded the drive through Soviet frontier defenses on 21 June 1941 and the next day seized the critically important highway viaduct at Airogola. A Generalleutnant from 1 Aug 1942, he commanded the 8th Panzers until 16 Jan 1943, with three absences totaling about six months. On 1 Aug 1943 he was promoted to Gen of Pz Troops to head the 17th Army Corps and then the 29th Army Corps. He was awarded the RK on 15 July 1941 and the Oakleaves on 12 Nov 1943 for continued actions in Russia.
After Montgomery broke out of the Normandy beachhead and exploited northward across the lower Seine, Brandenberger replaced Eberbach (captured) as 7th Army commander on 28 Aug 1944. He took part in delaying actions to the Siegfried line and held positions in the Eifel. During the Ardennes counteroffensive he attacked on the south flank and held the shoulder of the penetration until hit by the counterattack of Patton’s 3d Army. In Opn Lumberjack he was driven back on a broad front through the Eifel and across the Moselle River by Patton. Accused by Hitler of “defeatism” and relieved of command on about 5 Mar 1945, Brandenberger took over the 19th Army in the Black Forest on 25 March. There he had to cope with the brilliant strategy of de Lattre. After resolute delaying actions in the south of Germany the veteran German general surrendered forces in his sector to Devers at Innsbruck, Austria, on 5 May 1945. Brandenberger was a bespectacled, jowly man of unheroic appearance, but he was one of the war's most outstanding field commanders. He died at Bonn in June 1955.