Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He joined the Imperial German Army as an officer cadet in 1907 and was commissioned as a leutnant in the 7th Pomeranian Infantry Regiment "von der Goltz" on 18 August 1908. He was awarded the Iron Cross first and second class in World War I, during which he was wounded and by the end of the war he had reached the rank of Hauptmann.
He was then retained in the Reichswehr in which he was promoted to Oberstleutnant in September 1933 and Oberst on 1 July 1935.
On 1 January 1938 he was given command of the 3rd Panzer Brigade and on 1 March 1939 he was promoted to Generalmajor and led the brigade during the invasion of Poland. On 7 October 1939 he was appointed commander of the 3rd Panzer Division and in November 1940 he was given command of the new 20th Panzer Division and promoted to Generalleutnant on 1 February 1941.
In April 1942 he was appointed as the military inspector of the recruiting area Königsberg. In July 1944 he became the Inspector General of the Panzer troops in the replacement army and he was promoted to General der Panzertruppe in this role on 9 November 1944.
He died in Hamburg aged 71.
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