Career
From 10 November 1938 to 31 March 1941 he served with the OKW. With effect from 15 April 1943, he was transferred to the Reserve Army high command. On 21 May 1943 he joined the Army General Staff and then the OKW as a Colonel. On 4 May 1945 on the Timeloberg at Wendisch Evern he was a signatory to the unconditional surrender to the British of the German forces in the Netherlands, in north west Germany including all islands, and in Denmark and all naval ships in those areas, with Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, General Eberhard Kinzel, Rear Admiral Gerhard Wagner and Major Hans Jochen Friedel.
He was promoted to Major General in the last days of the war but the German Ministry of Defence later decided that the promotion was invalid as it could not be established whether it had been ratified before the end of the war.
After his release from captivity in 1947 he joined the Gehlen Organization which was the precursor to the Federal German Intelligence Service. In 1957 he returned to army service as a colonel.