Background
Poeppel was born in Schivelbein, Farther Pomerania (today Świdwin, Poland) and passed his Abitur at a Napola institution in Berlin in 1939.
Poeppel was born in Schivelbein, Farther Pomerania (today Świdwin, Poland) and passed his Abitur at a Napola institution in Berlin in 1939.
In 1947-1949, he studied at the Pedagogical Institute in Celle, including a semester at the University of Manchester.
He served as Inspekteur des Heeres (Inspector of the Army) 1979-1981. Wehrmacht
That year he passed his Abitur, Poeppel joined the Wehrmacht as an officer cadet and served in the Artillerieregiment 32 throughout the Second World War. Post-war
He started to work as a teacher in 1949 in Wriedel (Uelzen) and became an academic assistant at the Pedagogical University of Osnabrück in 1952.
Bundeswehr
After the organization of the Bundeswehr in 1955, Poeppel volunteered and was reinstated at his former rank of captain.
Poeppel passed his general staff training at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr in 1958-1961 and served on the Staff of the I. Korps in Münster. He became Staff Officer to the Generalinspekteure Friedrich Foertsch and Heinrich Trettner and commanded the Feldartilleriebataillon 31 in Lüneburg.
In 1967-1969, he worked at the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn. On 1 January 1970, Poeppel became the commander of Panzergrenadierbrigade 1 in Hildesheim until 31 March 1973 and until 31 March 1978 of the 6.
Panzergrenadierdivision in Neumünster.
There he was promoted to Generalmajor. On 1 April 1978 Poeppel returned to Bonn and became the Deputy Inspector of the Army and a year later Inspector (Inspekteur de sHeeres). Poeppel retired on 1 October 1981.