General der Panzertruppe

File:WMacht Gen-Art Inf PzTruppe.png 90px

General der Panzertruppe (Literally: General of the Armoured Corps) was a rank of German Army General introduced by the Wehrmacht in 1935. A General der Panzertruppe was a full General, above Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant), commanding a Panzer corps.

The rank was equivalent to the long established General der Kavallerie, General der Artillerie and General der Infanterie. The Wehrmacht also introduced General der Gebirgstruppe (mountain troops), General der Pioniere (engineers), General der Fallschirmtruppe (parachute troops), General der Flieger (aviators), General der Nachrichtentruppe (communications troops) and General der Luftnachrichtentruppe (air communications troops).

Bundeswehr

In the modern German Army of the Bundeswehr, there is a General der Panzertruppen, which is not a rank but a position, who is usually a brigadier general (Brigadegeneral). The General der Panzertruppen commands the Armoured Corps Training Centre.

List

The following officers were General der Panzertruppe:

Hans-Jürgen von Arnim (1889–1962) (Promoted Generaloberst 4/12/1942) Hermann Balck (1893–1982) Erich Brandenberger (1882–1955) Hermann Breith (1892–1964) Hans Cramer (1896–1968) Ludwig Crüwell (1892–1958) Karl Decker (1897–1945) (committed suicide) Heinrich Eberbach (1895–1992) Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Edelsheim (1897–1994) Hans-Karl Freiherr von Esebeck (1892–1955) Gustav Fehn (1892–1945) (executed by partisans) Ernst Feßmann (1881–1962) Wolfgang Fischer (1888–1943) Walter Fries (1894–1982) Hans Freiherr von Funck (1891–1979) Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg (1886–1974) Fritz-Hubert Graeser (1888–1960) Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (1888–1954) (Promoted Generaloberst 1941) Josef Harpe (1887–1968) (Promoted Generaloberst 20/5/1944) Sigfrid Henrici (1889–1964) Traugott Herr (1890–1976) Alfred Ritter von Hubicki (1887–1971) Hans-Valentin Hube (1890-1944) (Promoted Generaloberst 20/4/1944, killed in plane crash 21/04/1944) Georg Jauer (1896–1971) Werner Kempf (1886–1964) Mortimer von Kessel (1893–1981) Friedrich Kirchner (1885–1960) Ulrich Kleemann (1892–1963) Otto von Knobelsdorff (1886–1966)

Walter Krüger (1892–1973) Friedrich Kühn (1889–1944) (killed in bombing raid) Adolf-Friedrich Kuntzen (1889–1964) Willibald Freiherr von Langermann und Erlencamp (1890–1942) Joachim Lemelsen (1888–1954) Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz (1896–1969) Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz (1895–1975) Oswald Lutz (1876–1944) Hasso von Manteuffel (1897–1978) Karl Mauss (1898–1959) Walter Model (1891–1945) (Promoted Generaloberst 28/2/1942, Generalfeldmarschall 1/3/1944) Walther Nehring (1892–1983) Friedrich Paulus (1890–1957) (Promoted Generaloberst, Generalfeldmarschall 30/1/1943) Georg-Hans Reinhardt (1887-1963) (Promoted Generaloberst 1/1/1942) Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) (Promoted Generaloberst 24/1/1942, Generalfeldmarschall 2/6/1942, committed suicide 14/10/1944) Hans Röttiger (1896–1960) Dietrich von Saucken (1892–1980) Ferdinand Schaal (1889–1962) Rudolf Schmidt (1886–1957) (Promoted Generaloberst 1/1/1942) Gerhard von Schwerin (1899–1980) Frido von Senger und Etterlin (1891–1963) Georg Stumme (1886–1942) Horst Stumpff (1887–1958) Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma (1891–1948) Gustav von Vaerst (1894–1975) Rudolf Veiel (1883–1956) Heinrich von Vietinghoff (1887–1952) (Promoted Generaloberst 1/9/1943) Nikolaus von Vormann (1895–1959) Walther Wenck (1900–1982)

Gallery

General der Panzertruppe Hasso von Manteuffel in 1944

General der Panzertruppe Erich Brandenberger (left) with Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein in 1941)

General der Panzertruppe Ludwig Crüwell (left) in North Africa in 1942

See also

• General (Germany)
• Comparative officer ranks of World War II

Literature

• Reinhard Stumpf: Die Wehrmacht-Elite. Rang- und Herkunftsstruktur der deutschen Generale und Admirale 1933–1945. Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein, 1982. ISBN 3-7646-1815-9.