German Colonel General. Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (13th of 27 awarded). He entered the army as a cadet in 1909 and served as a platoon leader in the first stages of World War I, He was severely wounded in France in September 1914, resulting in the amputation of his left arm. After recuperating, he returned to the war, first as a company commander and then as a staff officer, but was subject to an English gas attack in April 1918, which put him in the hospital until after the end of the war. He joined the Reichswehr and was promoted to Captain in 1925, where he served as an instructor at the infantry school in Dresden. He traveled to the US as part of his duties during this time. By 1933, he had risen to lieutenant colonel and was commander of Infantry Regiment 3. Returning to a training staff position, he wrote the book "The Infantryman" in 1935 and in 1939 was again given the command of Infantry Regiment 3 with a promotion to full colonel. His regiment took part in the battles of Poland and France. In 1940 he was given command of the 16th Infantry Division, with a promotion to major general. Half the division was split off into the 16th Panzer Division later that year, which he commanded in Operation Barbarossa. He was awarded the Knights Cross in 1941 for repelling a Soviet counterattack, and the Oak Leaves in early 1942 during the Battle of Kiev. The 16th was then assigned to take part in the attack on Stalingrad, and he was promoted to lieutenant general and given command of the XIV Panzer Corps in December 1942 and awarded the Swords to his Knight's Cross. Under protest, he was evacuated from Stalingrad in January 1943 and given the task of reforming XIV Panzer Corps, which was sent to defend Sicily. He was tenacious in that duty and was able to rescue a large majority of his troops from that island before it fell. In October 1943, he was given command of 1st Panzer Army under Army Group South. During March 1944, he was able to extract his command from encirclement near Tarnopol, which resulted in his promotion to colonel general (four star rank) and the award of the Diamonds to his Knight's Cross, one of only 27 so honored. Returning to his command, he was killed in the crash of his Heinkel 111 transport and was given a state funeral. He was mentioned in the Wehrmacht Report three times and was one of the most highly decorated German soldiers of the war.