Image by Tama66 on Pixabay · Pixabay License
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1886-09-14 ) 14 September 1886, Frankfurt (Oder) , Brandenburg , Prussia , German Empire
- Died
- 8 August 1944 (1944-08-08) (aged 57), Plötzensee Prison , Berlin , Nazi Germany
- Cause of death
- Execution by hanging
- Allegiance
- German Empire Weimar Republic Nazi Germany
- Branch
- German Army
- Service years
- 1905–1942
- Rank
- Generaloberst
- Commands
- 1st Light Division XVI Army Corps 4th Panzer Group
- Awards
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Erich
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- German Reich
- Place of birth
- Frankfurt (Oder)
- Place of death
- Plötzensee Prison
- Occupation
- soldier
- Languages spoken
- German
- Award
- Friedrich Order
- Conflict
- World War II
- Military branch
- Imperial German Army
- Military rank
- Generaloberst
- Image
- Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1971-068-10, Erich Hoepner.jpg
- Convicted of
- treason
Show 10 more facts
- Commons category
- Erich Hoepner
- date of birth
- 1886-09-14
- date of death
- 1944-08-08
- cause of death
- hanging to death
- commander of (DEPRECATED)
- 4th Panzer Army
- manner of death
- capital punishment
- allegiance
- Nazi Germany
- start of work period
- 1905-00-00
- end of work period
- 1942-00-00
- archives at
- German Federal Archives
via Wikidata · CC0
~23 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Erich Kurt Richard Hoepner (14 September 1886 – 8 August 1944) was a German general during World War II. An early proponent of mechanisation and armoured warfare, he was a Wehrmacht Heer army corps commander at the beginning of the war, leading his troops during the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France.
Hoepner commanded the 4th Panzer Group on the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. During the invasion of Poland, he resisted mistreatment and murder of prisoners of war, but in Russia, Hoepner called for a war of extermination. Units under his authority closely cooperated with the Einsatzgruppen and he implemented the Commissar Order that directed Wehrmacht troops to summarily execute Red Army political commissars immediately upon capture. Hoepner's Panzer group, along with the 3rd Panzer Group, spearheaded the advance on Moscow in Operation Typhoon, the failed attempt to seize the Soviet capital.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Erich Hoepner” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.