Erich Hoepner
Encyclopedia
Erich Hoepner was a German
general
in World War II
. A successful panzer
leader, Hoepner was executed after the failed 20 July Plot in 1944.
Hoepner was born in Frankfurt an der Oder
, Brandenburg
. He joined the German Army as an officer cadet in 1905, was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1906 and served as a cavalry officer during World War I
, reaching the rank of Rittmeister
.
He remained in the Reichswehr
in the Weimar Republic
and reached the rank of General in 1936. Hoepner was an early advocate of armoured warfare
and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general and given command of the XVI Panzer
Corps in 1938.
Hoepner, often called "Der Alte Reiter" (the old cavalryman), led forces in the invasions of Poland
(1939) and France
(1940), receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
. He was promoted to the rank of colonel-general in 1941 and given command of the Fourth Panzer Group for the invasion of the Soviet Union
.
Hoepner pulled back his forces in the face of the massive Russian counteroffensive at Moscow
in January 1942 and was relieved of his command by Hitler, dismissed from the Wehrmacht
and stripped of his decorations and pension rights. He then launched a successful legal action against the government for the restoration of his pension.
While Hoepner was opposed to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
, he was also an early opponent of Adolf Hitler
's rise to power, and he participated in several conspiracies to overthrow Hitler. In the September, 1938, attempt, at the time of the Munich Conference, Hoepner's forces were assigned the task of suppressing the SS
following the planned capture and intended shooting of Hitler in the act of "resisting arrest"; the plot collapsed, due to the capitulation by Chamberlain (which completely undercut the basis for the coup), and Hoepner's role went undiscovered.
Hoepner played an active part in the earliest conspiracies against Hitler. Like other conservative resisters, Hoepner thought Hitler's strategic decisions would lead to the ruin of Germany, which was the motivation in the September 1938 plot, in which Hoepner was supposed to use his armored division to impose the surrendering of Hitler's personal guard, the SS Leibstandarte, and another in October–November 1939, after war had already begun - both involving the very top levels of the Abwehr
and the High Command, the Oberkommando des Heeres, or OKH
. Following the Fall of France, the fears that Hitler's expansionist policies would bring ruin upon Germany appeared to have been wrong, and Hoepner, like most opposition generals, even on the OKH, became less critical of Hitler. It was only after Operation Barbarossa
had stalled at the gates of Moscow
and his humiliating sacking by Hitler, that Hoepner became active again. During his command on the Eastern Front
Hoepner pursued a policy of scorched earth
, demanding "ruthless and complete destruction of the enemy" from his soldiers. As a commander of the Fourth Panzer Army, he wrote on May 2, 1941: The war against the Soviet Union is the old struggle of the Germans against the Slavs, the warding off of the Jewish Bolshevism. No mercy should be shown towards the carriers of the present Russian Bolshevist system
The commander of the Einsatzgruppe A, Dr Stehlecker spoke highly of Hoepner and described his relations with him as very close, yes, almost cordial. Hoepner also wrote that Operation Barbarossa represented the defense of European culture against Moscovite-Asiatic inundation, and the repulse of Jewish Bolshevism, adding that destruction of Russia must be conducted with unprecented severity.
On 5th December 1941, Hoepner refused to comply with Hitler's categorical 'Halt Order' and ordered a retreat of his forces as they were just before Moscow. In January 1942, he was dismissed from service with the loss of all pension rights. He subsequently instituted a lawsuit against the Reich over his pension rights and won.
Hoepner was a participant in the 20 July Plot in 1944 and was present at the Bendlerblock
(Headquarters of the Army) with General Friedrich Olbricht
, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim
and Lieutenant Werner von Haeften
. Following the failure of their coup attempt he had a private conversation with General Friedrich Fromm
and was not shot by firing squad with the others in the courtyard.
Having already been dismissed from the Wehrmacht in 1942, he was arrested that night and then tortured by the Gestapo
, given a summary trial by the Volksgerichtshof and sentenced to death. Like other defendants including Erwin von Witzleben
, Hoepner was made to wear ill fitting clothes as a humiliation in his trial. Although judge Roland Freisler
continued to brutally verbally attack Hoepner, even Freisler objected to Hoepner being made to dress in such a way. Hoepner was hanged
on 8 August, in Berlin's Plötzensee Prison
.
After the war a school in Berlin was named after him, but after his actions in occupied Soviet Union came to light, its name was changed.
, Hoepner is portrayed by actor Ronald Nitschke.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. A successful panzer
Panzer
A Panzer is a German language word that, when used as a noun, means "tank". When it is used as an adjective, it means either tank or "armoured" .- Etymology :...
leader, Hoepner was executed after the failed 20 July Plot in 1944.
Life
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
, Brandenburg
Province of Brandenburg
The Province of Brandenburg was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Suevi. They were succeeded by the Slavonians, whom Henry II conquered and converted to Christianity in...
. He joined the German Army as an officer cadet in 1905, was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1906 and served as a cavalry officer during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, reaching the rank of Rittmeister
Rittmeister
Rotamaster was the military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in charge of a squadron , the equivalent of O3 or Captain, in the German-speaking armies, Austro-Hungarian, Polish-Lithuanian, Russian and some other states.The exact name of this rank maintains a variety of spellings in different...
.
He remained in the Reichswehr
Reichswehr
The Reichswehr formed the military organisation of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when it was renamed the Wehrmacht ....
in the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
and reached the rank of General in 1936. Hoepner was an early advocate of armoured warfare
Armoured warfare
Armoured warfare or tank warfare is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of war....
and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general and given command of the XVI Panzer
Panzer
A Panzer is a German language word that, when used as a noun, means "tank". When it is used as an adjective, it means either tank or "armoured" .- Etymology :...
Corps in 1938.
Hoepner, often called "Der Alte Reiter" (the old cavalryman), led forces in the invasions of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
(1939) and France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
(1940), receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
. He was promoted to the rank of colonel-general in 1941 and given command of the Fourth Panzer Group for the invasion of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Battle of Moscow
The Battle of Moscow is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated Hitler's attack on Moscow, capital of...
in January 1942 and was relieved of his command by Hitler, dismissed from the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and stripped of his decorations and pension rights. He then launched a successful legal action against the government for the restoration of his pension.
While Hoepner was opposed to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, he was also an early opponent of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's rise to power, and he participated in several conspiracies to overthrow Hitler. In the September, 1938, attempt, at the time of the Munich Conference, Hoepner's forces were assigned the task of suppressing the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
following the planned capture and intended shooting of Hitler in the act of "resisting arrest"; the plot collapsed, due to the capitulation by Chamberlain (which completely undercut the basis for the coup), and Hoepner's role went undiscovered.
Hoepner played an active part in the earliest conspiracies against Hitler. Like other conservative resisters, Hoepner thought Hitler's strategic decisions would lead to the ruin of Germany, which was the motivation in the September 1938 plot, in which Hoepner was supposed to use his armored division to impose the surrendering of Hitler's personal guard, the SS Leibstandarte, and another in October–November 1939, after war had already begun - both involving the very top levels of the Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
and the High Command, the Oberkommando des Heeres, or OKH
Oberkommando des Heeres
The Oberkommando des Heeres was Nazi Germany's High Command of the Army from 1936 to 1945. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht commanded OKH only in theory...
. Following the Fall of France, the fears that Hitler's expansionist policies would bring ruin upon Germany appeared to have been wrong, and Hoepner, like most opposition generals, even on the OKH, became less critical of Hitler. It was only after Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
had stalled at the gates of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and his humiliating sacking by Hitler, that Hoepner became active again. During his command on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
Hoepner pursued a policy of scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
, demanding "ruthless and complete destruction of the enemy" from his soldiers. As a commander of the Fourth Panzer Army, he wrote on May 2, 1941: The war against the Soviet Union is the old struggle of the Germans against the Slavs, the warding off of the Jewish Bolshevism. No mercy should be shown towards the carriers of the present Russian Bolshevist system
The commander of the Einsatzgruppe A, Dr Stehlecker spoke highly of Hoepner and described his relations with him as very close, yes, almost cordial. Hoepner also wrote that Operation Barbarossa represented the defense of European culture against Moscovite-Asiatic inundation, and the repulse of Jewish Bolshevism, adding that destruction of Russia must be conducted with unprecented severity.
On 5th December 1941, Hoepner refused to comply with Hitler's categorical 'Halt Order' and ordered a retreat of his forces as they were just before Moscow. In January 1942, he was dismissed from service with the loss of all pension rights. He subsequently instituted a lawsuit against the Reich over his pension rights and won.
Hoepner was a participant in the 20 July Plot in 1944 and was present at the Bendlerblock
Bendlerblock
The Bendlerblock is a building in Berlin, located on the Stauffenbergstraße , south of the Tiergarten. The building was erected between 1911 and 1914 for the Imperial German Navy Offices. During the Weimar Republic it served as the seat of the Reichswehr command and the Ministry of Defence...
(Headquarters of the Army) with General Friedrich Olbricht
Friedrich Olbricht
General Friedrich Olbricht was a German general and one of the plotters involved in the attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia on 20 July 1944.-Early life:...
, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim
Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim
Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim was a German officer and a resistance fighter in Nazi Germany involved in the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler.-Biography:...
and Lieutenant Werner von Haeften
Werner von Haeften
- See also :* German Resistance* List of members of the July 20 plot...
. Following the failure of their coup attempt he had a private conversation with General Friedrich Fromm
Friedrich Fromm
Friedrich Fromm was a German army officer. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.-Early life:Fromm was born in Charlottenburg...
and was not shot by firing squad with the others in the courtyard.
Having already been dismissed from the Wehrmacht in 1942, he was arrested that night and then tortured by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, given a summary trial by the Volksgerichtshof and sentenced to death. Like other defendants including Erwin von Witzleben
Erwin von Witzleben
Job-Wilhelm Georg Erdmann Erwin von Witzleben was a German army officer and in the Second World War an Army commander and a conspirator in the July 20 Plot.-Early years:...
, Hoepner was made to wear ill fitting clothes as a humiliation in his trial. Although judge Roland Freisler
Roland Freisler
Roland Freisler was a prominent and notorious Nazi lawyer and judge. He was State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice and President of the People's Court , which was set up outside constitutional authority...
continued to brutally verbally attack Hoepner, even Freisler objected to Hoepner being made to dress in such a way. Hoepner was hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
on 8 August, in Berlin's Plötzensee Prison
Plötzensee Prison
Plötzensee Prison was a Prussian institution built in Berlin between 1869 and 1879 near the lake Plötzensee, but in the neighbouring borough of Charlottenburg, on Hüttigpfad off Saatwinkler Damm. During Adolf Hitler's time in power from 1933 to 1945, more than 2,500 people were executed at...
.
After the war a school in Berlin was named after him, but after his actions in occupied Soviet Union came to light, its name was changed.
Awards
- Iron CrossIron CrossThe Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
(1914)- 2nd Class
- 1st Class
- Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with SwordsHouse Order of HohenzollernThe House Order of Hohenzollern was an order of chivalry of the House of Hohenzollern. It was both a military and a civil award...
- Cross of HonorCross of HonorThe Cross of Honor, also known as the Honor Cross or, popularly, the Hindenburg Cross, was a commemorative medal inaugurated on July 13, 1934 by Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg for those soldiers of Imperial Germany who fought in World War I...
- Iron CrossIron CrossThe Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
(1939)- 2nd Class
- 1st Class
- Knight's Cross of the Iron CrossKnight's Cross of the Iron CrossThe Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
- Knight's Cross on 27 October 1939 as General der KavallerieGeneral of the Cavalry (Germany)General of the Cavalry or General der Kavallerie was a rank of general in the Imperial Army, Reichswehr or Wehrmacht - the second-highest regular rank below Generaloberst. Artillery officers of equivalent rank were called general of the artillery, and infantry officers of equivalent rank general...
and commander of XVI. Armee-Korps (mot)
- Knight's Cross on 27 October 1939 as General der Kavallerie
Portrayal in the media
In the 2004 German production, StauffenbergStauffenberg (Film)
Stauffenberg is a German-Austrian TV movie released in 2004 by Das Erste , about Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and the 20 July 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler....
, Hoepner is portrayed by actor Ronald Nitschke.
External links
- Biography at the German Historical Museum of Berlin
- Darf eine Schule diesen Namen tragen?
- Umstrittener Patron, article in Der TagesspiegelDer TagesspiegelDer Tagesspiegel is a classical liberal German daily newspaper...