1. Georg Otto Hermann Balck was a highly decorated officer of the German Army who served in both World War I and World War II, rising to the rank of General der Panzertruppe.
29 Facts About Hermann Balck
1. 2.
Hermann Balck was the son of William Balck and his wife Mathilde, nee Jensen.
3.
Hermann Balck's family had a long military tradition, and his father was a senior officer in the Imperial German Army.
4.
On 10 April 1913 Hermann Balck entered the Hanoverian Rifle Battalion 10 in Goslar as a cadet.
5.
Hermann Balck served as a mountain infantry officer, and his unit played a key role in the Schlieffen Plan, leading the crossing at Sedan.
6.
Hermann Balck fought on the western, eastern, Italian and Balkan fronts.
7.
Hermann Balck served three years as a company commander, ending the war in command of a machine-gun company.
8.
Hermann Balck was nominated for Prussia's highest honor, the Pour le Merite, in October 1918, but the war ended before his citation completed processing.
9.
Hermann Balck transferred to the 18th Cavalry Regiment in 1922, and remained with that unit for 12 years.
10.
Hermann Balck twice turned down a post in the German General Staff, the normal path for advancing to high rank in the German army, preferring instead to remain a line officer.
11.
At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Hermann Balck was serving in the Oberkommando des Heeres as a staff officer in the Inspectorate of Motorized Troops, which was in charge of refitting and reorganizing the growing panzer forces.
12.
Hermann Balck's regiment spearheaded a crossing over the Meuse, and established a bridgehead on the far side.
13.
Hermann Balck later commanded a panzer brigade in the same division.
14.
Hermann Balck returned to staff duties with the OKH in the Inspectorate of Armoured Forces in July 1941.
15.
In May 1942, Hermann Balck went to the Eastern Front in command of the 11th Panzer Division in Ukraine and southern Russia.
16.
Hermann Balck's division took part in the efforts to stop the Soviet advance.
17.
In July 1944 Hermann Balck commanded the Corps during the initial phase of the Soviet Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive.
18.
Hermann Balck was closely involved in the failed relief attempt of the encircled XIII Army Corps in the Brody pocket, where it was destroyed.
19.
In September 1944 Hermann Balck was transferred from 4th Panzer Army in Poland to the Western Front to command Army Group G in relief of General Johannes Blaskowitz in the Alsace region of France.
20.
Hermann Balck's unit surrendered to the US XX Corps in Austria on 8 May 1945.
21.
Hermann Balck was a POW and remained in captivity until 1947.
22.
Hermann Balck declined to participate in the US Army Historical Division's study on the war.
23.
The incident in question occurred while Hermann Balck served as commander of Army Group G on the western front.
24.
Hermann Balck held a summary judgment and Schottke was executed by firing squad, without a court-martial.
25.
Hermann Balck was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to three years in prison, of which he served 18 months.
26.
In 1950, Hermann Balck was sentenced by a French military court in Colmar to 20 years of hard labour for his role in the scorched earth Operation Waldfest, but was never extradited.
27.
Hermann Balck started the war as an Oberstleutnant in 1939 and ended it as a General der Panzertruppe.
28.
Hermann Balck was one of only twenty-seven officers in the Wehrmacht to receive the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds.
29.
Hermann Balck's career was detailed in contrast to that of Alfred Jodl in Weapons and Hope by Freeman Dyson.