General der Panzertruppe

General der Panzertruppe (English: General of the Panzer troops; sometimes wrongly Panzertruppen) was a General of arm/branch of service (General der Waffengattung) rank of the Heer of the German Wehrmacht since 1935. Until the end of WW2 in 1945, this particular general officer rank was on tree-star level (OF-8), equivalent to a US Lieutenant general. General der Panzertruppen is a position, not rank, in the Bundeswehr. It is given to the officer responsible for certain questions of troop training and equipment of the armored forces.

Left: Oswald Lutz, the first General der Panzertruppe, promoted on 1 November 1935; Right: Hasso Eccard von Manteuffel (center) with Oberst Willy Langkeit (right) and Oberst Horst Niemack

List

Officers with General der Panzertruppe as their last rank:

• Hermann Balck (1893–1982)
• Erich Brandenberger (1882–1955)
• Hermann Breith (1892–1964)
• Hans Cramer (1896–1968)
• Ludwig Crüwell (1892–1958)
• Karl Decker (1897–1945)
• Heinrich Eberbach (1895–1992)
• Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Edelsheim (1897–1994)
• Hans-Karl Freiherr von Esebeck (1892–1955)
• Gustav Fehn (1892–1945)
• Ernst Feßmann (1881–1962)
• Wolfgang Fischer (1888–1943)
• Walter Fries (1894–1982)
• Hans Freiherr von Funck (1891–1979)
• Leo Freiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg (1886–1974)
• Fritz-Hubert Gräser (1888–1960)
• Sigfrid Henrici (1889–1964)
• Traugott Herr (1890–1976)
• Alfred Ritter von Hubicki (1887–1971)
• 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)
• 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)
• Walther Nehring (1892–1983)
• Hans Röttiger (1896–1960)
• Dietrich von Saucken (1892–1980)
• Ferdinand Schaal (1889–1962)
• Gerhard Graf von Schwerin (1899–1980)
• Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin (1891–1963)
• Georg Stumme (1886–1942)
• Horst Stumpff (1897–1958)
• Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma (1891–1948)
• Gustav von Vaerst (1894–1975)
• Rudolf Veiel (1883–1956)
• Nikolaus von Vormann (1895–1959)
• Walther Wenck (1900–1982)

Former Generals of the Panzertruppe

The following former generals of the Panzer Troops rose to the position of Generaloberst:

• Heinz Guderian
• Heinrich von Vietinghoff
• Georg-Hans Reinhardt
• Rudolf Schmidt
• Hans-Jürgen von Arnim
• Josef Harpe
• Hans-Valentin Hube

The following former generals of the Panzer Troops rose to the position of Generalfeldmarschall:

• Erwin Rommel
• Friedrich Paulus
• Walter Model

General der Waffengattung (similar ranks)

Field Jacket of Heinrich Kurt Alfons Willy Eberbach

Reichswehr und Wehrmacht

Heer

• General der Infanterie
• General der Artillerie
• General der Kavallerie
• General der Pioniere (since 1938)
• General der Gebirgstruppe (since 1940)
• General der Nachrichtentruppe (since 1940)
• Generalstabsarzt

Luftwaffe

• General der Flieger
• General der Fallschirmtruppe
• General der Flakartillerie (first position, since 1 April rank)
• General der Luftnachrichtentruppe

Kriegsmarine

In the Kriegsmarine, the equivalent rank was Admiral.

Waffen-SS

In the Waffen-SS, the higher SS ranks were given the same ranks as general ranks in the Wehrmacht and the corresponding shoulder straps were worn. The SS-Obergruppenführer with the addition "and general of the Waffen-SS" was equivalent to the general of a branch of service. There was also the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Police.

See also

• Early history of the German Panzerwaffe

External links

• German Armed Forces World War II (Table of Officer Ranks)