Werner von Fritsch
In 1941 Funck was given command of the 7th Panzer Division as the successor to Erwin Rommel. Originally he was to have commanded the Afrika Corps, but Hitler loathed von Funck, as he had been a personal staff officer of Werner von Fritsch until von Fritsch was dismissed in 1938. He held this command on the central and southern sections of the Eastern Front. On 15 July 1941 he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.