Hermann Balck Hermann Balck ( 7 December 1897 – 29 November 1982 ) was an officer of the German army who served in both World War I and World War II , rising to the rank of General der Panzertruppe . He was highly decorated , receiving the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves , Swords and Diamonds ( ) , an award created to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or outstanding military leadership . At the time of its presentation to Balck it was Germany ' s highest military decoration . His father , William Balck , was a " Generalleutnant " in the German army and prominent writer on tactics before and immediately after the First World War . He was a recipient of the Knight of the Order Pour le Mérite , which he was awarded while commanding an infantry division . Early life . Balck was born in Danzig - Langfuhr , present - day Wrzeszcz in Poland . He was the son of William Balck and his wife Mathilde . Balck was from a family with a long military tradition . Somewhat unusually , his great - grandfather served Britain under the Duke of Wellington in the King ' s German Legion , and his grandfather was an officer in the British Army ' s Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders . Balck ' s father , William Balck , was one of the German army ' s foremost tactical writers in the years prior to World War I , and as a division commander in that war won the Pour le Mérite , Germany ' s highest military order . He reached the rank of Lieutenant General . On 10 April 1913 Balck entered the Hanoverian Rifle Battalion 10 in Goslar as a cadet . From 12 February 1914 he attended the Hanovarian Military College , where he remained until called up with the outbreak of the First World War in August . First World War . Balck served as a mountain infantry officer , and his unit played a key role in the Schlieffen Plan , leading the crossing at Sedan . He ended up fighting on the western , eastern , Italian and Balkan fronts . He served three years as a company commander , and ending the war in command of a machine - gun company . At one point he led an extended patrol that operated independently behind Russian lines for several weeks . Over the course of the war he was wounded seven times and awarded the Iron Cross First Class . Balck was nominated for Germany ' s highest honor , the Pour le Mérite , in October 1918 , but the war ended before his citation completed processing . Interwar period . During the interwar period Balck was selected as one of the 4 , 000 officers to continue on in the military serving in the Reichswehr . He transferred to the 18th Cavalry Regiment in 1922 , and remained with that unit for 12 years . Balck twice turned down a post in the Truppenamt or General Staff , the normal path for advancing to high rank in the German army , preferring instead to remain a line officer . In 1938 he was transferred to Colonel Heinz Guderian ' s Inspectorate of Motorized Troops . Second World War . At the outbreak of World War II in 1939 , Balck was serving as a staff officer in the Inspectorate of Motorized Troops . His responsibilities lay in refitting and reorganizing the growing panzer forces . In October he was placed in command of one of the panzergrenadier regiments of the 1st Panzer Division ( Schützenregiment 1 or Motorized Infantry Regiment 1 ) . During the spring the troops underwent special training in river crossings and bridgehead formation . A common shout was made by the officers to the men " Joyriding in canoes is verboten ! " , admonishing them to take the training seriously . In May Balck served with distinction during the Battle of France . The 1st Panzer Division made up a part of Guderian ' s panzer corps . Balck ' s regiment spearheaded a crossing over the Meuse , and established a bridgehead on the far side . Guderian arrived shortly thereafter and came across in an assault boat . Waiting on the far bank was Balck , who cheerfully shouted out to the General : " Joyriding in canoes on the Meuse is forbidden ! " . During the winter of 1940 through the spring of 1941 he commanded Panzerregiment 3 , and led this unit during the Battle of Greece . He later commanded the 2nd Panzerbrigade of the same division . He returned to staff duties in the Inspectorate of Armoured Forces in the OKH in July 1941 . In May 1942 , Balck went to the Eastern Front in command of the 11th Panzer Division in Ukraine and southern Russia . He commanded this division in checking the Soviet breakthrough across the Dnieper following the encirclement of the 6th Army , and participated in the attempts to relieve that army at Stalingrad . Here his ability to make use of maneuver allowed his single panzer division defeat much larger forces in a series of battles . His by word was " Night marches save blood . " He was moved into officer reserve , but immediately thereafter was given command of the Heer ' s elite unit , Panzergrenadierdivision Grossdeutschland which he led in the defense against and the counterattack at Zhitomir in 1943 . After a brief spell in Italy he returned to command the XLVIII Panzer Corps in the eastern front in December 1943 , as well as the defense against the Soviet winter / spring offensive in western Ukraine in 1944 . In July 1944 Balck commanded the 48th Panzerkorps during the initial phase of the Soviet Lvov - Sandomierz Offensive . Balck was closely involved in the failed defense , and the unsuccessful attempt to relieve the encircled XIII Army Corps at Brody which was destroyed . In August 1944 he assumed command of the 4th Panzer Army . In September 1944 he was transferred from 4th Panzer Army in Poland to the Western front to command Army Group G in relief of General Blaskowitz in the Alsace region of France . Balck was unable to stop the Allied advance under General Patton , and in late December he was relieved of command of Army Group G and placed in the officer reserve pool . Army Group G returned to General Johannes Blaskowitz . By the intervention of General Guderian he was transferred to command the reconstituted 6th Army in Hungary , which also had operational control of two Hungarian armies . Balck kept his forces out of Soviet hands by surrendering to General Horace McBride of the U . S . XX Corps in Austria on 8 May 1945 . Postwar life . Balck was a POW and remained in captivity until 1947 . He declined to participate in the US Army Historical Division ' s study on the war . After the war Balck found employment as a depot worker . In 1948 he was arrested for murder for the execution of artillery commander Lieutenant - Colonel Johann Schottke . The incident in question occurred while Balck served as commander of Army Group G on the western front . On 28 November 1944 near Saarbrücken Schottke ' s unit had failed to provide its supportive artillery fire upon its target area . When searched for he was found drunk on duty . Balck held a summary judgement , and Schottke was executed by firing squad . The sentence and execution were conducted without the ordained military tribunal . Balck was found guilty and sentenced to three years . He served half of this sentence before being granted early release . In the late 1970s and 1980s Balck teamed with von Mellenthin to participate in a number of seminars and panel discussions with senior NATO leaders at the US Army War College in Carlisle , Pennsylvania . Career assessment . Balck was considered a gifted commander of armored troops , exemplified by his handling of 11th Panzer Division and XLVIII Panzer Corps during 1942 - 43 . Some of the battles Balck participated in are described in " Panzer Battles " , the memoir of Generalmajor Friedrich von Mellenthin , whom he met when Balck ' s 11th Panzer Division came under the command of the XLVIII Panzer Corps . At the time von Mellenthin was serving as Chief of Staff of the XLVIII Panzer Corps . Von Mellenthin was still serving as Chief of Staff when Balck became commander of XLVIII Panzer Corps , and shifted with him as his Ia when Balck took command of Army Group G . Balck started the war as an Oberstleutnant ( lieutenant - colonel ) in 1939 and ended it as a " General der Panzertruppe " ( lieutenant - general of armored troops ) . Balck was one of only twenty - seven officers in the Wehrmacht to receive the Kight ' s Cross with Oak Leaves , Swords , and Diamonds . His career during the war was marked by his marked capability in maneuver warfare , resulting in his rapid rise through the ranks . In this regard his career has similarities with that of Erwin Rommel and Hasso von Manteuffel . In reviewing Balck ' s command of the 11th Panzer Division during the Chir River crisis of December 1942 , U . S . General William DePuy estimated Balck to have been " perhaps the best division commander in the German Army . " His career was detailed in contrast to that of Alfred Jodl in " Weapons and Hope " by Freeman Dyson . Balck ' s own autobiography is entitled " Ordnung im Chaos : Erinnerungen , 1893 - 1948 " . Helden der Wehrmacht