Erich von Brückner Erich von Brückner ( 1896 – 1949 ) was a German officer of the Brandenburgers during World War II . He was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross on 11 March 1945 . Biography . Erich Wilhelm Ludwig Josef von Brückner was born in Metz , Alsace - Lorraine , on 2 September 1896 . Von Brückner joined the German Army straight from school . He enlisted on 7 August 1914 in the 14th Infantry Regiment of Nuremberg . After a basic military training , Brückner has been trained to become an officer ( Fahnenjunker ) at the Doeberitz Academy . On 21 January 1915 , he was sent to the front with his company . Von Brückner has been promoted to the rank of lieutenant ( Leutnant ) on June 1915 . He held that rank until the end of hostilities . Von Brückner fought in the battles of Münster in Alsace , before being wounded in the leg by a mine , on August 1915 . On 19 October , he joined his company and fought at the battles on the Somme . Commissioned in the third battalion , he was again wounded in the jaw . Also in the same regiment , he took command of various companies from August 1918 to December 1918 . After the war , in May 1919 , he became Ordonnanz - Offizier in the 48th Infantry Regiment of the Reichswehr , then in the 46th regiment . Erich von Brückner was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1922 . Engaged in a motor company in Nuremberg , he was appointed captain the 13 September 1934 . He was appointed Chief of company in 1935 , in a regiment of anti - tank . Appointed commander in July 1937 , Von Brückner specialized in command of the armored troops , after several formations in Koblenz , Wünsdorf . On 25 January 1939 , Brückner commanded the 34th Anti - tank Division . At the beginning of the war on September 1939 , von Brückner was sent to the front in Rhineland - Palatinate . Erich von Brückner did not take part in the campaign against France . On 31 July 1940 , he took the command of the 12th Panzerjäger - Abteilung ( anti - tank Battalion ) . Brückner was theen sent soon after to the Eastern Front , with his battalion . He was promoted to the rank of Colonel on February 1942 . On July 1942 , Von Brückner commanded an armored column of the 7th Panzer - Division . Von Brückner commanded the 7th Schützen - Regiment , before being sent to the command center of Bordeaux . On August 1942 , Brückner assumed the command of the 126th Panzergrenadier - Regiment . He stayed in the 23rd Panzer Division until 1943 . On March 1943 , he was appointed commandant of the 963rd Afrika - Schützen - Regiment . On June , von Brückner took command of the 966th Fortress Infantry Regiment until October 1943 . Von Brückner took command of the armored troops in the operational area X ( " Wehrkreis X " ) . On September 1944 , he was appointed commander of the 1st Jäger - Regiments " Brandenburg " . On 11 March 1945 , after having fought at Kalisch , Colonel Erich von Brückner received the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross , as commander of the regiment . His regiment , however , retreated back to the west in the fighting of Kutno , Konin , Schrimm and Lissa . Although the fighting group of Colonel von Brückner had withdrawn from Fraustadt and Glogau , he had significantly contributed to stabilize the situation on the Oder . On 17 March 1945 , Erich von Brückner has been captured by the allies . He stayed a prisoner until 1948 . Erich von Bruckner died on April 1949 .