Hans Freiherr von Funck

Hans Freiherr von Funck
Born	(1891-12-23)23 December 1891 Aachen, Rhine Province, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	Viersen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Years of service	1914–45
Rank	General der Panzertruppe
Commands held	7th Panzer Division XXXXVII. Panzerkorps
Battles/wars	World War I Spanish Civil War World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

General Hans Emil Richard Freiherr von Funck (23 December 1891 – 14 February 1979) was a highly decorated Panzer General in the German army during World War II.

Biography

Early life and the Great War

After attendance at the high school in Köslin, from Easter 1911 until the summer of 1914 he studied law at Greifswald and Freiburg. On 2 August 1914 he joined the 1st Brandenburg Dragoon Regiment as an officer cadet and on 18 June 1915 he was commissioned as a Leutnant. During World War I he was awarded the Iron Cross Class I and II.

Interwar period

He was retained in the Reichswehr after the war and in 1923 was promoted to Oberleutnant. From 1926 he worked in the Reichswehr Ministry in the Army Training Division (T4). On 1 July 1933 he was appointed as the Adjutant of the Chief of the army and the following year, Major on the General Staff. In 1936 he served in the Spanish Civil War as a leader of the German National Army in Spain. He was also the military attaché at headquarters of the National Government in Spain. At the beginning of 1939 he was appointed Military attache to the German Embassy in Lisbon.

Second World War

In 1939 he was promoted to Oberst. In 1940 he was appointed as the commander of the 3rd Panzer Brigade.

In 1941 he was promoted to Generalmajor and given command of the 7th Panzer Division as the successor to Erwin Rommel. 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 in recognition of his actions at Vilnius and Bialystok-Minsk-Wjasna. For his role in operations at the Don and Donets basins, on 14 March 1943 he was awarded the German Cross in Gold and on 1 February 1944 he was promoted to General der Panzertruppe and appointed as the commanding general of the XXXXVII Panzer Corps, initially on the eastern and later the western fronts. On 4 September 1944 he was moved into the reserve of the OKH. Following the war, Funck was held as prisoner by the Soviets from August 1945 until his release ten years later, in 1955.

Personal life

On 6 November 1915 Funck was married in Göttingen. His first marriage ended in divorce in 1939. In 1940 he married for a second time to Maria Freiin of Mirbach.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class (12 June 1915)
  • 1st Class (2 December 1917)
• Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg
• Wound Badge (1914)
  • in Black
  • in Silver
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 1934
• Spanish Medalla de la Campaña
• Military Medal (Spain)
• Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords
• Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (15 May 1940)
  • 1st Class (29 May 1940)
• Panzer Badge in Silver
• Eastern Front Medal
• German Cross in Gold on 14 March 1943 as Generalleutnant and commander of the 7. Panzer-Division
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 15 July 1941 as Generalmajor and commander of the 7. Panzer-Division
  • 278th Oak Leaves 22 August 1943 on 22 August 1943 as Generalleutnant and commander of 7. Panzer-Division