Erich Hoepner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 14 September 1886 Frankfurt (Oder), Brandenburg, Prussia, German Empire |
| Died | 8 August 1944 (aged 57) Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, Nazi Germany |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Allegiance |
|
| Service | Army |
| Years of service | 1905–42 |
| Rank |  Generaloberst |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | World War I
|
| Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |
Erich Kurt Richard Hoepner (14 September 1886 – 8 August 1944) was a German general during World War II. An early proponent of mechanisation and armoured warfare, he was a Wehrmacht army corps commander at the beginning of the war, leading his troops during the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France.
Hoepner commanded the 4th Panzer Group on the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. During the invasion of Poland, he resisted mistreatment and murder of prisoners of war, but in Russia, Hoepner called for a war of extermination. Units under his authority closely cooperated with the Einsatzgruppen and he implemented the Commissar Order that directed Wehrmacht troops to summarily execute Red Army political commissars immediately upon capture. Hoepner's Panzer group, along with the 3rd Panzer Group, spearheaded the advance on Moscow in Operation Typhoon, the failed attempt to seize the Soviet capital.
Dismissed from the Wehrmacht after the failure of the 1941 campaign, Hoepner restored his pension rights through a lawsuit. He was implicated in the failed 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler and executed in 1944.