Died April 1949
Germany Years of service 1914–45 Name Erich Bruckner | Service/branch Heer Rank Oberst | |
Allegiance German Empire (to 1918)
Weimar Republic (to 1933)
Nazi Germany (to 1945) Unit Panzertruppen (Wehrkreis X) | ||
Erich von Bruckner (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.
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Biography
Erich Wilhelm Ludwig Josef von Bruckner was born in Metz, Alsace-Lorraine, on 2 September 1896. Von Bruckner 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, Bruckner 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 Bruckner has been promoted to the rank of lieutenant (Leutnant) in June 1915. He held that rank until the end of hostilities. Von Bruckner fought in the battles of Munster in Alsace, before being wounded in the leg by a mine, in 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 Bruckner 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 Bruckner specialized in command of the armored troops, after several formations in Koblenz, Wunsdorf. On 25 January 1939, Bruckner commanded the 34th Anti-tank Division.
At the beginning of the war on September 1939, von Bruckner was sent to the front in Rhineland-Palatinate. Erich von Bruckner did not take part in the campaign against France. On 31 July 1940, he took the command of the 12th Panzerjager-Abteilung (anti-tank Battalion). Bruckner 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 Bruckner commanded an armored column of the 7th Panzer-Division. Von Bruckner commanded the 7th Schutzen-Regiment, before being sent to the command center of Bordeaux.
On August 1942, Bruckner 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-Schutzen-Regiment. On June, von Bruckner took command of the 966th Fortress Infantry Regiment until October 1943. Von Bruckner took command of the armored troops in the operational area X (Wehrkreis X). On September 1944, he was appointed commander of the 1st Jager-Regiments "Brandenburg". On 11 March 1945, after having fought at Kalisch, Colonel Erich von Bruckner 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 Bruckner had withdrawn from Fraustadt and Glogau, he had significantly contributed to stabilize the situation on the Oder. On 17 March 1945, Erich von Bruckner has been captured by the allies. He stayed a prisoner until 1948. Erich von Bruckner died on April 1949.