Juergen von Arnim

Arnim commanded the 52nd Infantry Division during Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939. On 1 December he received a promotion of Lieutenant General.

Arnim commanded the 17th Panzer Division in October 1940 which made up a section of the Army Group Centre for ‘Operation Barbarossa’ - the Nazi code name for Germany’s invasion of the USSR - which began in June 1941. The attack on the Soviet Union was successful in the first stage and senior commanders were rewarded by Hitler because of this, but Anim himself was seriously wounded.

Arnim was then promoted to General in October 1941 and a month later was put in charge of the XXXIX Panzer Corps.

Arnim was sent to North Africa in November 1942 to serve under Erwin Rommel. Rommel left for Europe and was subsequently banned by Adolf Hitler from returning to Tunisia. Thus in December 1942 Arnim was promoted to Colonel General and in March 1943 he was given command of the whole of Army Group Africa when Erwin Rommel returned to Europe.

This promotion was a poisoned chalice. Allied Forces were advancing rapidly in Africa and there was not much Arnim could do by way of stopping them. He handed over his forces on 12 May 1943 and was made a British Prisoner War. He was held in captivity at Camp Clinton in Mississippi until July 1947. He then returned to Germany, where he died 15 years later.

See also: Claude Auchinleck