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Generalleutnant Hans Hube was born on 29 October 1890 in Naumberg and enrolled as an officer cadet in the 26th Infantry Regiment in 1910 and was a platoon commander at the outbreak of the First World War. Soon promoted to Battalion Adjutant he was seriously wounded at Fontenay where he lost his left arm. He was soon back on duty and served between a variety of frontline and staff postings for the remainder of the war. During the interwar years, his determination saw that he eventually rose to Oberstleutnant and command of the Infantry School at Döberitz where he wrote a two-volume work on infantry tactics. During the French campaign (Second World War) he was promoted to Generalmajor in command of the 16th Infantry Division, which was converted to a Panzer Division and took part in Operation Barbarossa as part of Panzergruppe Kleist. Hube was awarded the Knight's Cross for his division's performance, to which was added the Oakleaves for his part in helping to smash two Soviet armies around Kiev. Hube, who had commanded XIV Panzer Corps during the campaign, was flown out of the Stalingrad pocket and given command of the newly reforming XIV Panzer Corps which was then sent to Sicily and promoted to General der Panzertruppen. He made the Allies pay dearly for their advance across the island and successfully withdrew his forces across the straits into Italy. He was again transferred east to command 1st Panzer Army and successfully broke out westwards after it had been surrounded by Koniev's 2nd Ukrainian Front, to link up with 4th Panzer Army. He was promoted to Generaloberst and personally awarded the Diamonds by Hitler on 20 April 1944 at the Obersalzberg. He was badly injured the next day when his aircraft crashed on the way back to Berlin and he died soon after.
Hitler's Panzer Armies on the Eastern Front, Robert Kirchubel. A 'unit history' written on the largest scale, tracing the campaigns fought by the four Panzer Armies on the Eastern Front, from their roles in the early German victories, to their eventual defeat and destruction in the ruins of the Reich. A very useful contribution to the literature on the Eastern Front. [read full review]
