Funck, Hans Emil Richard Freiherr von, born 23-12-1891 Aachen, 
the son of the government president Paul Johannes von Funck and Marie, born von Lützow, graduated from grammar school in Koszalin. From Easter 1911 to summer 1914 he studied law in Greifswald and Freiburg. On 06-11-1915 he married in Göttingen Irmgard von Kritter (* 19-12-1896) and from this marriage, the three children Hans-Joachim, Ingeborg and Burkhard in 1920, emerged. In 1939 his marriage was divorced. In 1940 he entered into his second marriage with Maria Freiin von Mirbach, from whom came the son Arndt. Hans joined the 1st Brandenburg Dragoon Regiment 
as an officer cadet, on 02-08-1914, with the outbreak of the first war. From 11-10-1914 he came with the regiment on the Western Front for use and was wounded there on Christmas Eve. After hospitalization 
and recovery took place in early February 1915, his transfer to the replacement squadron of his regiment and his local appointment as ensign on 23-02-1915. From 05-05-1915 he was back with the regiment at the front and was promoted to leutnant on 18-06-1915. Funck was from 11 March to 11-04-1916 in the 2nd Squadron, then was for a short time Ordonnanzoffizier the staff of Reserve Dragoons Regiment No. 2 and was used from 10-05-1916 as a Machine Gun platoon leader. From 16-12-1916, uses in Reserve Dragoon Regiment No. 12 followed, first as a food and supply officer, then as a court officer. Finally, he was appointed leader of the 1st squadron, then from 25-10-1917 as leader of the 2nd MG Squadron. Funck was transferred on 18-03-1918 to Tongeren to the 1st Company of the MG-Schützen-Kommando West. One month later he took over the 3rd Company of MG-Schützen-Abteilung 11, which he was to lead beyond the end of the war. On 06-11-1915 in Göttingen he married and during World War I he was awarded the Iron Cross Class I 
and II Class. He remained 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. On 01-07-1933 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 with Bahamond Franco
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 attached to the German Embassy in Lisbon. In 1939 he was promoted to Oberst and in the same year his marriage was dissolved. In 1940 he married for a second time to Maria Freiin of Mirbach. In 1940 he was appointed as the commander of the 3rd Panzer Brigade and 1941 promoted to Generalmajor and given command of the 7th Panzer Division, nicknamed “Gespenster Division” or “Ghost Division” 
as the successor to Generalfeldmarschall der Infanterie, Erwin Rommel
and held this command on the central and southern sections of the Eastern Front. The nickname “Ghostdivision” because of its speed and independent movement, which even the German High Command had difficulty following. After service in France, the division served mainly on the Eastern Front, ending its days in the defense of Germany and surrendering to the British army northwest of Berlin in 1945.
The 7th Division started the Russian campaign Operation Barbarossa” with 400 officers and 14,000 men. By January 1942, six months from the start of the offensive, the division had suffered 2,055 killed, 5,737 wounded, with 313 missing and another 1,089 sick with frostbite and louse-borne diseases. Total casualties were 9,203. In late winter, the division took up positions along a defensive line running Yukhnov-Gzhatsk-Zubtsov. On 15 March, it took part in fighting against a series of Soviet offensives as part of the Battles of Rzhev. By 4 April, the division was moved to Vyazma. By May 1942, the division was at a strength of 8,589 men and officers, most of whom had not been with the unit at the start of the campaign. As a result, the division was withdrawn to rest and refit in southern France.
and on 01-02-1944 he was promoted to General der Panzertruppe, and appointed as the commanding General of the XXXXVII Panzer Corps, 
former commander was Lieutenant General der Panzertruppe, Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz, 
known from the surrender of Bastogne, (see General Anthony McAuliffe) and ( Lieutenant Colonel of the 101st AB 
Harry William Osborn Kinnard )
initially on the Eastern and later the Western fronts. and his staff gathered inside Bastogne’s Heintz Barracks for Christmas dinner 25-12-1944. This military barracks served as the Division Main Command Post during the siege of Bastogne, Belgium during World War II. According to those present when McAuliffe received the German message, he read it, crumpled it into a ball, threw it in a wastepaper basket, and muttered, “Aw, nuts”. The officers in McAuliffe’s command post were trying to find suitable language for an official reply when Lieutenantt Colonel Harry Kinnard suggested that McAuliffe’s first response summed up the situation pretty well, and the others agreed. The official reply was typed and delivered by Colonel Joseph H “Bud” Harper 
, commanding of the 327th Glider Infantry, 
to the German delegation. It was as follows: To the German Commander. NUTS! The American Commander. The German Major appeared confused and asked Harper what the message meant. Harper said, “In plain English? Go to hell.” The choice of “Nuts!” rather than something earthier was typical for McAuliffe. Captain Vincent Vicari, 
his personal aide at the time, recalled that “General Mac was the only General I ever knew who did not use profane language. ‘Nuts’ was part of his normal vocabulary.”The artillery fire did not materialize, although several infantry and tank assaults were directed at the positions of the 327th Glider Infantry. In addition, the German Luftwaffe attacked the town, bombing it nightly. The 101st held off the Germans until the 4th Armored Division 
under command of Major General Hugh Joseph Gaffey, 
arrived on December 26 to provide reinforcement. Colonel Joseph H “Bud” Harper survived the war and died 08-08-1990, aged 89.
(see Adolf Hitler) (did you know). From August 1945 until 09-10-1955 Funck was a prisoner of war in the USSR.Death and burial ground of Funck, Hans Emil Richard Freiherr von.
Funck here with Oberstleutnant Otto Heinrich Bleicken. who died age 83 on 31-01-1993 in Hamburg.
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