Through the winter of 1931−1932, Luck attended a nine-month course for officer cadets, led by then Captain Erwin Rommel, at the infantry school in Dresden.

[1] On 30 June 1934 Luck's unit took part in the Night of the Long Knives, arresting several Sturmabteilung (SA) members in Stettin.

In February 1941 Rommel was replaced by General Freiherr von Funk, and in June Luck moved with his division to East Prussia in preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union.

In his memoirs, he describes the stiffening Soviet resistance and problems the German forces faced relating to weather and road conditions.

After North Africa and leave in Berlin, Luck was assigned in August 1943 as an instructor at a panzer reconnaissance school in Paris.

During the night Luck was startled by the reports of paratroopers landing in his area, and establishing a bridgehead on the east side of the Orne River.

This order was later countermanded, this time from 7th Army, and only Luck's detachment was left to attack the paratroopers east of Orne.

[23] Added to this, more British paratroopers landed in the rear area of the regiment, causing some of Luck's forces to fall back.

On 12 June Kampfgruppe von Luck engaged in the fighting for the village of Sainte-Honorine, lying on a hill overlooking the invasion beaches.

[24] At the beginning of July, the area defended by Luck's Kampfgruppe came under the control of I SS Panzer Corps under the command of Obergruppenführer Sepp Dietrich.

If successful, the British hoped to follow this limited attack by pushing reconnaissance forces south towards Falaise.

[26][27][28] The offensive opened with a massive aerial bombardment, followed by artillery and naval gunfire, intended to suppress or destroy all defences in the path of the attack.

Informed of the air raids, he moved forward to determine the exact situation and soon realized that a major offensive was underway.

[30][31] The air raid had neutralized the remnants of the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division, which held the front line, as well as elements of the 21st Panzer Division (in particular, elements of the 22nd Panzer Battalion and the 1st battery of Assault Gun Battalion 200) leaving a hole in the German defensive line.

[37] Luck's account has been widely repeated,[35][38] although competing theories have also been suggested: The British 8 Corps history states that German anti-tank guns based in Soliers, which had escaped the aerial bombardment, were responsible.

[40] Daglish also wrote that Luck's account of the placement of the guns "is imprecise" and "expert analysis of aerial photographs of the area taken at midday ... reveals no trace of [the battery] nor of any towing vehicles or their distinctive tracks".

[41] Daglish argued that Luck embellished his role during post-war official British tours of the battlefield, with his version of events eventually coming into question (off the record).

[44] Napier wrote that Luck's account of threatening a Luftwaffe officer is plausible given that "88mm anti-aircraft crews did not expect to become embroiled in fighting as per III Flak Korps policy, and their direct involvement occasionally took some persuasion.

[44] According to Napier the 75mm Pak 40 anti-tank guns were incapable of the clean armour penetrations found on the Tigers at that range and the only other alternative unit that could have engaged the British tanks was Becker's 4th Battery located in Le Mensnil Frementel.

[44] Napier concluded that Luck "correctly attributed credit where it was due and his only sin is the assumption of a mantle previously worn by Rommel who stopped the British tank attack at Arras in 1940 by ordering the 88mm flak guns to engage the ground targets of the British tank forces.

On 17 August a British attack split the 21st Panzer Division, leaving half inside the now emerging Falaise Pocket, while Luck's command found itself on the outside.

[citation needed] On 9 September, Luck's command reached Strasbourg, where it was attached to General Hasso von Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army.

He spoke annually for the British Staff College during their summer tours of the Normandy battlefields, and subsequently was asked to speak at a number of other military seminars.

[53] He was a participant in the UK's Ministry of Defence Army Department film presentation on Operation Goodwood Lectures.

[53] He also formed a friendship with popular historian Stephen Ambrose, who encouraged him to write his memoirs, which was titled Panzer Commander.