He joined the Prussian Army in March 1914 and was awarded the Iron Cross during his service in World War I.

At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 he was an Oberstleutnant.

He was promoted to Oberst (Colonel) in 1940 and served as a Brigade commander in the 3rd Panzer Division from 27 June 1941 to August 1941.

On 21 July 1944 he arrived at the country home of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin von Witzleben, having been ordered to arrest him following his involvement in the 20 July plot coup attempt.

[2][3] He surrendered his division to the British and was then taken into captivity and held in the prisoner-of-war camp at Ghedi, Italy where he made a posthumous award of a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross to a major in a Panzergrenadier Regiment without authority.