Höpner, Erich (1886–1944)

German general, skilled in armoured warfare. Höpner was involved in a plot to arrest Hitler if he ordered an attack on Czechoslovakia 1938, but it came to nothing when the Munich Agreement allowed him to take the country without military force. Höpner was dismissed from his command of a Panzer group by Hitler and discharged from the Army in disgrace after he was forced to withdraw from an attack on Moscow by a Soviet counterattacks. He then became involved with anti-Nazi groups and was designated to become commander-in-chief of the Home Army after the July Plot 1944. The plot failed and, along with thousands of others, Höpner was arrested and executed 8 August 1944.