Georg Pfeiffer, General der Artillerie commanding VI Army Corps of Army Group Centre, is killed in action in Mogilev, eastern Belorussia, during Operation Bagration. Operation Bagration was the Soviet offensive which cleared German forces from the Belorussian SSR and eastern Poland in just two months between 22 June and 19 August and led to the almost total destruction of Army Group Centre.
It is uncertain how General Pfeiffer was killed. Varying sources report that his Geländewagen was hit by a Soviet anti-tank shell, that the vehicle was brought to a standstill by machine gun fire and then attacked with hand grenades or destroyed by a Soviet air strike. He was a highly decorated officer who received the first and second class Iron Cross in both the First and Second World Wars, was presented with the German Cross in Gold on 16 January 1942 and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 January 1943. He served during the invasion of Poland, the Battle of France, Operation Barbarossa, at Stalingrad and at Monte Cassino.
He had experienced war twice at its most brutal and horrifying and war finally caught up with him at the age of 54. A man who continues to fight to the end like Georg Pfeiffer must either thrive on combat or really believe in the cause. In his case it was probably both.
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