二次世界大戰資料庫 (WW2DB)

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseVon Zangen was a German aristocrat of Swedish descent. He was a veteran of WW1, receiving the honor of the Iron Cross and reached the rank of first lieutenant by the end of the war. By 1938, he was a colonel commanding the 88th Regiment.

ww2dbaseAs WW2 kicked into high gear, he was given command of the German 17th Division in 1941. He received the Knight's Cross on 15 Jan 1942, and was promoted to the rank of general. He commanded troops in Italy until 1944 as the commander of the lower Alps area, then he took over the German 15th Army in the Netherlands. In Netherlands, his troops saw defeat as they were driven out of Antwerp, but valiantly defended the Scheldt Estuary and prevented the Allies from using Antwerp as a port until three months after its capture.

Gustav-Adolf von Zangen Timeline