General der Panzertruppe Georg Otto Hermann Balck

Georg Otto Hermann Balck was born on the 7th of December 1893 in Danziglangfuhr (A borough in the northern part of the city of Gdańsk)

According to several sources including Hermann himself the Balck family originate from a Finnish descendant who moved from Sweden to Finland in About the year 1120 (Verification??) Eventually conceiving Greger Balck and his two sons Bishop Bero (Björn) and Olof Balk (Direct bloodline) Andreas Balck (Fourth Great grandson of Greger Balk) later moved from Finland in the early 1500s to Mecklenburg-Schwerin as a student. After the Thirty Years War ended in 1648 the family was split into three branches; One branch remained in Mecklenburg but has since died out, the second branch settled around the lower Elbe River, That line supposedly still exists today in North America. The third german branch originated through the Mecklenburg branch but the member of that line who was a high official of the treasury (Oberfinanzrat) later moved to Hanover.

Hermann Balck's sources are from the archival records of Schwerin

His father William Balck was a Two-Star Lieutenant General with the highest World War I decoration for valor, notable as a rich contributor and author of several works regarding strategy and tactics, he was also a member of the Imperial Prussian General Staff.

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For personal references and testimonies;

Order in Chaos: The Memoirs of General of Panzer Troops Hermann Balck https://books.google.com/books?id=Ja2kCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA530&lpg=PA530&d...

1979 Interview https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a160703.pdf