Schlieben joined the
Prussian Army in August 1914 and served during
World War I. He served as a regimental commander with the
1st Panzer Division during the
Battle of France in 1940. He then served as a brigade commander with the
4th Panzer Division on the
Eastern Front from June 1942. In February 1943, Schlieben briefly took command of the
208th Infantry Division, before being transferred to the
18th Panzer Division in April, again as division commander. Following the
Battle of Kursk, the division was disbanded, and in December 1943, he was given command of the
709th Static Infantry Division, based in Normandy, France. The unit was used for occupation duties in France. The division was on the Normandy coast when the
Allied invasion took place, and thus fought in the early days of the Battle of Normandy, quickly becoming trapped in the
Cotentin Peninsula. As U.S. forces sealed off the peninsula, the remnants of the division fell back on
Cherbourg. On 23 June 1944, Schlieben was appointed commandant of
Cherbourg, which the German high command had designated as a 'fortress'. Three days later, von Schlieben and over 800 other troops surrendered to Major General
Manton S. Eddy, the commander of the
U.S. 9th Infantry Division. He was held at
Trent Park before he was transferred to
Island Farm on 9 August 1945. He was released on 7 October 1947. Schlieben died on 18 June 1964 in
Gießen. == Sources ==