High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Walther Wenck (September 18, 1900 May 1, 1982) was the youngest general in the German Army during World War II. At the end of the war, he commanded the German Twelfth Army. Wenck ordered his army to surrender to forces of the United States in order to avoid capture by the Soviets. Before surrendering, Wenck was to play an important, if unsuccessful, part in the Battle of Berlin. He was known during the war as "The Boy General".