n 1504, Berlichingen and his company fought for Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria. During the siege of the city of Landshut, he lost his right arm when enemy cannon fire forced his sword against him. He had a mechanical prosthetic iron replacement made, which is today on display at the Jagsthausen Castle. This prosthetic hand was ahead of its time, being capable of holding objects from a sword to a feather pen. In spite of this injury, Berlichingen continued his military activities.

In act III of the 1773 drama by Goethe titled Götz von Berlichingen, the title character speaks the famous line "Er aber, sag's ihm, er kann mich im Arsche lecken!" in reply to the Bishop of Bamberg's demand for his surrender. This is the first recorded instance of a phrase now in common use as "Leck mich am Arsch" (literally "lick me on my arse", i. e. "kiss my arse") and euphemistically called the Götz quote. Mozart wrote two canons in 1782, Leck mich im Arsch and Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber.

Its power turbine was connected, without a torque converter, through a gear reduction unit to an otherwise ordinary TorqueFlite automatic transmission.