Dietrich von Saucken

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dietrich von Saucken (1892–1980) was a general in the German Army (Wehrmacht) during World War II.

Born May 16, 1892 in Fischhausen, East Prussia von Saucken joined the army in 1910 and achieved the rank of lieutenant in June of 1912. As a colonel he served in the pre-war Wehrmacht and was promoted to the rank of major general on January 1, 1942. Appointed to command the 4th Panzer Division at the end of 1941, he later served as commandant of the German School for Mobile Troops (Schule für Schnelle Truppen). In late June 1944, as deputy commander of the III Panzer Corps, he formed an ad hoc unit known as "Group von Saucken" from the remainders of several units that had been smashed in the Soviet assault on Army Group Centre. This grouping (later XXXIX Panzer Corps) attempted to defend the occupied city of Minsk and temporarily maintained an escape route across the Berezina River for retreating German soldiers in the face of overwhelmingly superior Soviet forces.

In the last months of the war, von Saucken led the Second Army in its defense of East and West Prussia, ordering the surrender of his army one day after the unconditional surrender of all German forces on May 8, 1945.

He was one of a very few German officers to receive the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, Swords, and Diamonds during the Second World War.

A cavalry officer who regularly wore both a sword an a monocle, von Saucken personified the aristocratic Prussian militarists who despised the braune Bande of Nazis. When he was ordered to take command of the 2nd Army on March 12 1945, he was told by Hitler that he must take his orders from Albert Förster, the Gauleiter (Nazi governor) of Danzig. Von Saucken replied "I have no intention of placing myself under the orders of a Gauleiter". In doing this he had bluntly contradicted Hitler and not addressed him as Mein Fuhrer. To the surprise of everyone who was present, Hitler capitulated and replied "All right Saucken, keep the command to yourself"¹.

[edit] References

"Berlin the Downfall 1945" by Antony Beevor ISBN 0-670-88695-5, page 120.
Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr. Crumbling Empire, the German Defeat in the East, 1944. Westport, Praeger: 2001. ISBN 0-275-96856-1