Dietrich von Saucken

Dietrich von Saucken
Dietrich von Saucken
Born	16 May 1892(1892-05-16) Fischhausen, East Prussia
Died	27 September 1980(1980-09-27) (aged 88) Pullach
Buried at	Waldfriedhof Solln, grave Nr. 17-1-125
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Years of service	1910 – 1945
Rank	General der Panzertruppe
Commands held	4th Panzer Division Second Army
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	House Order of Hohenzollern Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit dem Eichenlaub mit Schwertern und Brillanten

Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Kasimir Dietrich von Saucken (16 May 1892 – 27 September 1980) was a general in the German army, the Wehrmacht Heer, during World War II. He was the last of just 27 men to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten; Germany awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade, that with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, during World War II to recognise extreme bravery or successful leadership on the battlefield).

Biography

Born in Fischhausen, East Prussia, Saucken joined the German Army as a Fahnenjunker (ensign) in 1910 and was commissioned a second lieutenant on June 19, 1912. After the First World War, he served as a colonel in the pre-war Wehrmacht and was promoted to 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 on the Eastern Front, Saucken formed an ad hoc unit known as "Group von Saucken" from the remnants of several units that had been smashed in the Soviet assault on Army Group Centre. This grouping (later designated the 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.

Tsentral-prison in Oryol

In the last months of the war, Saucken led the Second Army in its defence 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. After surrendering on the Hel Peninsula, Saucken went into Soviet captivity. Initially he was imprisoned in the Lubyanka Building before he was transferred to the Tsentral-prison in Oryol. His captors sentenced him to 25 years' hard labour, later commuted to 30 months.^{[citation needed]}

Saucken was the last German officer to receive the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, Swords, and Diamonds during the Second World War. His oldest son, Leutnant Hans-Erich von Saucken (born on May 29, 1924), was killed in action on May 30, 1944, in Romania. Saucken was released from Soviet captivity in 1955. He died near Munich, Germany, in 1980.

Character traits

A cavalry officer who regularly wore both a sword and a monocle, Saucken personified the archetypal aristocratic Prussian conservative who despised the braune Bande ("brown mob") of Nazis. When he was ordered to take command of the Second Army on March 12, 1945, he came to Hitler's headquarters with

his left hand resting casually on his cavalry sabre, his monocle in his eye, . . . [and then] saluted and gave a slight bow. This was three 'outrages' at once. He had not given the Nazi salute with raised arm and the words 'Heil Hitler', as had been regulation since 20 July 1944, he had not surrendered his weapon on entering....and had kept his monocle in his eye when saluting Hitler.

When Hitler told him that he must take his orders from Albert Forster, the Gauleiter (Nazi governor, or "District Leader") of Danzig, Saucken

returned Hitler's gaze....and striking the marble slab of the map table with the flat of his hand, he replied 'I have no intention, Herr Hitler, of placing myself under the orders of a Gauleiter'. In doing this he had bluntly contradicted Hitler and not addressed him as Mein Führer.

To the surprise of everyone who was present, Hitler capitulated and replied "All right, Saucken, keep the command yourself." Hitler dismissed the General without shaking his hand and Saucken left the room with only the merest hint of a bow.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class (19 October 1914)
  • 1st Class (23 May 1916)
• House Order of Hohenzollern
• Austrian Military Merit Cross (3rd Class)
• Bavarian Military Merit Cross (3rd Class)
• Panzer Badge in Silver (3rd Class)
• War Merit Cross with Swords
• Wound Badge in Gold (1914 and 1939)
• Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (13 September 1939)
  • 1st Class (3 October 1939)
• Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds
  • Knight's Cross on 6 January 1942 as Generalmajor and leader of the 4. Panzer-Division
  • 281st Oak Leaves on 22 August 1943 as Generalleutnant and commander of the 4. Panzer-Division
  • 46th Swords on 31 January 1944 as Generalleutnant and commander of the 4. Panzer-Division
  • 27th Diamonds on 8 May 1945 as General der Panzertruppe and commander in chief of AOK Ostpreußen
• Mentioned three times in the Wehrmachtbericht (3 December 1943; 5 July 1944; 9 May 1945)

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Beevor, Antony (2002). Berlin the Downfall 1945. London ; New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-88695-5.
• Berger, Florian (1999). Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern. Die höchstdekorierten Soldaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Selbstverlag Florian Berger. ISBN 3-9501307-0-5.
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
• Fraschka, Günther (1994). Knights of the Reich. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Military/Aviation History. ISBN 0-88740-580-0.
• Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr (2001). Crumbling Empire, the German Defeat in the East, 1944. Westport, Praeger. ISBN 0-275-96856-1.
• Schaulen, Fritjof (2005). Eichenlaubträger 1940 - 1945 Zeitgeschichte in Farbe III Radusch - Zwernemann (in German). Selent, Germany: Pour le Mérite. ISBN 3-932381-22-X.
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Ritterkreuzträger 1939 - 1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
• Williamson, Gordon (2006). Knight's Cross with Diamonds Recipients 1941-45. Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-84176-644-5.
• Helden der Wehrmacht - Unsterbliche deutsche Soldaten (in German). München, Germany: FZ-Verlag GmbH, 2004. ISBN 3-924309-53-1.

External links

• Dietrich von Saucken in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• "Dietrich von Saucken". Ritterkreuzträger 1939–45. http://www.ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de/Infanterie/S/Saucken-Dietrich-von.htm. Retrieved 16 November 2010. 
• "Dietrich von Saucken". Lexikon der Wehrmacht. http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/SauckenDv.htm. Retrieved 16 November 2010. 
• "Dietrich von Saucken". Geocities. Archived from the original on 2009-10-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20091029025910/http://geocities.com/~orion47/WEHRMACHT/HEER/General2/SAUCKEN_DIETRICH.html. Retrieved 16 November 2010. 

Military offices
Preceded by General der Panzertruppen Willibald Freiherr von Langermann und Erlencamp	Commander of 4. Panzer-Division December 27, 1941 – January 2, 1942	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppen Willibald Freiherr von Langermann und Erlencamp
Preceded by Generalleutnant Erich Schneider	Commander of 4. Panzer-Division May 31, 1943 – January, 1944	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Hans Junck
Preceded by Generalleutnant Hans Junck	Commander of 4. Panzer-Division February, 1944 – May 1, 1944	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Clemens Betzel
Preceded by General der Panzertruppen Hermann Breith	Commander of III. Armeekorps May 31, 1944 – June 29, 1944	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppen Hermann Breith
Preceded by Generalleutnant Otto Schünemann	Commander of XXXIX.Panzerkorps June 29, 1944 – October 15, 1944	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppen Karl Decker
Preceded by General Walter Weiß	Commander of 2. Armee March 10, 1945 – May 9, 1945	Succeeded by none