Lothar Rendulic

Dr. Lothar Rendulic
Dr. Lothar Rendulic
Born	23 November 1887(1887-11-23) Wiener Neustadt, Austria
Died	18 January 1971(1971-01-18) (aged 83) Eferding, Austria
Allegiance	Austria-Hungary (to 1918) First Austrian Republic (to 1938) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Austrian Army Heer
Years of service	1910-1938 (Austria) 1938-1945 (Germany)
Rank	Oberst (Austria) Generaloberst (Germany)
Commands held	14. Infanterie-Division 52. Infanterie-Division XXXV. Armeekorps 2. Panzer-Armee 20. Gebirgs-Armee Heeresgruppe Kurland Heeresgruppe Süd Heeresgruppe Nord Heeresgruppe Ostmark
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern

Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic (23 November 1887 – 18 January 1971) was an Austro-Hungarian and Austrian Army officer of Croatian origin who served as a German general during World War II. He commanded the 14. Infanterie-Division, 52. Infanterie-Division, XXXV Armeekorps, 2. Panzer-Armee, 20. Gebirgs-Armee, Heeresgruppe Kurland, Heeresgruppe Süd, Heeresgruppe Nord and the Heeresgruppe Ostmark. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

Biography

Early years

Rendulic was born in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, to a Croatian family (the Croatian spelling of the surname is Rendulić). His father Lukas was a colonel in the Austro-Hungarian army. Following his Abitur, Lothar studied law and political science at universities in Vienna and Lausanne; in 1907, he was admitted to the Theresianische Militärakademie (later renamed the Kriegsschule Wiener Neustadt) in his home town, Wiener Neustadt. In August 1910, Rendulic was commissioned a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army and assigned to the 99. Infanterieregiment Georg I., König der Hellenen, in Vienna. He remained with this regiment during the first year of World War I before being posted to the 31.Infanterie-Division in 1915 and to XXI.Korps in 1918.

Following the war, Rendulic studied law at the University of Vienna and in 1920 was awarded his doctorate in law (a Dr. iur. in German). He also joined the newly formed army of the Austrian republic and in 1932 joined the banned Austrian Nazi Party. From 1934, Rendulic served in the diplomatic corps as a military attaché for France and England with an office in Paris. However, his promising military and diplomatic career faltered in 1936, when he was put on the temporary inactive list because his early membership in the Nazi Party was considered undesirable for an Austrian officer and diplomat.

World War II

Rendulic was called to the German Army, the Wehrmacht, in 1938, after the annexation of Austria to Germany. By 1940, Rendulic was serving as the acting general officer in command of the 14. Infanterie-Division (23.6.40 - 10.10.40). From 1940 to 1942, he was the general commanding the 52nd Division. From 1942 to 1943, he was the general in command of the XXXV Corps. But, by 1943, Lothar Rendulic was being held in reserve.

Croatia

From 1943 to 1944, Rendulic served as the general commanding the 2nd Panzer Army in Yugoslavia. Early in 1944, the Führer Adolf Hitler ordered Rendulic to devise a plan to capture Yugoslav partisan leader Josip Broz Tito. In the resultant raid on Drvar on May 25, 1944, German paratroopers stormed partisan headquarters in Drvar (western Bosnia) looking for Tito and very nearly captured him.

Finland and Norway

From 1944 to 1945, Rendulic served as the general commanding the 20th Mountain Army. In June 1944, he was named commander of German troops stationed in Finland and Norway. After the start of the Lapland War, Rendulic ordered the Finnish town of Rovaniemi to be burned in revenge against the Finns for having concluded a separate peace with the Soviet Union. He also carried out orders to conduct a scorched-earth campaign when the Germans withdrew from northern Norway, with the result that hardly a building was left standing and the remaining population was left without sufficient food and shelter.

Eastern Front

In 1945, Rendulic served as the commander-in-chief of Heeresgruppe Kurland (Army Group Courland) on the Eastern Front. By this time, the Army Group was completely cut off in the Courland Pocket. Shortly thereafter, Rendulic served briefly as commander-in-chief of Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group North, then located in northern Germany), returned to commanding Army Group Courland (fighting in what was left of Latvia), and finally commanded Heeresgruppe Sud (Army Group South, soon re-named Heeresgruppe Ostmark, in Austria and Czechoslovakia).

On May 7, 1945, during the Prague Offensive, Lothar Rendulic, its commander-in-chief, surrendered Army Group Ostmark to the elements of the U.S. Army in Austria.

Imprisonment and death

After his surrender, Lothar Rendulic was interned and tried as a military criminal in the "hostages trial" at Nuremberg, because of his involvement in the Wehrmacht's attacks on civilians in Yugoslavia and the scorched earth policy in Lapland. On February 19, 1948, he was found guilty and sentenced to twenty years in prison, although he was cleared of charges concerning the scorching of Lapland. This sentence was later reduced to ten years, and on February 1, 1951, Rendulic was released from the military prison in Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria.

After his release, the Generaloberst worked as an author and was involved in local politics in Seewalchen am Attersee, in the Salzkammergut region of Austria. He died at Eferding, Austria, on January 18, 1971.

Personal life

On September 4, 1916 Rendulic married Nella Zöbl.

Summary of his military career

Dates of rank

• k.u.k Leutnant : August 8, 1910
• k.u.k Oberleutnant : April 8, 1914
• k.u.k Hauptmann : May 1, 1917
• Major (Austrian Army) : 1925
• Oberstleutnant (Austrian Army) : 1929
• Oberst (Austrian Army) : 1933
• Oberst (German Army) : April 1, 1938
• Generalmajor : December 1, 1939
• Generalleutnant : December 1, 1942
• General der Infanterie : December 1, 1942
• Generaloberst : April 1, 1944

Notable decorations

Decoration	Date of receipt	Country
Wound Medal with one stripe	unknown	Austria-Hungary
Karl Troop Cross 3rd Class with War Decoration and Swords	unknown	Austria-Hungary
Order of the Iron Crown	unknown	Austria-Hungary
Military Merit Medal on the Ribbon of the Bravery Medal with Swords	unknown	Austria-Hungary
Military Merit Cross on the Ribbon of the Bravery Medal with Swords	unknown	Austria-Hungary
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords	Knight's Cross on March 6, 1942 as Generalleutnant and commander of the 52. Infanterie-Division 271st Oak Leaves on 15 August 1943 as General der Infanterie and commanding general of the XXXV. Armeekorps 122nd Swords on 18 January 1945 as Generaloberst and commander in chief of the 20. Gebirgsarmee	Nazi Germany
Iron Cross	Second Class in 1939 First Class in 1940	Nazi Germany
German Cross in Gold	1941	Nazi Germany
Eastern Front Medal	1942	Nazi Germany
Cross of Honor	unknown	Nazi Germany
Cuff title Kurland	1945	Nazi Germany
Lappland Shield	1945	Nazi Germany
Wound Badge in Black	unknown	Nazi Germany
Golden Party Badge	1944	Nazi Germany
Mentioned four times in the Wehrmachtbericht		Nazi Germany

Books by Lothar Rendulic

• Rendulic, L: Gekämpft, gesiegt, geschlagen. (Fought, victorious, vanquished) Welsermühl Verlag, Wels and Heidelberg, 1952. 384 p.
• Rendulic, L: Glasenbach - Nürnberg - Landsberg, Leopold Stocker Verlag, Graz, 1953. 222 p.
• Rendulic, L: Weder Krieg noch Frieden. Eine Frage an die Macht. (Neither war nor peace. A question to the powers) Welsermühl Verlag, Munich and Wels, 1961. 250 p.
• Rendulic, L: Soldat in stürzenden Reichen. (Soldier in falling empires) Damm Verlag, Munich 1965. 483 p.
• Rendulic, L: Aus dem Abgrund in die Gegenwart. (From the abyss to the present) Verlag Ernst Ploetz, Wolfsberg, 1969. 259 p.

See also

• Yugoslavian Front (WWII)
• Lapland War
• Courland Pocket
• Prague Offensive

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Berger, Florian (2000). 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.
• 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). Die 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.
• Helden der Wehrmacht - Unsterbliche deutsche Soldaten (in German). München, Germany: FZ-Verlag GmbH, 2004. ISBN 3-924309-53-1.

External links

• Rendulic biography – From website Generals.dk
• "Cool-off in Finland" - Monday, Oct. 23, 1944 – Article from Time Magazine

Military offices
Preceded by Generalleutnant Peter Weyer	Commander of 14. Infanterie-Division June 15, 1940 - October 6, 1940	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Friedrich Fürst
Preceded by Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen von Arnim	Commander of 52. Infanterie-Division October 10, 1940 - November 01, 1942	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Rudolf Peschel
Preceded by General der Artillerie Rudolf Kämpfe	Commander of XXXV Armeekorps November 01, 1942 - April 15, 1943	Succeeded by General der Infanterie Friedrich Wiese
Preceded by Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model	Commander of 2. Panzer-Armee August 14, 1943 - June 24, 1944	Succeeded by General der Infanterie Franz Böhme
Preceded by Generaloberst Eduard Dietl	Commander of 20. Gebirgs-Armee June 25, 1944 - January 15, 1945	Succeeded by General der Gebirgstruppen Franz Böhme
Preceded by none	Commander of Heeresgruppe Kurland January 15, 1945-January 27, 1945	Succeeded by Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff
Preceded by Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner	Commander of Heeresgruppe Nord January 27, 1945-March 12, 1945	Succeeded by Generaloberst Walter Weiß
Preceded by Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff	Commander of Heeresgruppe Kurland March 12, 1945-April 05, 1945	Succeeded by General Carl Hilpert
Preceded by General der Infanterie Otto Wöhler	Commander of Heeresgruppe Süd April 06, 1945-April 30, 1945	Succeeded by General der Infanterie Friedrich Schulz
Preceded by none	Commander of Heeresgruppe Ostmark April 30, 1945-May 07, 1945	Succeeded by dissolved on May 8, 1945