Meinrad von Lauchert

Meinrad von Lauchert
Born 29 August 1905
Potsdam
Died 4 December 1987(1987-12-04) (aged 82)
Stuttgart
Allegiance  Weimar Republic (to 1933)
 Nazi Germany
Service/branch Heer
Years of service 1924–45
Rank Generalmajor
Commands held 2nd Panzer Division
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Meinrad von Lauchert (born 29 August 1905 in Potsdam – died 4 December 1987 in Stuttgart) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, one of 860 German military men to be so decorated.

Career

Lauchert enlisted in the Reichswehr in 1924. During the Invasion of Poland in 1939 he commanded a battalion in a panzer regiment of the 4th Panzer Division, with which he served during the Battle of France. In Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941, he earned the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. In 1942–1943, Lauchert formed and trained the first two battalions of Panther tanks, with which he took part in the failed Battle of Kursk. Lauchert was later appointed commander of a panzer regiment in the 11th Panzer Division. While with this unit, he earned the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross. In the summer of 1944, Lauchert commanded the 101st Panzer Brigade, one of several new armoured units hastily formed to restore the German Army's precarious situation after the destruction of Army Group Center in the Soviet Operation Bagration.

On the eve of the Battle of the Bulge, Lauchert was appointed commander of the 2nd Panzer Division.[1] His division punched through the American lines on 16 December 1944 and by the time the offensive had stalled Lauchert's men had achieved the deepest penetration into Allied-held territory of any of the German formations, reaching a point only nine kilometers from the Meuse by 23 December.[2] Afterwards, Lauchert's division fought a continuous rearguard action against the US forces as they pushed the division back across the German frontier. During the fighting in February and March 1945, the division had ceased to exist as much more than a marker on the map. By the end of March, as the remnants of his division were backed up against the Rhine without a secure crossing point, Lauchert ordered a breakout eastwards in small groups. Lauchert swam the Rhine with a small number of his staff and, apparently fed up with the hopelessness of the situation, deserted and walked home to Bamberg.[3] After the war, he was imprisoned for trial at Nuremberg for war crimes, but was found not guilty and released.

Awards

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Cole 1965, p. 180.
  2. ↑ Cole 1965, p. 563.
  3. ↑ Mitcham, S (2006) Panzers in Winter: Hitler's Army And the Battle of the Bulge, Greenwood Publishing P164
  4. 1 2 3 Thomas 1998, p. 15.
  5. ↑ Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 270.
  6. 1 2 Scherzer 2007, p. 496.

Bibliography

  • Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge (Publication 7-8). Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  • Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8. 
  • 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 [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. 
  • Thomas, Franz (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2300-9. 
  • Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939-1945 Band 3, 1. Januar 1944 bis 9. Mai 1945 [The Wehrmacht Reports 1939–1945 Volume 3, 1 January 1944 to 9 May 1945] (in German). München, Germany: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. 1985. ISBN 978-3-423-05944-2. 
Military offices
Preceded by
Generalmajor Henning Schönfeld		 Commander of 2. Panzer-Division
December 15, 1944 - March 20, 1945 		Succeeded by
Generalmajor Oskar Munzel
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