Otto Lasch


Bernhard Otto Lasch was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the LXIV Corps. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

Life

The son of Prince Pless's chief forester, Otto Lasch, joined the Jäger Battalion "Prince Bismarck" No. 2 in Kulm as an officer candidate, after graduating from Gymnasium with Abitur, on 27 March 1913, with which he participated in the First World War. Towards the end of the war, he was deployed as an aerial observer.
After World War I, Lasch served in the Freikorps in the East Prussian city of Lyck as part of the Border Protection East. From 1 January 1920 to 1935, he served with the police, finally as a Police Major. He joined the Wehrmacht on 15 October 1935 and later took part in Operation Barbarossa, playing a pivotal role in capturing Riga in early July 1941. He rose to the rank of General of the Infantry in 1944 and functioned as Commandant of Königsberg in East Prussia from November 1944 onward. As Fortress Commandant of Königsberg he was responsible for defending the city and maintaining order among the flood of refugees fleeing from the invading Red Army.
Following heavy fighting and a three month siege of the city during the Battle of Königsberg by the 36-division-strong 3rd Byelorussian Front under Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Lasch disobeyed Hitler's orders and surrendered Königsberg to the Red Army on 9 April 1945. As a result of his surrender Hitler sentenced him in absentia to death by hanging, and his family in Berlin, was arrested.
They were released after the Surrender of the Wehrmacht.
Lasch went into Soviet captivity and was routinely convicted as an alleged war criminal in the Soviet Union and sentenced to twenty-five years in a corrective labor camp in 1948. He was repatriated on 8 October 1955.
Lasch authored So fiel Königsberg. Kampf und Untergang von Ostpreußens Hauptstadt, which was published in 1958. In 1965, he wrote about his years as a Soviet prisoner of war.

Russian captivity

Like so many others, Otto Lasch would become a POW of the Red Army. On 13 April 1945, thousands of Russian leaflets were dropped over German positions. They were signed by the now-prisoners of war General of the Infantry Lasch, Lieutenant General Hermann Haehnle, Colonel Hugo Eduard Wilhelm Freiherr von Süßkind-Schwendi, Colonel Kaspar August Völker, and others, including Colonel Kurt Erdmann-Degenhardt. The text read :

Death

General Lasch died in Bonn in 1971 and is buried in Bad Godesberg with his wife, who predeceased him.

Promotions

Army

  • 27 March 1913 Fahnenjunker
  • 11 July 1913 Fahnenjunker-Oberjäger
  • 17 February 1914 Fähnrich
  • 7 August 1914 Leutnant without Patent
  • * later received Patent from 19 December 1912
  • 22 March 1918 Oberleutnant

Police

  • 1 January 1920 Polizei-Oberleutnant
  • 20 July 1921 Polizei-Hauptmann
  • 6 November 1933 Major der Landespolizei with effect from 1 January 1934

Wehrmacht

  • 15 October 1935 Major with Rank Seniority from 1 July 1934
  • 18 January 1937 Oberstleutnant with effect and RDA from 1 January 1937
  • 30 November 1939 Oberst with effect and RDA from 1 December 1939
  • 15 July 1942 Generalmajor with effect and RDA from 1 August 1942
  • 20 April 1943 Generalleutnant with effect and RDA from 1 April 1943
  • 15 November 1944 General der Infanterie with effect and RDA from 9 November 1944

Awards and decorations