Dietrich von Saucken

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 (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.

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 Oryol Prison. His captors sentenced him to 25 years' hard labour, later commuted to 30 months.

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)