{{Short description|German general in the Wehrmacht}} {{more footnotes|date=November 2012}} {{Infobox military person | name = Otto Lasch | birth_date = {{birth date|1893|6|25|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1971|4|28|1893|6|25|df=y}} | birth_place = Pleß, German Empire | death_place = Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany | image = | caption = | nickname = | allegiance = German Empire<br/>Nazi Germany | branch = German Army | service_years = 1914–1918<br/>1935–1945 | rank = General of the Infantry | commands = | unit = | battles = {{plainlist| *World War I *World War II }} | awards = Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves | relations = | laterwork = }}
'''Otto Lasch''' (25 June 1893 in Pleß, Oberschlesien – 28 April 1971) was a German general in the ''Wehrmacht'' during World War II who commanded the LXIV Corps. Lasch commanded German forces in the Battle of Königsberg and surrendered the city of 9 April 1945.
==Career==
After World War I, Lasch served in the ''Freikorps'' in the East Prussian city of Lyck.<ref name="Wieck2003">{{cite book|author=Michael Wieck|title=A Childhood Under Hitler and Stalin: Memoirs of a "certified" Jew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxLviLXAiBkC&pg=PA274|year=2003|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-18544-2|pages=274–}}</ref> He joined the ''Wehrmacht'' in 1935 and later took part in Operation Barbarossa, playing a pivotal role in capturing Riga in early July 1941.<ref name="AngrickKlein2012">{{cite book|author1=Andrej Angrick|author2=Peter Klein|title=The 'Final Solution' in Riga: Exploitation and Annihilation, 1941–1944|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ur6uBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA62|date=15 January 2012|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-0-85745-601-4|pages=62–}}</ref> He rose to the rank of General of the Infantry<ref>:de:Otto Lasch</ref>{{Circular reference|date=February 2018}} 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 advancing 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 (plus his wife and eldest daughter who were in Denmark), was arrested.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Willemer |first1=Wilhelm |title=The German Defence of Berlin 1945 |url=http://www.allworldwars.com/The-German-Defense-of-Berlin-1945-by-Wilhelm-Willemer.html |website=www.allworldwars.com |accessdate=9 April 2019}}</ref><ref name="Loeffel2012">{{cite book|author=R. Loeffel|title=Family Punishment in Nazi Germany: Sippenhaft, Terror and Myth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mSFeAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|date=29 May 2012|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-137-02183-0|pages=88–}}</ref> They were released after the Surrender of the Wehrmacht. Lasch went into Soviet captivity and was convicted as a war criminal in the Soviet Union and sentenced to twenty-five years in a corrective labor camp. He was released in 1955.<ref name="AngrickKlein2009">{{cite book|author1=Andrej Angrick|author2=Peter Klein|title=The 'Final Solution' in Riga: Exploitation and Annihilation, 1941–1944|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6npCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA450|date=15 November 2009|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-84545-608-5|pages=450–}}</ref> Lasch died in Bonn in 1971 and is buried in Bad Godesberg with his wife, who predeceased him.
Lasch authored ''So fiel Königsberg. Kampf und Untergang von Ostpreußens Hauptstadt'', which was published in 1958. In 1965 he wrote ''Zuckerbrot und Peitsche'' about his years as a Soviet prisoner of war.
==Awards and decorations== * Iron Cross (1914) 2nd Class (5 October 1914) & 1st Class (2 July 1916)<ref name="Thomas p13">Thomas 1998, p. 13.</ref> * Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (13 September 1939) & 1st Class (20 October 1939)<ref name="Thomas p13"/> * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves ** Knight's Cross on 17 July 1941 as Oberst and commander of Infanterie-Regiment 43 **Oak Leaves on 10 September 1944 Generalleutnant and commander of 349. Infanterie-Division
== References == ;Citations {{Reflist|30em}} ;Biography {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite book | last=Fellgiebel | first=Walther-Peer | year=2000 | orig-date=1986 | title=Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile | trans-title=The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches | language=German | location=Friedberg, Germany | publisher=Podzun-Pallas | isbn=978-3-7909-0284-6 }} * {{Cite book | last=Thomas | first=Franz | year=1998 | title=Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z | trans-title=The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z | language=German | location=Osnabrück, Germany | publisher=Biblio-Verlag | isbn=978-3-7648-2300-9 }} {{Refend}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{succession box | before = Generalleutnant Friedrich Bayer | after = Generalleutnant Walter Poppe | title = Commander of 217. Infanterie-Division | years = September 27, 1942 - October 1, 1943 }} {{Succession box | before = none | after = none | title = Commander of 349. Infanterie-Division| | years = November 20, 1943 - August 1944 }} {{succession box | before = none | after = General der Infanterie Helmut Thumm | title = Commander of LXIV. Armeekorps | years = August 5, 1944 - November 1, 1944 }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}} {{Subject bar | portal1=Biography }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lasch, Otto}} Category:1893 births Category:1971 deaths Category:20th-century Freikorps personnel Category:People from Pszczyna Category:Military personnel from the Province of Silesia Category:German Army personnel of World War I Category:Prussian Army personnel Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves Category:Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class Category:German Army generals of World War II Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union Category:People condemned by Nazi courts in absentia