Name Otto Lasch | Rank General der Infanterie Years of service 1914–181935–45 | |
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Battles/wars World War IWorld War II Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | ||
General Otto Lasch bunker museum in Königsberg. Kaliningrad
Otto Lasch (25 June 1893 – 29 April 1971) 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.
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Career
Otto Lasch joined the Wehrmacht in 1935. He advanced to the rank of Generalleutnant and functioned as Commandant of Königsberg in East Prussia from November 1944.
Following heavy fighting and surrounding of the city during the Battle of Königsberg by the 36-division strong 3rd Byelorussian Front under Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Lasch surrendered the city to the Red Army on 9 April 1945. Lasch went into Soviet captivity; convicted as a war criminal in the Soviet Union, he was held until 1955. Lasch died in Bonn in 1971.
Lasch authored the book So fiel Königsberg. Kampf und Untergang von Ostpreußens Hauptstadt that was published in 1958. In 1965 he wrote Zuckerbrot und Peitsche about his years as a Soviet prisoner of war.