Dietrich von Saucken

Dietrich von Saucken
Dietrich von Saucken
Born	(1892-05-16)16 May 1892 Fischhausen, East Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire now Primorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russian Federation
Died	27 September 1980(1980-09-27) (aged 88) Pullach, Bavaria, West Germany
Buried at	Waldfriedhof Solln, Munich Plot 17—Row 1—Grave 12
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918)  Weimar Republic (to 1933)  Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Prussian Army Reichsheer Army
Years of service	1910–45
Rank	General der Panzertruppe
Unit	1st Division
Commands held	4th Panzer Division XXXIX Panzer Corps Panzerkorps Großdeutschland Second Army AOK Ostpreußen
Battles/wars	See battles  World War I Battle of Tannenberg Battle of Verdun Finnish Civil War World War II Invasion of Poland Battle of France Balkan Campaign Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa Battle for Moscow Battle of Kursk Operation Bagration Minsk Offensive Vilnius Offensive Lublin–Brest Offensive Kaunas Offensive Baltic Offensive Operation Doppelkopf Lublin–Brest Offensive Battle of Radzymin East Pomeranian Offensive Evacuation of East Prussia
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds

World War I

Finnish Civil War

World War II

Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Kasimir Dietrich von Saucken (16 May 1892 – 27 September 1980) was a general in the German Army during World War II. Saucken commanded the 4th Panzer Division at Kursk, before becoming acting commander of the III Panzer Corps in June 1944. Turning down an offer to escape by air, he surrendered to the Red Army in May 1945. In captivity, he was crippled for life, before his release in 1955. Saucken was the last officer to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.

Saucken was born on 16 May 1892 in Fischhausen, East Prussia, a province in the Kingdom of Prussia. Today it is Primorsk in Baltiysky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. He was the son of Landrat, the chief administrative officer of a Landkreis, Wilhelm Eduard Erich von Saucken and wife Berta Marie, née Westphal. As a child, Saucken attended the Collegium Fridericianum, a prestigious gymnasium in Königsberg, present-day Kaliningrad, where he graduated with his Abitur (university-preparatory high school diploma) in 1910. As a student, Saucken showed aptitude as an artist, a talent supported by his mother and the director of the Fridericianum, Georg Ellendt. He often visited Nidden, present-day Nida, Lithuania, where his ambitions to become an artist were influenced by the Künstlerkolonie Nidden, an expressionist artists' colony.