Meinrad von Lauchert, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetMeinrad von Lauchert
German general
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany
About Meinrad von Lauchert
- Meinrad von Lauchert (29 August 1905 in – 4 December 1987) was a German general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II.
- He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. On the eve of the Battle of the Bulge, Lauchert was appointed commander of the 2nd Panzer Division.
- His division punched through the American lines on 16 December 1944 and by the time the offensive had stalled Lauchert's men had achieved the deepest penetration into Allied-held territory of any of the German formations, reaching a point only nine kilometers from the Meuse by 23 December.
- Afterwards, Lauchert's division fought a continuous rearguard action against the US forces as they pushed the division back across the German frontier.
- During the fighting in February and March 1945, the division had ceased to exist as much more than a marker on the map.
- By the end of March, as the remnants of his division were backed up against the Rhine without a secure crossing point, Lauchert ordered a breakout eastwards in small groups.
- Lauchert swam the Rhine with a small number of his staff and, apparently fed up with the hopelessness of the situation, deserted and walked home to Bamberg.
- After the war, he was imprisoned for trial at Nuremberg for war crimes, but was found not guilty and released.
Read more at Wikipedia