Lothar Rendulic

Dr. jur. Lothar Rendulic
Dr. Lothar Rendulic
Born	(1887-10-23)23 October 1887 Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria, Austria-Hungary now Austria
Died	17 January 1971(1971-01-17) (aged 83) Fraham near Eferding, Upper Austria, Austria
Allegiance	Austria-Hungary (to 1918) First Austrian Republic (to 1938) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Austro-Hungarian Army Austrian Army Heer
Years of service	1910–38 (Austria) 1938–45 (Germany)
Rank	Oberst (Austria) Generaloberst (Germany)
Commands held	14. Infanterie-Division 52. Infanterie-Division XXXV. Armeekorps 2. Panzer-Armee 20. Gebirgs-Armee Heeresgruppe Kurland Heeresgruppe Süd Heeresgruppe Nord Heeresgruppe Ostmark
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern

Lothar Rendulic (23 October 1887 – 17 January 1971) was an army group commander in the German Army during World War II. Rendulic was one of three Austrians who rose to the rank of Generaloberst (senior general) in the Wehrmacht.

He was tried at Nuremberg in 1948 and, though acquitted of deliberate scorched earth tactics during the withdrawal through Lapland, was convicted of killing hostages in Yugoslavia and imprisoned. After his release in 1951 he took up writing.

Biography

Early years

Rendulic was born in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, to a Croatian family (the Croatian spelling of the surname is Rendulić). His father Lukas was a colonel in the Austro-Hungarian army. Following his Abitur, Lothar studied law and political science at universities in Vienna and Lausanne; in 1907, he was admitted to the Theresianische Militärakademie (later renamed the Kriegsschule Wiener Neustadt) in his home town, Wiener Neustadt. In August 1910, Rendulic was commissioned a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army and assigned to the 99. Infanterieregiment Georg I., König der Hellenen, in Vienna. He remained with this regiment during the first year of World War I before being posted to the 31.Infanterie-Division in 1915 and to XXI.Korps in 1918.

Following World War I, Rendulic studied law at the University of Vienna and in 1920 was awarded his doctorate in law (a Dr. iur. in German). He also joined the newly formed army of the Austrian republic and in 1932 joined the banned Austrian Nazi Party. From 1934, Rendulic served in the diplomatic corps as a military attaché to France and United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland with an office in Paris. However, his promising military and diplomatic career faltered in 1936, when he was put on the temporary inactive list because his early membership in the Nazi Party was considered undesirable for an Austrian officer and diplomat.

World War II

Rendulic was called to the German Army, the Wehrmacht, in 1938, after the annexation of Austria to Germany. He served as acting general officer in command of the 14. Infanterie-Division (23 June – 10 October 1940), general in command of the 52nd Division (1940–1942), and general in command of the XXXV Corps (1942–1943). He participated as the XXXV corps commander in the battle of Kursk.

Yugoslavia

From 1943 to 1944, Rendulic served as the general commanding the 2nd Panzer Army during World War II in Yugoslavia. Early in 1944, the Führer Adolf Hitler ordered Rendulic to devise a plan to capture Yugoslav partisan leader Josip Broz Tito. In the resultant raid on Drvar on 25 May 1944, German paratroopers stormed partisan headquarters in Drvar (western Bosnia) looking for Tito but ultimately failed to capture him, suffering heavy casualties.

Finland and Norway

Following the death of General Dietl in June 1944, Rendulic served as the general commanding the 20th Mountain Army as well as the commander of German troops stationed in Finland and Norway. It is oft-stated that Rendulic in October 1944 ordered the Finnish town of Rovaniemi to be burned in revenge against the Finns for having concluded a separate peace with the Soviet Union. Rendulic actually ordered Rovaniemi’s public buildings destroyed while Finnish private property was to be spared. While the German rear guard was going about the destruction, an ammunition train in Rovaniemi station exploded and set fire to the wooden houses of the town. The German troops suffered many casualties, mainly from glass splinters. Ironically, a Finnish commando unit claimed to have blown up the ammunition train and may well have been the primary cause of the town's ruin. The cause was then unknown and generally assumed to be the deliberate intent of Rendulic.

Eastern Front

In 1945, Rendulic served as the commander-in-chief of Heeresgruppe Kurland (Army Group Courland) on the Eastern Front. By this time, the Army Group was completely cut off in the Courland Pocket. Shortly thereafter, Rendulic served briefly as commander-in-chief of Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group North, then located in northern Germany), returned to commanding Army Group Courland (fighting in what was left of Latvia), and finally commanded Heeresgruppe Sud (Army Group South, soon renamed Heeresgruppe Ostmark, in Austria and Czechoslovakia).

On 7 May 1945, during the Prague Offensive, Lothar Rendulic, its commander-in-chief, surrendered Army Group Ostmark to the 71st Division Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop of the U.S. Army in Austria.

Imprisonment and death

After his surrender, Lothar Rendulic was interned and tried as a military criminal in the "hostages trial" at Nuremberg, because of his involvement in the Wehrmacht's attacks on civilians in Yugoslavia and the scorched earth policy in Lapland. On 19 February 1948 he was found guilty and sentenced to twenty years in prison, although he was cleared of charges concerning the scorching of Lapland. This sentence was later reduced to ten years, and on 1 February 1951 Rendulic was released from the military prison in Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria.

After his release, he worked as an author and was involved in local politics in Seewalchen am Attersee, in the Salzkammergut region of Austria. He died at Fraham near Eferding, Austria, on 17 January 1971.

Personal life

On 4 September 1916 Rendulic married Nella Zöbl.

Summary of his military career

Dates of rank

• k.u.k Leutnant : 8 August 1910
• k.u.k Oberleutnant : 8 April 1914
• k.u.k Hauptmann : 1 May 1917
• Major (Austrian Army) : 1925
• Oberstleutnant (Austrian Army) : 1929
• Oberst (Austrian Army) : 1933
• Oberst (German Army) : 1 April 1938
• Generalmajor : 1 December 1939
• Generalleutnant : 1 December 1942
• General der Infanterie : 1 December 1942
• Generaloberst : 1 April 1944

Notable decorations

Austria-Hungary

• Wound Medal with one stripe
• Karl Troop Cross, 3rd Class with War Decoration and Swords
• Order of the Iron Crown, 3rd class
• Military Merit Medal, in bronze and silver on the Ribbon of the Bravery Medal with Swords
• Military Merit Cross, 3rd class on the Ribbon of the Bravery Medal with war decoration and Swords

Nazi Germany

• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
  • Knight's Cross on 6 March 1942 as Generalleutnant and commander of the 52. Infanterie-Division
  • 271st Oak Leaves on 15 August 1943 as General der Infanterie and commanding general of the XXXV. Armeekorps
  • 122nd Swords on 18 January 1945 as Generaloberst and commander in chief of the 20. Gebirgsarmee
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class on 20 September 1939
  • 1st Class on 10 October 1939
• German Cross in Gold on 26 December 1941 as Generalmajor and commander of the 52. Infanterie-Division
• Eastern Front Medal (1942)
• The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Cuff title Kurland (1945)
• Lappland Shield (1945)
• Wound Badge in Black
• Golden Party Badge (19 September 1944)
• Mentioned four times in the Wehrmachtbericht (6 June 1944, 28 December 1944, 14 March 1945 and 9 May 1945)

Books by Lothar Rendulic

• Rendulic, L: Gekämpft, gesiegt, geschlagen. (Fought, victorious, vanquished) Welsermühl Verlag, Wels and Heidelberg, 1952. 384 p.
• Rendulic, L: Glasenbach - Nürnberg - Landsberg. Ein Soldatenschicksal nach dem Krieg (A soldier's fate after the war), Leopold Stocker Verlag, Graz, 1953. 222 p.
• Rendulic, L.: Die unheimlichen Waffen : Atomraketen über uns. Lenkwaffen, Raketengeschosse, Atombomben (Monstrous weapons: atomic rockets over us. Guided weapons, rockets, atom bombs) 1957
• Rendulic, L: Weder Krieg noch Frieden. Eine Frage an die Macht. (Neither war nor peace. A question to the powers) Welsermühl Verlag, Munich and Wels, 1961. 250 p.
• Rendulic, L: Soldat in stürzenden Reichen. (Soldier in falling empires) Damm Verlag, Munich 1965. 483 p.
• Rendulic, L.: Grundlagen militärischer Führung, 1967
• Rendulic, L: Aus dem Abgrund in die Gegenwart. (From the abyss to the present) Verlag Ernst Ploetz, Wolfsberg, 1969. 259 p.

See also

• Lapland War
• Courland Pocket
• Prague Offensive

References

Bibliography

• Berger, Florian (1999). Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern. Die höchstdekorierten Soldaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges (in German). Vienna, Austria: Selbstverlag Florian Berger. ISBN 978-3-9501307-0-6. CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6. CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8. CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
• Patzwall, Klaus D. (2004). Das Goldene Parteiabzeichen und seine Verleihungen ehrenhalber 1934–1944—Studien der Geschichte der Auszeichnungen. Band 4 (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-50-2. CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
• Schaulen, Fritjof (2005). Eichenlaubträger 1940 – 1945 Zeitgeschichte in Farbe III Radusch – Zwernemann (in German). Selent, Germany: Pour le Mérite. ISBN 978-3-932381-22-5. CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2. CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
• Thomas, Franz (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2300-9. CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)

Military offices
Preceded by Generalleutnant Peter Weyer	Commander of 14. Infanterie-Division 15 June 1940 – 6 October 1940	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Friedrich Fürst
Preceded by Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen von Arnim	Commander of 52. Infanterie-Division 10 October 1940 – 1 November 1942	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Rudolf Peschel
Preceded by General der Artillerie Rudolf Kämpfe	Commander of XXXV Armeekorps 1 November 1942 – 15 April 1943	Succeeded by General der Infanterie Friedrich Wiese
Preceded by Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model	Commander of 2. Panzer-Armee 14 August 1943 – 24 June 1944	Succeeded by General der Infanterie Franz Böhme
Preceded by Generaloberst Eduard Dietl	Commander of 20. Gebirgs-Armee 25 June 1944 – 15 January 1945	Succeeded by General der Gebirgstruppen Franz Böhme
Preceded by none	Commander of Heeresgruppe Kurland 15 January 1945 – 27 January 1945	Succeeded by Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff
Preceded by Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner	Commander of Heeresgruppe Nord 27 January 1945 – 12 March 1945	Succeeded by Generaloberst Walter Weiß
Preceded by Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff	Commander of Heeresgruppe Kurland 12 March 1945 – 5 April 1945	Succeeded by General Carl Hilpert
Preceded by General der Infanterie Otto Wöhler	Commander of Heeresgruppe Süd 6 April 1945 – 30 April 1945	Succeeded by Command renamed Heeresgruppe Ostmark 30 April 1945
Preceded by none	Commander of Heeresgruppe Ostmark 30 April 1945 – 7 May 1945	Succeeded by dissolved on 8 May 1945