Lothar Rendulic
| Lothar Rendulic | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 23 October 1887 |
| Died | 17 January 1971 (aged 83) |
| Allegiance |
 Austria-Hungary First Austrian Republic Nazi Germany
|
| Service/branch |
Austro-Hungarian Army Austrian Army Heer |
| Rank |
Oberst (Austria) Generaloberst (Germany) |
| Commands held |
2nd Panzer Army 20th Mountain Army Army Group Courland Army Group North Army Group Ostmark |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |
Lothar Rendulic (23 October 1887 – 17 January 1971) was an army group commander in the Wehrmacht during World War II. Rendulic was one of three Austrians who rose to the rank of Generaloberst (senior general) in the German armed forces.
Rendulic was tried at the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials in 1948. Though acquitted of deliberate scorched earth tactics during the Lapland war, he was convicted of killing hostages in Yugoslavia at the Hostages Trial and imprisoned. After his release in 1951 he took up writing.
Rendulic was born in 1887 in Austria into a military family of Croatian origin (Rendulić). He studied law and political science at universities in Vienna and Lausanne; in 1907, he was admitted to the Theresian Military Academy and commissioned as an officer into the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1910. He served during World War I from 1914 to 1918. Returning to the University of Vienna, Rendulic obtained his doctorate in law in 1920. He joined the newly formed Austrian Armed Forces and in 1932 joined the banned Austrian Nazi Party. From 1934, Rendulic served as a military attaché to France and United Kingdom. In 1936 he was put on the "temporary inactive list" because of his early membership in the Nazi Party.
Rendulic was called to the German Army, the Wehrmacht, in 1938, after the annexation of Austria to Germany. He commanded the 14th Infantry Division (23 June – 10 October 1940); the 52nd Division (1940–1942); and the XXXV Corps (1942–1943), with which he participated in the Battle of Kursk. From 1943 to 1944, Rendulic commanded the 2nd Panzer Army during World War II in Yugoslavia. Early in 1944, the German Chancellor 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.
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