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Kurt Lottner (30 October 1899 – 15 March 1957) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (german: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.
The Knight' ...
of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
Lottner was ''Kampfkommandant'' of
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
in April/May 1945. On 2 May, British troops prepared to conquer Lübeck. Lottner,
NSDAP
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
-Kreisleiter Bernhard Clausen, mayor
Otto-Heinrich Drechsler
Otto-Heinrich Drechsler (1 April 1895 – 5 May 1945) was the General Commissioner of Latvia for the Nazi Germany's occupation regime ( Reichskommissariat Ostland) during World War II. In this capacity, he played a role in setting up the Riga g ...
, Police chief
Walther Schröder
Walther Schröder (26 November 1902 – 31 October 1973) was a German Nazi Party politician, SS-''Brigadeführer'' and Police President of Lübeck, who served as an SS and Police Leader in Latvia and Estonia during the Second World War.
Earl ...
and officers in place agreed that a fight against the advancing
11th Armoured Division
The 11th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army which was created in March 1941 during the Second World War. The division was formed in response to the unanticipated success of the German panzer divisions. The 11th Armou ...
was senseless. They gave orders to remove the explosive charges already put in place at bridges and harbour facilities.
Awards and decorations
*
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (german: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.
The Knight' ...
on 14 October 1943 as ''
Oberst
''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway. The Swedish ...
'' and commander of Infanterie-Regiment 111Fellgiebel 2000, p. 242.