Eduard Dietl

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Eduard Dietl bigraphy, stories - German general

Eduard Dietl : biography

July 21, 1890 – June 23, 1944

Eduard Dietl (21 July 1890 – 23 June 1944) was a German general of World War II. He was born in Bad Aibling, Bavaria. He was also a recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves and Swords was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Military career

Eduard Dietl was the son of a Bavarian finance official.Williamson and McGregor 2005. In 1909, at his second attempt to join the 5. Bavarian Infanterie Regiment, he entered as an officer cadet. After studying at the Kriegschule in Munich, he was commissioned Leutnant in October 1911. In October 1915 he was promoted to Oberleutnant and served as a company commander with his regiment. In March 1918, he was promoted to Hauptmann. He was wounded four times during his actions in the First World War. He joined the DAP (Deutsche Arbeiter Partei) and Freikorps of Franz Ritter von Epp in 1919. Dietl was prepared with his company on 9 November 1923 to support Adolf Hitler and the rebels in the Beer Hall Putsch. However it did not come to an intervention.

Dietl continued to serve in the German Army and, as a Generalmajor, he helped organise the 1936 Winter Olympics held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen..

Dietl commanded the German 3rd Mountain Division that participated in the German invasion of Norway on 9 and 10 April 1940. Most of this division was landed at Narvik by a German naval force of ten destroyers, commanded by Commodore Friedrich Bonte, on 9 April 1940. British naval forces led by the battleship HMS Warspite destroyed all ten destroyers that had ferried Dietl’s troops to Narvik and managed to recapture the town. Dietl’s mountaineers withdrew into the hills and later retook the town when Britain abandoned her efforts to evict the Germans from Norway due to German success on the Western Front (the Franco-German border, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands).

A convinced Nazi and one of Hitler’s favourite generals, he was the first German soldier to receive, on 19 June 1940, the oak leaves cluster to the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. Dietl was also popular among his men, and his Finnish allies.Lunde 2011, p. 145.

Dietl subsequently commanded German forces in Norway and northern Finland and in Eastern Europe and rose to the rank of Generaloberst (equivalent to a US four-star general), commanding the 20th Mountain Army on the northern Eastern Front, where the results of the German Arctic campaign were disappointing. Dietl initially turned down his promotion, but was convinced to accept the appointment by Generaloberst Alfred Jodl. On 23 June 1944, a Ju 52 aircraft carrying Dietl, General der Infanterie Thomas-Emil von Wickede, General der Gebirgstruppe Karl Eglseer, Generalleutnant Franz Rossi and three other passengers crashed in the vicinity of the small village of Rettenegg, Styria; there were no survivors.

Notes

Summary of military career

Dates of rank

  • Gefreiter: 29 January 1910
  • Unteroffizier: 11 March 1910
  • Fähnrich: 4 May 1910
  • Leutnant: 26 October 1911
  • Oberleutnant: 9 July 1915
  • Hauptmann: 29 August 1919
  • Major: 1 February 1930
  • Oberstleutnant: 1 February 1933
  • Oberst: 1 January 1935
  • Generalmajor: 1 April 1938
  • Generalleutnant: 1 April 1940
  • General der Gebirgstruppe: 19 July 1940
  • Generaloberst: 1 June 1942

Notable decorations

  • Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
    • Knight’s Cross on 9 May 1940 as Generalleutnant and commander of the 3. Gebirgs-DivisionScherzer 2007, p. 272.
    • 1st Oak Leaves on 19 July 1940 as Generalleutnant and commanding general of the Gebirgs-Korps Norwegen
    • 72nd Swords on 1 July 1944 (posthumously) as Generaloberst and commander in chief of the 20. Gebirgs-Armee
  • Iron Cross Second (1914) and First (1916) Classes
  • Wound Badge in Black (1917) and Silver (1918)
  • Bavarian Military Order of Merit 2. Class (?), 4. Class with Swords (1918) and 4. Class with Crown (?)
  • Finnish Order of the White Rose Grand Cross with Breast Star and Swords (1941)
  • Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty 1. Class with Star, Oakleaves and Swords (1941) and Grand Cross with Swords (1944)
  • Goldenes Parteiabzeichen in Gold (1943)
  • Pilot/Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds(?)
  • Cross of Honor (1935)
  • Olympic Games Decoration First class (1936)Dietl is shown wearing this neck decoration in pre-war photos and on his war time ribbon bar.
  • Anschluss Medal (?)
  • Sudetenland Medal (?)
  • Clasp to the Iron Cross Second (1939) and First (1940) Classes
  • Narvik Shield (1941)
  • Eastern Front Medal (1942)
  • Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 10 June 1940

Wehrmachtbericht reference

Date Original German Wehrmachtbericht wording Direct English translation
Monday, 10 June 1940 de|Der heldenhafte Widerstand den die Kampfgruppe des Generalleutnants Dietl seit vielen Wochen, vereinsamt unter den schwersten Bedingungen, in Narvik gegen eine überwältigende feindliche Übermacht geleistet hat, erhielt heute seine Krönung durch den völligen Sieg.}}Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 1, p. 195. The heroic resistance of Lieutenant General Dietl’s battle group in Narvik, isolated under the most difficult conditions for many weeks, and against overwhelming enemy superiority, was today crowned by total victory.