Eduard Dietl

Eduard Dietl
Nickname	Eduard Dietl
Born	21 July 1890(1890-07-21) Bad Aibling, Bavaria
Died	23 June 1944(1944-06-23) (aged 53) near Rettenegg, Styria
Allegiance	Germany
Years of service	1910–1944
Rank	Generaloberst
Commands held	German 3rd Mountain Division German 20th Mountain Army
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Invasion of Norway Operation Silver Fox
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords

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. 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) in and Freikorps of Franz Ritter von Epp in 1919.

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 April 9 and 10, 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, but 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 French-German border, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands).

A convinced Nazi and one of Hitler's favorite 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 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. On June 23, 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.

Summary of military career

Dates of rank

• Gefreiter: January 29, 1910
• Unteroffizier: March 11, 1910
• Fähnrich: May 4, 1910
• Leutnant: October 26, 1911
• Oberleutnant: July 9, 1915
• Hauptmann: August 29, 1919
• Major: February 1, 1930
• Oberstleutnant: February 1, 1933
• Oberst: January 1, 1935
• Generalmajor: April 1, 1938
• Generalleutnant: April 1, 1940
• General der Gebirgstruppe: July 19, 1940
• Generaloberst: June 1, 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-Division
  • 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)
• Combined Pilots-Observation Badge in Gold with Diamonds(?)
• Cross of Honor (1935)
• Olympic Games Decoration First class (1936)
• Anschluss Medal (?)
• Sudetenland Medal (?)
• Clasp to the Iron Cross Second (1939) and First (1940) Classes
• Destroyer War Badge (1940)
• Narvik Shield (1941)
• Eastern Front Medal (1942)
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 10 June 1940

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Berger, Florian (2000). Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern. Die höchstdekorierten Soldaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Selbstverlag Florian Berger. ISBN 3-9501307-0-5.
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
• Schaulen, Fritjof (2003). Eichenlaubträger 1940 - 1945 Zeitgeschichte in Farbe I Abraham - Huppertz (in German). Selent, Germany: Pour le Mérite. ISBN 3-932381-20-3.
• 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.
• Helden der Wehrmacht - Unsterbliche deutsche Soldaten (in German). München, Germany: FZ-Verlag GmbH, 2004. ISBN 3-924309-53-1.

External links

Media related to Eduard Dietl at Wikimedia Commons

• Finnish Broadcasting company archives files General Dietl's eulogy 1944 Lapplandsender

Military offices
Preceded by none	Commander of 3. Gebirgs-Division May 01, 1938 - June 14, 1940	Succeeded by General der Gebirgstruppen Julius Ringel
Preceded by none	Commander of Gebirgs-Armeekorps Norwegen June 14, 1940 - January 15, 1942	Succeeded by Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner
Preceded by Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst	Commander of Lappland Armee January 15, 1942 - June 20, 1942	Succeeded by redesignated as 20. Gebirgs-Armee
Preceded by none	Commander of 20. Gebirgs-Armee June 20, 1942 - June 23, 1944	Succeeded by Generaloberst Dr. Lothar Rendulic