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Eduard Dietl

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Eduard Dietl
Nickname(s)Eduard Dietl
Born(1890-07-21)21 July 1890
Bad Aibling, Bavaria
Died23 June 1944(1944-06-23) (aged 53)
near Rettenegg, Styria
AllegianceGermany
Years of service1910–1944
RankGeneraloberst
CommandsGerman 3rd Mountain Division German 20th Mountain Army
Battles/warsWorld War I

World War II

AwardsKnight'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.[1] 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.[2]

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

Notable decorations

References

Citations
  1. ^ Williamson, Gordon and McGregor, Malcolm, German Commanders in World War II (1), Osprey publishing, ISBN 1-84176-596-1.
  2. ^ Time Magazine article, June 10, 1940 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,763999,00.html#ixzz1a0GxNvZ2.
  3. ^ a b c Scherzer 2007, p. 272.
  4. ^ Dietl is shown wearing this neck decoration in pre-war photos and on his war time ribbon bar.
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.

Media related to Eduard Dietl at Wikimedia Commons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqpnDzNxMN8&feature=related Arrival at Hitler-Mannerheim meeting (see 53 seconds into clip).


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 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

Template:KCwithOLandSW Template:KCwithOL Template:Knight's Cross recipients of the 3rd MD Template:Combined Pilots-Observation Badge with Diamonds

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