Eduard Dietl

Eduard Dietl
Born	(1890-07-21)21 July 1890 Bad Aibling, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died	near Rettenegg, Reichsgau Steiermark, Nazi Germany now Rettenegg, Styria, Austria
Buried	Munich Northern Cemetery Plot 114—Row 1—Grave 34
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic Nazi Germany
Years of service	1910–44
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 Wolrath Christian 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, 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) 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.

Dietl subsequently commanded German forces in Norway and northern Finland and in Eastern Europe and rose to the rank of Generaloberst (equivalent to a Commonwealth General or 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 Junkers 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.

Until 1997, Ringelai in the Bavarian Forest honored Dietl with a memorial plaque. Until 1977, this site had honored Albert Leo Schlageter instead. Freyung honored Dietl with a General-Dietl-Straße.

Summary of military career

Eduard Dietl as General der Gebirgstruppe in the Russian tundra (1941)

Dietl memorial at crash site

Decorations

• Prince Regent Luitpold Medal (Bavaria; 12 March 1911)
• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd class (16 September 1914)
  • 1st class (3 September 1916)
• General Honour Decoration (Hesse) (16 October 1915)
• Wound Badge (1914) in Silver (1917)
• Bavarian Military Order of Merit
  • 4th class with Swords (18 June 1918)
  • Commanders Cross (17 August 1933)
• Army mountain guide badge (1 April 1931)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (18 January 1935)
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award, 4th class with 1st class (2 October 1936)
• Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd class (24 September 1939)
  • 1st class (15 April 1940)
• Destroyer War Badge (5 November 1940)
• Narvik Shield (21 March 1941)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
  • Knight's Cross as Generalleutnant and commander of the 3. Gebirgs-Division (9 May 1940)
  • 1st Oak Leaves as Generalleutnant and commanding general of the Gebirgs-Korps Norwegen (19 July 1940)
  • 72nd Swords as Generaloberst and commander in chief of the 20. Gebirgs-Armee (1 July 1944, posthumously)
• Pilot/Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds(5 January 1941)
• Golden Party Badge in Gold (1943)
• Blood Order (Medal commemorating the 9 November 1923 - Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 9. November 1923)
• Olympic Games Decoration, 1st class (1936)
• Anschluss Medal (Medal commemorating the 13th March 1938 - Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 13. März 1938)
• Sudetenland Medal with Prague Castle clasp
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 10 June 1940
• Eastern Front Medal (1942)

Foreign awards

• Order of Merit, Commander's Cross with carry permit (Chile; 16 March 1934)
• Order of the White Rose, Grand Cross with Breast Star and Swords (Finland; 9 November 1941)
• Order of the Cross of Liberty
  • 1st class with Star, Oak leaves and Swords (20 January 1944)
  • Grand Cross (Finland; 28 June 1944)

Wehrmachtbericht reference

Date	Original German Wehrmachtbericht wording	Direct English translation
Monday, 10 June 1940	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.	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.

Promotions

29 January 1910:	Gefreiter
11 March 1910:	Unteroffizier
4 May 1910:	Fähnrich
26 October 1911:	Leutnant (Second Lieutenant)
9 July 1915:	Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant)
19 August 1919:	Hauptmann (Captain) effective as of 18 October 1918
1 February 1930:	Major (Major)
1 February 1933:	Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
1 January 1935:	Oberst (Colonel)
31 March 1938:	Generalmajor (Brigadier General) effective as of 1 April 1938
20 April 1940:	Generalleutnant (Major General) effective as of 1 April 1940
19 July 1940:	General der Infanterie (General of the Infantry) effective as of 1 July 1940, later renamed to General der Gebirgstruppe (General of the Mountain Troops)
1 June 1942:	Generaloberst (Colonel General)

References

Bibliography

• Lunde, Henrik O. (2011). Finland's War of Choice. Casemate Publishers, ISBN 978-1-935149-48-4.

External links

• Finnish Broadcasting company archives files General Dietl's eulogy 1944 Lapplandsender
• Arrival at Hitler-Mannerheim meeting (see 53 seconds into clip).

Military offices
Preceded by none	Commander of 3. Gebirgs-Division 1 May 1938 – 14 June 1940	Succeeded by General der Gebirgstruppen Julius Ringel
Preceded by none	Commander of Gebirgs-Armeekorps Norwegen 14 June 1940 – 15 January 1942	Succeeded by Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner
Preceded by Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst	Commander of Lappland Armee 15 January 1942 – 20 June 1942	Succeeded by redesignated as 20. Gebirgs-Armee
Preceded by none	Commander of 20. Gebirgs-Armee 20 June 1942 – 23 June 1944	Succeeded by Generaloberst Dr. Lothar Rendulic