Eduard Wohlrat Christian Dietl (21 July 1890 – 23 June 1944) was a German general during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

who commanded the 20th Mountain Army. He received the

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), 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. While it was order of precedence, lower in preceden ...

with Oak Leaves and Swords.

Military career

Born in 1890, Dietl joined the army on 1 October 1909 as a '' Fahnenjunker'' in the 5th Infantry Regiment "Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse" of the

Bavarian Army The Bavarian Army () was the army of the Electorate of Bavaria, Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom of Bavaria, Kingdom (1806–1918) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereig ...

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

. In

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he was deployed on the Western Front and he was wounded October 1914 and October 1918. During the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, he joined the Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei, the precursor to the National Socialist German Workers Party, and the

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

group Freikorps of Franz Ritter von Epp in 1919. Dietl continued to serve in the German Army and, as a ''

Generalmajor is the Germanic languages, Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central Europe, Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and R ...

'', 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 () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

by a German naval force of ten destroyers, commanded by Commodore Friedrich Bonte, subsequently all ten destroyers that had ferried Dietl's troops to Narvik were sunk in the First and Second Battles of Narvik. 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 Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

). Outnumbered by Norwegian, British, French and Polish forces, his skilful defence utilized ammunition, food and sailors (re-drafted as infantrymen) from the sunken ships. This gained him the nickname "The hero of Narvik". Dietl subsequently commanded German forces in Norway and northern

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

and rose to the rank of '' Generaloberst'', 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 Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl (; born Alfred Josef Baumgärtler; 10 May 1890 – 16 October 1946) was a German Wehrmacht Heer, Army ''Generaloberst'' (the rank was equal to a four-star full general) and War crime, war criminal, who served as th ...

Death

On 23 June 1944, the 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 Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

. There were no survivors. Until 1997, the municipality of Ringelai in the

Bavarian Forest image:Zell-bayerischer-wald.jpg, The village of Zell in the Bavarian Forest The Bavarian Forest ( or ''Bayerwald'' ; ) is a wooded, low-mountain region in Bavaria, Germany, that is about 100 kilometres long. It runs along the Czech Republic, C ...

honoured Dietl with a memorial plaque. In 1997, the site changed into one honoring World War I veteran Albert Leo Schlageter instead. The Bavarian town Freyung honoured Dietl by naming a street ''General-Dietl-Straße'' (renamed Jan. 1998).

Assessment

Dietl was sent to Finland designated to be the "hero in the snow" (to be a counterpart to Rommel who would be the "hero in the sun", also given a secondary theatre leaving the main stage to Hitler). A convinced National Socialist and one of Hitler's favourite generals, he was the first German soldier to be awarded the oak leaves cluster to the

- on 19 June 1940. Dietl was also popular among his men and his Finnish allies.Lunde 2011, p. 145. Historian Klaus Schmider remarks that Dietl had too much political baggage to compensate for his admirable record as a mountain troops leader. As a young officer, he refused to assist the civil government in crushing Hitler's abortive Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. He was also a founding member of the NSDAP. What has led the Bundeswehr and the German federal government to reverse honours towards Dietl, though, is his recently discovered view on marriages between Scandinavian women and his soldiers, which was "extreme even by the standards of the Third Reich": after Dietl circulated an order that called Norwegian and Finnish women "racial flotsam", Himmler himself had to intervene to rescind it. Dietl was involved in numerous war crimes. The first was the passing of the Commissar Order. Dietl was responsible for troops who employed the use of slave laborers in Wehrmacht penal camps in Finland and Norway. The camps employed extermination through work. The so-called probation program included the walk from Rovaniemi to Petsamo on the Arctic Ocean, in which tired penal soldiers were killed with shots in the neck. From the summer of 1942 onwards, there were arbitrary shootings and sadistic abuse of German penal soldiers by Wehrmacht guards in Finland and northern Norway. In a speech on 16 June 1942, Dietl himself threatened to murder the penal soldiers if they did not take part in the marches.

Awards

* Prince Regent Luitpold Medal (Bavaria; 12 March 1911)Thomas & Wegmann 1993, p. 85. *

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

(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) * Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (18 January 1935) * Wehrmacht Long Service Award, 4th class with 1st class (2 October 1936) * Olympic Games Decoration, 1st class (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 () is the German-language variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries. Austria Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed Forces (''Bundesheer''), roughly equivalent to the NATO ...

'' and commander of the 3. Gebirgs-Division (9 May 1940)Scherzer 2007, p. 272. **1st Oak Leaves as ''Generalleutnant'' and commanding general of the Gebirgs-Korps Norwegen (19 July 1940) **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) * 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)

References

Citations Bibliography * Lunde, Henrik O. (2011). ''Finland's War of Choice''. Casemate Publishers, . * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dietl, Eduard 1890 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Freikorps personnel Anti-Finnish sentiment People from Bad Aibling Military personnel of Bavaria Military personnel from the Kingdom of Bavaria Colonel generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht) German Army generals of World War II German Army personnel killed in World War II German Army personnel of World War I German expatriates in Finland German World War II pilots Gebirgsjäger of World War II Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Liberty, 1st Class with a Star Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class Grand Crosses of the Order of the Cross of Liberty Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Austria Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1944 Reichswehr personnel Continuation War Nazi war criminals