Eduard Dietl

Infobox Military Person
name=Eduard Dietl
lived=birth date|1890|7|21|df=y — death date and age|1944|6|23|1890|7|21|df=y


caption=
placeofbirth=Bad Aibling, Bavaria
placeofdeath=near Rettenegg, Styria
nickname=Eduard Dietl
allegiance=Germany
serviceyears=
rank="Generaloberst"
commands= German 3rd Mountain Division
German 20th Mountain Army
unit=
battles=World War II
*Invasion of Norway
*Operation Silver Fox
awards=Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
laterwork=

Eduard Dietl (21 July 1890 - 23 June 1944) was a German general of World War II. He was born in Bad Aibling, Bavaria.

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 Nazi aggression on the western front (the French-German border).

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.

Dietl subsequently commanded German forces in Norway and 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, 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.

ummary of military career

Dates of rank

* Gefreiter: January 29, 1910
* Unteroffizier: March 11, 1910
* Fähnrich: May 04, 1910
* Leutnant: October 26, 1911
* Oberleutnant: July 09, 1915
* Hauptmann: August 29, 1919
* Major: February 01, 1930
* Oberstleutnant: February 01, 1933
* Oberst: January 01, 1935
* Generalmajor: April 01, 1938
* Generalleutnant: April 01, 1940
* General der Gebirgstruppe: July 19, 1940
* Generaloberst: June 01, 1942

Notable decorations

* Knight's Cross (1940)
* Oak Leaves (1940)
* Swords (1944)
* 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)
* 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

Further reading

* Berger, Florian, "Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern. Die höchstdekorierten Soldaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges". Selbstverlag Florian Berger, 2006. ISBN 3-9501307-0-5.
* Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer. "Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945". Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas, 2000. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.