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Dietrich, General Josef (‘Sepp’)

The Oxford Companion to World War II | 2001 | 700+ words | Copyright

Dietrich, General Josef (‘Sepp’) (1892–1966),early Nazi Party supporter and a close associate of Hitler for whom he formed a special bodyguard (Leibstandarte) in 1933. Despite having no advanced military training—he had been an NCO in the First World War— Dietrich successfully commanded this bodyguard when it was formed into a Waffen-SS formation, Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, which took part in almost every campaign the Germans fought and eventually became an SS Panzer Corps. In December 1944 he commanded Sixth Panzer Army (later Sixth SS Panzer Army) which played a crucial role in the Ardennes campaign and which later fought in Hungary and Austria, where its failure led to his dismissal. Hitler called him ‘simultaneously cunning, energetic, and brutal’, and in July 1946 a US military court gave him a life sentence for the Malmédy massacre. He was released in 1955, but was again imprisoned for nine months by a West German court in 1957.

Bibliography

Messenger, C. , Hitler's Gladiator (London, 1988).

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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Dietrich, General Josef (‘Sepp’)." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Dietrich, General Josef (‘Sepp’)." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-DietrichGeneralJosefSepp.html

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. " Dietrich, General Josef (‘Sepp’)." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-DietrichGeneralJosefSepp.html

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