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Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich was born in Hawangen, Bavaria, on 28th May 1892. He joined the German Army in 1911 and during the First World War he was decorated for valor and was a crewman in one of Germany's first tanks.

Dietrich was active in the Freikorps before joining the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). In 1928 he became a member of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and was selected by Adolf Hitler to become one of his personal bodyguards. In 1934 he led an execution squad during the Night of the Long Knives.

In 1940 Dietrich was given command of the 1st SS Panzer Division and took part in the invasion of France and Operation Barbarossa. He also fought in Italy where he was accused of badly treating Allied prisoners of war.

When the Allied forces landed in Normandy in June, 1944, Dietrich commanded three divisions of the 1st SS Panzer Corps. Dietrich led his troops well and in late 1944 Hitler placed the new 6th SS Panzer Army under his control. He now fought against the advancing Red Army and was greatly condemned for order the execution of Russian prisoners.

At the end of the war Dietrich fled west and surrendered to the USA Army on 8th May, 1945. He was found guilty of killing prisoners of war in Belgium and was sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment.

Dietrich served only ten years and when he was released he was arrested and charged for murders committed during the Night of the Long Knives. Found guilty he was sentenced to eighteen months in prison. Joseph (Sepp) Dietrich died of a heart attack at Ludwigsburg on 21st April, 1966.

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(1) Joseph Goebbels, diary (2nd March, 1945)

I talked to Sepp Dietrich and he told me of the next assignment given him by the Führer. He hopes to be able to start the operations in Hungary, which have so often been mooted, in about six days' time. He reckons that these operations will last some 10 to 12 days. If all goes well we can anticipate enormous success. Then, he thinks, he will be available for further operations in east Germany in 14 days. So far we have successfully concealed 6 SS Panzer Army's concentration in Hungary from the enemy; at least no counter-measures by him have been reported for the moment. In general terms, therefore, we can count on major operations in the east

German area being possible by the end of March. We have a long hard row to hoe till then, however.

Dietrich quite openly criticised measures taken by the Führer. He complains that the Führer does not give his military staff a sufficiently free hand and that this tendency has now become so pronounced that the Führer even lays down the employment of individual companies. But Dietrich is in no position to judge. The Führer cannot rely on his military advisers. They have so often deceived him and thrown dust in his eyes that he now has to attend to every detail. Thank God he does attend to them, for if he did not, matters would be even worse than they are anyway.