elite motorized panzer grenadier division.
Dietrich then returned to Russia for more
hard fighting under Gen. Paul Hausseruntil
March 1943, when he gained command of the
First SS Panzer Corps. This mighty formation
consisted of the original Leibstandarte and
two newcomers, the Das Reich and Totenkopf
Panzer Divisions. This elite combat formation
of the Third Reich fought with brutal effi-
ciency in southern Russia, reaffirming the
SS’s reputation as having some of the most
formidable soldiers anywhere.
In September 1943, Dietrich’s command
was recalled to Italy for an “important” as-
signment. He was to rescue Clara Petacci,
mistress of Benito Mussolini, from impris-
onment and restore her to the arms of Il Duce.
That done, his SS troops were assigned to
transport Allied prisoners from Italy to Ger-
many, and in none too subtle a manner. Die-
trich next arrived in France as part of German
forces under Gen. Gerd von Rundstedt, a
sneering aristocrat who had little respect for
the low-born Dietrich, and pronounced him
“decent but stupid.” There, on June 6, 1944,
the First SS Panzer Corps was heavily en-
gaged in Operation Overlord, the Allied land-
ing at Normandy. Dietrich was in the thick of
fighting as usual, this time against British
forces in the vicinity of Caen. The SS troops
attacked with their customary vigor, but even
these hard-bitten troops wilted before Allied
airpower and naval gunfire. “I’m being bled
white and I’m getting nowhere!” he com-
plained to Gen. Erwin Rommel. Driven back
with heavy losses, Dietrich entrenched and
managed to contain British breakout attempts
well into July. He then fought a losing battle
trying to contain the rapidly expanding beach-
head, which broke lose at Saint-Lô on July 25,
and was later heavily repulsed in a major Ger-
man counterattack at Mortain. The Germans
were then badly mauled at the Falaise Pocket
before falling back to their own frontiers. For
his combat leadership at Normandy, which
had been brave—if tactically clumsy—Hitler
promoted Dietrich to colonel general and
awarded him the diamond clasps to his Iron
Cross. Only 27 men received such distinction
during World War II.
In the fall of 1944, the Third Reich was in
desperate straits, so Hitler gambled every-
thing on a surprise offensive through the Ar-
dennes to capture Antwerp and cut off the Al-
lies from their supplies. Dietrich was then
assigned control of the Sixth SS Army, which
would attack in tandem with the Fifth Panzer
Army under Gen. Hasso von Manteuffel.
His mission was to lead the northern wing of
the advance over heavily wooded terrain with
very few roads. The difficulties to be sur-
mounted would have daunted the most expe-
rienced commander, but Dietrich, who lacked
talent for handling large bodies of troops, re-
ceived it for political reasons. At this stage of
the war, the old SS hand was one of few sen-
ior commanders that Hitler still trusted. The
choice of Dietrich may have been politically
reassuring, but it held dire military conse-
quences for the Third Reich.
Commencing on December 17, 1944, the
Germans attacked American forces along a
50-mile front. Surprise was complete, and the
defenders fell back in confusion for several
miles. Significantly, Dietrich’s Sixth SS Panzer
Army was spearheaded by Lt. Col. Jochem
Peiper, who massacred 71 American prison-
ers at Malmedy. News of this affair only stiff-
ened American resolve, and at length Diet-
rich’s force was stalled in heavy fighting at
Monshau, Elsenborn Ridge, and the Ambleve
River. The 82nd Airborne Division under Gen.
Matthew B. Ridgway proved particularly un-
movable. However, Manteuffel, with far fewer
troops, attacked more diligently and made
much greater progress. His Panzer Lehr Divi-
sion under Gen. Fritz Bayerleinwas on the
verge of reaching the Meuse River and called
for reinforcements from the Sixth SS Army,
but neither Hitler nor Dietrich consented.
Thus, the entire offensive collapsed for want
of shifting readily available reserves, and
within a month the weakened and exhausted
German forces were back at their original
starting point. The noose around the Third
Reich drew tighter.DIETRICH, JOSEF