Hitler's Gladiator: The Life and Wars of Panzer Army Commander Sepp Dietrich

by Charles Messenger

A charismatic yet notorious character, Sepp Dietrich the man is impossible to separate from Sepp Dietrich the General, who was awarded twenty-four different honors during his service to the Nazi party and was known for his devotion to his men as he led them through some of the fiercest fighting in the war. In this extensively researched book, historian Charles Messenger attempts to discover the truth about this sparsely documented man, painting a vivid picture of the aggressive war and politics under the Third Reich. From Dietrich’s humble upbringing and his eventual rise to General, to his dissatisfaction with Hitler’s leadership and the trials he faced after the war, Dietrich remains a mysterious figure in history.

Genres: Biography, World War II, History, Military History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Germany

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Charles Rynd Milles Messenger was a British Army officer and writer. He served for many years in the Royal Tank Regiment (19 years as a Regular, 13 years as a Territorial) before becoming a military historian and defense analyst after his retirement from active service. In addition to having published more than forty books during his long career, he also carried out several historical analyses for the Ministry Of Defence and was a writer and/or adviser for several TV documentary series.

Reviews

[Christopher Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF - I read about 30 % into this dry-as-dust account of Dietrich without ever getting a sense of the man as a person or even as a soldier. Page after page of people's names, party names, military groups etc. would go by without even a mention of Dietrich or his place in the whole movement of history. There's a lot of research here as evidenced by the numerous footnotes but Messenger doesn't tell a story or give any sense of the times from a human perspective...just a recitation of facts. Pity.

[Alistair Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly decent biography of Sepp Dietrich, a somewhat ambigious figure. A SS General he was regarded as a soldiers soldier by his men who he seems to have been extremely loyal to. A close associate of Hitler but seemingly not a fanatical Nazi he was implicated in war crimes which may or may not have been totally fair. There are a number of photos included. The drawback to this biography is that there isn`t a sense of the man himself, the focus, naturally is on the war years but most of his life is brushed over in a few pages, all in all underwhelming.

[William Sariego · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining enough and informative, but nothing spectacular. Dietrich was a far more dimensional than most historians have painted him.

[Lyle Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of Information!

[Robert LoCicero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is quite a story. It is a military adventure read that is historical and yet reads smoothly with only a few hiccups. Author Messenger has written an extensive and well-researched tome on a most fascinating military leader of the 20th Century. From his time during military service for Germany during World War I through the turmoil and violence of the period between the World Wars to the horror and butchery that was World War II, Sepp Dietrich was true to his humble beginnings but filled with honor and drive to be a successful military leader for his nation (the Fatherland). This meant that he was concerned for his fellow soldiers, reverential (but not overly so) to the better educated military leaders of the German Army, willing to follow orders of his leader, Adolf Hitler, but maintaining some semblance of humane behavior in the chaos and death of brutal 20th Century warfare. It is true that he was there in the early days of Rightist uprisings in post-WW I Germany including fighting against communist agitators, possible participation in Hitler's aborted Nov 1923 Putsch (revolt), participating in police actions against opposition in Bavaria and rising through the personnel rooster of the early Nazi party of Hitler. Dietrich was even there at the Gotterdammerung for the German SA and their leader, Rohm, during the 1934 purge known as the Night of the Long Knives.
Author Messenger goes over all this history in detail well researched and notated. It makes for fascinating reading and yet the best was still to come. The war years from 1939 to the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945 shows the essence of this General, Sepp Dietrich, as he moves up from leadership of the regiment originally setup as the personal bodyguard of Hitler, the infamous Leibstandarte, to Army Commander of the Sixth Panzer Army. Dietrich was serving all these years in the Waffen SS, the military arm of the infamous SS of Himmler. This was a reason that he was not viewed favorably by many high ranking leaders in the regular German Army, the Wehrmacht. This also meant that Dietrich got special attention from the victorious Allies at the end of World War II, standing trial with many other Nazi personnel for war crimes and atrocities they committed. The author concludes this historical record with copious details of the post-war trials, investigations, public and political pressures and family and friends' efforts on behalf of prisoner Dietrich.
Overall, this volume is a stupendous work with neutral commentary despite the gruesome detail discussed during ferocious fighting on the Soviet front, in Holland and France and finally in the shrinking German territory fought over in 1945. One must remember that these are blood and bone humans fighting for causes of moral (as they saw it) importance or glory as has been a driver of warfare since Ancient times. To the victors come the spoils and they set the view of how their defeated enemy is to be portrayed. That certainly occurred in the case of Sepp Dietrich. If you want to really get into the fighting and political struggles in Europe in the years 1911 through 1956 one must attempt to read this volume. It may be difficult with the sprinkling of German military nomenclature and some hard to read text (usually involving direct quotes from participants), but if you can overcome those issues you will learn the depth of man's capacity for outrage, barbarism and comradery.

[Claus Andersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

He wasn't a nazi and apparently a good guy. Even though he was one of Adolf Hitler's best friends. Right? Hardly ...

[Timothy Gretler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, Dietrich has always been painted with the SS brush and yes he made bad political choices, but he was a soldier's soldier in the end.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked very much. Any one interested in WWII should read. Changed my opinion of Sepp Dietrich.

[Joe Holman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional book. I've read a lot of historical books but never one that showed me the Nazi's from the viewpoint of one of their SS commanders who was also close to Hitler.

I learned a lot.