HITLER'S GLADIATOR: The Life and Wars of Panzer Army Commander Sepp Dietrich

by Charles Messenger

Hitler's Gladiator is the life of German general Josef 'Sepp' Dietrich, who rose from private soldier in the Kaiser's army to command an SS panzer army in the closing stages of the Second World War.

Dietrich was one of the more notorious but intriguing characters of the Nazi era. It is impossible to disassociate him from the excesses of the Hitler regime, he was close to the heart of the party and Hitler himself and was twice convicted as a war criminal.

However, he was also an effective and much admired military commander; he was devoted to his men and led them through some of the fiercest fighting and harshest conditions experienced during the war.

In this revised and extensively illustrated paperback edition, Charles Messenger provides an objective account of the life and times of Sepp Dietrich, painting a vivid picture of life under the Third Reich.

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

264 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.

[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!

[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.