German Military Officer and Waffen-SS general and a convicted Nazi Military war criminal (1892-1966)
Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (May 28, 1892 – April 22, 1966) was a German politician and SS commander during the Nazi era. He joined the Nazi Party in 1928 and was elected to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in 1930. Prior to 1929, Dietrich was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard. Despite having no formal staff officer training, Dietrich was, along with Paul Hausser, the highest-ranking officer in the Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS. Reaching the rank of Oberst-Gruppenführer, he commanded units up to army level during World War II. As commanding officer of the 6th Panzer Army during the Battle of the Bulge, Dietrich bore responsibility for the Malmedy massacre, the murder of U.S. prisoners of war in December 1944. He was a SS-Oberfuhrer (Senior Colonel or Brigadier) from 1930-1931 and a SS-Gruppenfuhrer (Major-General or Lt-General) from 1931-1933 and a SS-Obergruppenfuhrer (Lieutenant-General or General) from 1933-1942 and finally SS-Oberstgruppenfuhrer (Colonel-General or Full General) from 1942-1945 .
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All I had to do was to cross the river, capture Brussels, and then go on to take the port of Antwerp. The snow was waist-deep and there wasn’t room to deploy four tanks abreast, let alone six armored divisions. It didn’t get light until eight and was dark again at four, and my tanks can’t fight at night. And all this at Christmas time!
There was no Geneva Convention. But we didn't shoot Russians either. Where would we get three million prisoners if we shot all the Russians? Propaganda! You can't open your mouth, even in the biggest democracy. Do you think it's so nice to sit in prison after ten years of war for the Fatherland? If I would be God, I would do it differently!