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Sepp Dietrich Quotes

Josef "Sepp" Dietrich was an Oberst-Gruppenführer in the Waffen-SS, the armed paramilitary branch of the Schutzstaffel , who commanded units up to army level during World War II. Prior to 1929, he was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard but received rapid promotion after his participation in the extrajudicial executions of political opponents during the 1934 purge known as the Night of the Long Knives. He later commanded 6th Panzer Army during the Battle of the Bulge. Despite having no formal staff officer education, Dietrich was, along with Paul Hausser, the highest ranking officer in the Waffen-SS. After the war he was imprisoned by the United States for war crimes and later by West Germany for his involvement in the 1934 purge.

✵ 28. May 1892 – 21. April 1966
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Sepp Dietrich: 9   quotes 4   likes

Famous Sepp Dietrich Quotes

“(In early 1945) We call ourselves the "6th Panzer Army", because we've only got 6 Panzers left.”

Sepp Dietrich

Mitcham, Samuel W. (2006). Panzers in Winter: Hitler's Army and the Battle of the Bulge. p. 166.

“He (Hitler) knew even less than the rest. He allowed himself to be taken for a sucker by everyone.”

Sepp Dietrich

To David Irving, from "Hitler's Gladiator: The Life and Wars of Panzer Army Commander Sepp Dietrich" - by Charles Messenger - Biography & Autobiography - 2005 - Page 174

“All Asiatics are cruel dogs. All they captured of my soldiers, they beat to death. The Russian soldiers are very brave, stable, tough.”

Sepp Dietrich

To Leon Goldensohn, February 28, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004

“I'm iron. I lasted through ten years of war, and now I can last through this. It's true, it's not good for the nerves.”

Sepp Dietrich

To Leon Goldensohn, February 28, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004 - Page 280

“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!”

Sepp Dietrich

To Leon Goldensohn, February 28, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004

“We fought against an enemy six times as large as us.”

Sepp Dietrich

To Leon Goldensohn, February 28, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004

“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!”

Sepp Dietrich

About the Ardennes Offensive, quoted in "SS: Hell on the Western Front" - Page 166 - by Chris Bishop, Michael Williams - History - 2003

“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.”

Sepp Dietrich

Joseph Goebbels, diary entry, March 2, 1945

“It was the Hitler Offensive. It was brilliantly planned by Hitler but poorly executed by the generals. It was not Rundstedt who was at fault so much as Dietrich and his Sixth Army, which was not capable. Dietrich was no army commander and should never have been made one. This Sixth Army was an all-motorized panzer force.”

Sepp Dietrich

Hermann Göring, to Leon Goldensohn, May 24, 1946

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