Josef Sepp Dietrich

Josef "Sepp" Dietrich was born on 28 May 1892. He had served in the German Army during World War I and was a decorated soldier for his bravery. He joined Hitler's SS and became the head of his personal bodyguard. He would lead members of the SS during the purge of Rohm and the various SA leaders targetted during the Night of Long Knives. He went on to become a leader of Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and rose in the ranks quickly throughout World War 2. Dietrich was a blunt and honest man, and he made his opinion known to his superiors and to his fellow officers which drew the ire of many but had also "proven" his loyalty to Himmler and Hitler. His honesty and uninterest in politics made him a perfect "agent" for the Fuhrer and Reichsfuhrer. They both never doubted his loyalty and had high hopes for their trusted man. While on the Eastern Front, Dietrich was noted for believing that the Russians could not be defeated even when leading the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, which was very unpopular with many of his peers yet he would continue to fight even with these opinions. Hitler would lose his trust in many of the Wehrmacht High Command after the multiple assassination attempts and failed coup, so Dietrich was promoted, along with other party and SS leaders, to command entire armies of the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS Divisions. He was tasked with holding the Western Front and commanding the counter offensive that eventually failed. He surrendered to the US Army in 1945 but would live until 1966 when he would die of a heart attack. He was considered to be a brutal and merciless leader but had gained the undying respect of his soldiers. For Dietrich's funeral, somewhere between six to seven thousand soldiers that fought under his command came to pay their respects to their fallen commander.