Little, Edward

In October 1909 he entered the military service as a fan-cadet (candidate for officer) in the 5th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. In October 1911 he was promoted to lieutenant. Before the start of World War I, he was the commander of a platoon of a machine-gun company of the 5th Bavarian Infantry Regiment.

With the outbreak of war - adjutant of the battalion of the 5th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. In September 1914 he was awarded the Iron Cross of the 2nd degree. In October 1914, seriously wounded.

From March 1915 to November 1916 he was again an adjutant of the battalion of the 5th Bavarian Infantry Regiment. Since July 1915 - lieutenant .

In September 1916 he was awarded the Iron Cross of the 1st degree. Then came the adjutant of the 7th Bavarian Infantry Brigade.

In October 1918, he was seriously injured a second time. Received a silver badge for being injured .

After the war, he continued to serve in the Reichswehr . In 1919 - in the volunteer corps of General Epp . Since August 1919 - captain.

In 1920-1924, the company commander in the 19th Infantry Regiment. In 1924-1928, a teacher at the infantry school. In 1928-1931, the chief of staff of the battalion of the 19th Infantry Regiment. Since 1930 - major.

In 1931-1934 - at headquarters posts (division, regiment). Since January 1935 - Colonel.

In 1935-1938 he commanded the 99th Mountain Regiment .

In 1936, during the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Colonel Dietl was appointed commandant of the Olympic Village.

Since April 1938 - Major General.

From May 1938 to April 1940 he commanded the 3rd Mountain Division .

Since April 1940 - Lieutenant General, commander of the Narvik Group of Forces ( Norwegian Campaign ). In May 1940 he was awarded the Knight's Cross (No. 25).

Since June 1940 - commander of the mountain corps "Norway" . In July 1940, for the fighting in the Narvik region, he was the first in the Third Reich to be awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross (No. 1), promoted to general of the Mountain Infantry Troops .

He participated in the war against the USSR, in the Arctic. Since June 1942 - Colonel General, commander of the 20th Mountain Army .

On June 23, 1944, he died in a plane crash Ju 52 in Austria together with Franz Rossi , Thomas-Emil von Wiekede and Karl Eglser , on July 1, 1944 he was posthumously awarded the Swords (No. 72) to the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.

He was buried at the Nordfriedhof cemetery in Munich .

• 2nd Class Iron Cross (September 16, 1914) ( Kingdom of Prussia )
• Class 1 Iron Cross (September 3, 1916)
• 4th Class Merit Order with Swords and Crown ( Kingdom of Bavaria )
• Medal "For Courage" ( Grand Duchy of Hesse )
• Breastplate "For the wounded" (1918) in silver
• Honorary Cross of the First World War 1914/1918 (1935)
• German Olympic honorary badge of the 1st class (1936)
• Medal “For the length of service in the Wehrmacht” from 4th to 1st grade (October 2, 1936)
• Medal “In memory of March 13, 1938”
• Medal “In memory of October 1, 1938”
• Buckle to the Iron Cross of the 2nd class (September 24, 1939)
• Buckle to the Iron Cross 1st class (April 15, 1940)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
  • Knight's Cross (May 9, 1940)
  • Oak Leaves (No. 1) (July 19, 1940)
  • Swords (No. 72) (July 1, 1944) (posthumous)
• Medal "For the Winter Campaign in the East 1941/42"
• Breastplate of the destroyer (November 5, 1940)
• Golden Party Badge of the NSDAP (January 30, 1943)
• Shield “For Narvik” (March 21, 1941, first award)
• Order of Merit Commander's Cross (August 17, 1933) ( Chile )
• Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland with a star and swords (November 9, 1941) Finland
• 1st Class Cross of the Order of the Cross of Liberty with oak leaves, swords and an order star (January 20, 1944) ( Finland )
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Liberty with swords (June 24, 1944) (posthumous) Finland
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht (June 10, 1940)

• In the Hubert Alles novel by Yuri Nesterenko and Mikhail Kharitonov, written in the alternative science fiction genre, Dietl becomes the German leader after the assassination of Hitler in 1941, and by 1943 he was successfully ending the war with the USSR for the Reich.
• In V. Pikul’s novel “ Ocean Patrol, ” the commander of the mountain rifle corps has the last name Ditm. Obviously, this is an authorial trick of a small change in the name of a real person Eduard Dietl.

• Zalessky K. A. Who was who in the Third Reich. - M .: AST , 2002 .-- 944 p. - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 5-271-05091-2 .
• Otto Freiherr von Waldenfels. Dietl, Eduard . - Berlin: Duncker und Humblot, 1957. - Vol. 3. - P. 674. - ( Neue Deutsche Biographie ). (German)
• Roland Kaltenegger. Generaloberst Dietl. Der Held von Narvik. Eine Biographie. - München: Universitas, 1990 .-- 457 p. - ISBN 3-8004-1221-7 . (German)
• Jakob Knab. Hitlers militärische Elite, Vom Kriegsbeginn bis Weltkriegsende. - Darmstadt: Primus Verlag, 1998 .-- Vol. 2. - P. 28-36. - ISBN 3-89678-089-1 . (German)
• Winfried Heinemann. Des 'Führers' General Eduard Dietl. - Paderborn: Schöningh Verlag, 2004 .-- 260 p. - ISBN 3-506-73821-6 . (German)
• Johannes Hürter. Hitlers Heerführer: Die deutschen Oberbefehlshaber im Krieg gegen die Sowjetunion 1941/42 . - 2. - München: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2007. - 719 p. - ISBN 3-486-58341-7 . (German)
• Gerd F. Heuer. Die Generalobersten des Heeres, Inhaber Höchster Kommandostellen 1933-1945. - 2. - Rastatt: Pabel-Moewig Verlag GmbH, 1997. - 224 p. - (Dokumentationen zur Geschichte der Kriege). - ISBN 3-811-81408-7 . (German)

• Eduard Dietl's biography on the Chronos website
• Brief biographical information on the website of the German Historical Museum (German)
• Eduard Dietl at Axis Biographical Research
• Biography of Edward Dietl at www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de (German)