In this book Charles Messenger has given us his product of deep research, drawing a broad picture of the story of the German nation from the end of one World War to the end of the next. The main thread running through it is drawn from the life and achievements of a man who, despite his close personal association with Adolf Hitler, his own humble origins and his intellectual limitations, was to prove an effective, if unusual soldier who rose to command an SS Panzer Army in the Battle of the Bulge. It is impossible to dissociate SS-Oberstgruppenführer und General der Waffen SS Josef (Sepp) Dietrich from the excesses of the Hitler regime. His position was far too close to the heart of the Naxi Party and to Hitler himself for him to have been other than an accessory after the fact of much that befell, despite his protestation that he was first and foremost a non-political soldier. - Jacket flap.

Includes index.

Introduction -- The early years, 1892-1918 -- Policeman and Oberlander, 1919-27 -- Hitler's bodyguard, 1927-33 -- SS Leibstandarte, 1933-39 -- Blitzkrieg, 1939-41 -- The Eastern front, 1941-43 -- Normandy, 1944 -- The Ardennes, 1944 -- Last flourish in the East, 1945 -- The Malmedy trial, 1945-46 -- War criminal and after, 1946-66 -- In perspective -- Appendixes. Text of the surrender terms agreed by Sepp Dietrich and Greek General Tsolakoglou on 20 April 1941 -- Waffen-SS divisions -- Waffen-SS ranks with US and British equivalents.