HITLER'S GLADIATOR: The Life and Wars of Panzer Army Commander Sepp Dietrich

Hitler's Gladiator is the life of German general Josef 'Sepp' Dietrich, who rose from private soldier in the Kaiser's army to command an SS panzer army in the closing stages of the Second World War. Dietrich was one of the more notorious but intriguing characters of the Nazi era. It is impossible to disassociate him from the excesses of the Hitler regime, he was close to the heart of the party and Hitler himself and was twice convicted as a war criminal. However, he was also an effective and much admired military commander; he was devoted to his men and led them through some of the fiercest fighting and harshest conditions experienced during the war. In this revised and extensively illustrated paperback edition, Charles Messenger provides an objective account of the life and times of Sepp Dietrich, painting a vivid picture of life under the Third Reich.