Oberst-Gruppenführer Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - a Personal Light-Weight Tunic

Oberst-Gruppenführer Josef "Sepp" Dietrich - a Personal Light-Weight TunicExpertly tailored khaki-color, lightweight cotton blend tunic for use in warm weather with open collar and four button front, French cuffs and four patch pockets. All buttons are gold pebbled, matching and removable. Tunic has an opening in the shoulder seam to fit the shoulder board, which has a transversal bar added to the base to secure the board but permit easy removal for laundering. Shoulder boards are for the rank of Oberst-Gruppenführer, of intertwined matte gold and aluminum cords on a mouse-grey underlay with three pips arranged in a triangle. An Ost-Front ribbon is hand-applied to the top buttonhole. The left sleeve has a Krim shield hand applied. There are loops on the left breast pocket for two awards and a party badge. The inside is unlined, with two inside breast pockets with slit openings added and removable shoulder padding. On the left cuff there is evidence of previous cufftitle placement (in April 1945 Hitler ordered Dietrich and all members of the LAH to remove their "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" cufftitles).The uniform was acquired from a U.S. Army veteran who was present for Dietrich's surrender/arrest. A period photograph of this tunic being worn is shown on pg. 327, volume one of Mark C Yerger's reference book entitled "Waffen SS Commanders". Cf. Michael D. Beaver "Uniforms of the Waffen SS", volume two, chapter thirteen, pg. 629.Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966) was a German politician and SS commander during the Nazi era. He joined the Nazi Party in 1928 and was elected to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in 1930. Prior to 1929, Dietrich was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard. He received rapid promotions in the SS after his participation in the extrajudicial executions of political opponents during the 1934 purge known as the Night of the Long Knives. Despite having no formal staff officer training, Dietrich was, along with Paul Hausser, the highest-ranking officer in the Waffen SS, the military branch of the SS. Reaching the rank of Oberst-Gruppenführer, he commanded units up to army level during World War II. As commanding officer of the 6th Panzer Army during the Battle of the Bulge, Dietrich bore responsibility for the Malmedy massacre, the murder of U.S. prisoners of war in December 1944.After the war, Dietrich was convicted of war crimes at the Malmedy massacre trial, conducted by the U.S. military tribunal, and later in West Germany for his involvement in the 1934 purge. Upon his release from the U.S. prison, he became active in HIAG, a lobby group established by former high-ranking Waffen SS personnel. Dietrich died in 1966.USA lot - more info hereCondition: I -