Sepp Dietrich rose further than almost any soldier of his background had a right to. A butcher's son and First World War veteran, he became Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard in the 1920s, and on that closeness built an extraordinary career: in 1933 he formed and led the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Hitler's personal guard regiment, and by 1944 he commanded the 6th Panzer Army. His men adored him, and he was undeniably brave — but abler generals thought him promoted far beyond his talents, and his record holds worse than incompetence. He took part in the murders of the 1934 "Night of the Long Knives," and after the war an American tribunal convicted him of war crimes for the Malmedy massacre of American prisoners, killed by his troops in the Ardennes.

K&C's figure shows Dietrich striding forward in the green parade uniform and greatcoat of a senior SS general, the "LAH" cuff title of the Leibstandarte at his wrist. He belongs with the unit he founded, the Leibstandarte, and with the subordinate whose battlegroup carried out the Malmedy killings his army was convicted over, Joachim Peiper — and with K&C's other portrait of him, the standing Sepp Dietrich. In a display of the SS leadership he is a study in the type: the loyal Nazi soldier whose devotion to Hitler carried him to the top, and to the dock.

Model: LAH204 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set