changed into one honoring World War I veteran Albert Leo Schlageter instead. The Bavarian town Freyung honoured Dietl by naming a street General-Dietl-Straße. Assessment Dietl was sent to Finland designated to be the "hero in the snow" (to be a counterpart to Rommel who would be the "hero in the sun", also given a secondary theatre leaving the main stage to Hitler). A convinced National Socialist and one of Hitler's favourite generals, he was the first German soldier to be awarded the oak leaves cluster to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross - on June 19th 1940. Dietl was also popular among his men and his Finnish allies. Historian Klaus Schmider remarks that Dietl had too much political baggage to compensate for his admirable record as a mountain troops leader. As a young officer, he refused to assist the civil government in crushing Hitler's abortive Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. He was also a founding member of the NSDAP. What has led the Bundeswehr and the German federal government to reverse honours towards Dietl, though, is his recently discovered view on marriages between Scandinavian women and his soldiers, which was "extreme even by the standards of the Third Reich": after Dietl circulated an order that called Norwegian and Finnish women "racial flotsam", Himmler himself had to intervene to rescind it. Awards Prince Regent Luitpold Medal (Bavaria; 12 March 1911) Iron Cross (1914) 2nd class (16 September 1914) & 1st class (3 September 1916) General Honour Decoration (Hesse) (16 October 1915) Wound Badge (1914) in Silver (1917) Bavarian Military Order of Merit 4th class with Swords (18 June 1918) & Commanders Cross (17 August 1933) Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (18 January 1935) Wehrmacht Long Service Award, 4th class with 1st class (2 October 1936) Olympic Games Decoration, 1st class (1936) Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd class (24 September 1939) & 1st class (15 April 1940) Destroyer War Badge (5 November 1940) Narvik Shield (21 March 1941) Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords Knight's Cross as Generalleutnant and commander of the 3. Gebirgs-Division (9 May 1940) 1st Oak Leaves as Generalleutnant and commanding general of the Gebirgs-Korps Norwegen (19 July 1940) Swords as Generaloberst and commander in chief of the 20. Gebirgs-Armee (1 July 1944, posthumously) Pilot/Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds(5 January 1941) Order of Merit, Commander's Cross with carry