After the Nazi seizure of power, Dietl took command of the 3rd
Mountain Division. In April 1940, Dietl was assigned the task of
capturing Narvik in northern Norway, the most difficult part of
the German invasion of Norway and Denmark. Dietl's troops
occupied Narvik, but a few days later Allied forces began the
reconquest of the area. Allied superiority forced Dietl to
withdraw, but he continued resistance even when Hitler was
willing to accept surrender. Shortly before a likely German
defeat at Narvik, the Allies recalled their troops from Norway
to France because of the German offensive there. Nazi propaganda
made Dietl a hero. In July 1940, Hitler awarded him the Oak
Leaves to the Knight's Cross. On 29 June 1941—one week after the
beginning of Operation barbarossa, the German invasion of the
Soviet Union—Dietl's division launched an attack toward
Murmansk. Dietl's task was to cut the railway connecting the
Murmansk harbor with the interior of the Soviet Union, but this
effort failed. In June 1942, Dietl was