Felix Steiner

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Felix Steiner as an SS-Gruppenführer, Spring 1943.
Felix Steiner as an SS-Gruppenführer, Spring 1943.

Felix Martin Julius Steiner (May 23, 1896–May 12, 1966) was a German Heer and Waffen-SS officer who served in both World War I and World War II.

Steiner ranks as one of the most innovative commanders of the Waffen-SS. He skillfully commanded the SS-Deutschland Regiment through the invasions of Poland, France and the Low Countries. He was then chosen by Himmler to oversee the creation of, and then command the volunteer SS Division, SS-Division Wiking. In 1943, he was promoted to command of III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps, and by the end of the War he was in command of the 11th SS Panzer-Army. His sensible refusal to attack the Russians (who outnumbered his worn out and exhausted unit by 10:1) advancing on Berlin resulted in one of Hitler's most infamous outbursts when he found out about it on April 22nd, 1945.

Imprisoned until 1948, he was cleared of all charges of War Crimes and after writing several apologist works, died on May 12, 1966.

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[edit] Career

Felix Martin Julius Steiner was born on May 23, 1896 in Stallupönen, East Prussia.

In 1914, on the eve of war, Steiner joined the Prussian Officer Corps as a cadet. During the course of the war, he earned the Iron Cross first and second class and finished the war as an Oberleutnant.

After the war, Steiner led a unit of Freikorps in the East Prussian city of Memel. He rejoined the army in 1922 and by 1933 had attained the rank of Major.

After the NSDAP takeover, Steiner joined the Reichswehr staff and began work developing new training techniques and tactics.

During this time he was exposed to the training and doctrines of the Schutzstaffel and Sturmabteilung. He was intrigued by the training techniques of the SS-Verfügungstruppen (SS-VT; The precursors of the Waffen-SS), which placed emphasis on unit cohesion and trust, with an informal relationship between the enlisted and commissioned ranks. In 1935, Steiner took command of a Battalion of SS-VT troops, and within a year had been promoted to SS-Standartenführer and was in command of the SS-Deutschland Regiment.

Felix Steiner, right, with officers of Regiment SS-Deutschland, autumn 1940.
Felix Steiner, right, with officers of Regiment SS-Deutschland, autumn 1940.

The outbreak of war saw Steiner as an SS-Oberführer and still in charge of the SS-Deutschland. He led his regiment well through Invasion of Poland and the Battle of France, earning the Knight's Cross on 15 August 1940.

[edit] Wiking Division

After the early war campaigns, Steiner was chosen by SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler to oversee the creation of, and then command the new volunteer SS Division, SS-Division Wiking. The Wiking was made up of Non-German volunteers, and at the time of its creation consisted mostly of Dutch, Walloons, and Scandinavians.

In the Wiking Division, Steiner created a capable formation from disparate elements, and he commanded them competently through the many battles in the east from 1941 until his promotion to command of the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps.

While there are several incidents documented by historians in which the division engaged in massacres, the Wiking's official combat record is clear of any specific War Crimes prosecutions.

[edit] Army Group Vistula

In January 1945, Stiener along with the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps was transfered from the Courland Pocket to help with the defence of the German homeland.

The III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps was assigned to Army Group Vistula and put under a new paper army called Eleventh SS Panzer Army. Stiener was assigned as commander of this army which was to be the general reserve during the Soviet's Berlin Offensive Operation. During the Battle of Halbe, the first major battle of the offensive, General Gotthard Heinrici, the commander of Army Group Vistula transfered most of the III SS Panzer Corps's divisions to corps in General Theodor Busse's German Ninth Army.

Steiner had always been one of Hitler's favourite commanders, who admired his 'get the job done' attitude and the fact that he owed his allegiance to the Waffen SS, not the Prussian Officer Corps. Joseph Goebbels also praised Steiner. "He is energetic and purposeful and is attacking his job with great verve," Goebbels wrote on March 1, 1945.

By 21 April, Soviet Marshal Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front had broken through the German lines on the Seelow Heights. Adolf Hitler, ignoring the facts, started to call the ragtag units that came under Steiner's command "Army Detachment Steiner" (Armeeabteilung Steiner) something more than a corps but less than an army. He ordered Steiner to attack the northern flank of the huge salient created by the 1st Belorussian Front's breakout while the Ninth Army which had been pushed south of the salient was to attack north in a pincer attack. To facilitate this attack Steiner was assigned the three divisions of the Ninth Army's CI Army Corps, the 4th SS Police Division, the 5th Jäger Division, the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division — all were north of the Finow Canal on the Northen flank of Zhukov's saliant — and Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps which was still east of Berlin with it's northern flank just below Werneuchen.[1][2]

The three divisions to the north were to attack south from Eberswalde (on the Finow Canal and 24 kilometres (fifteen miles) east of Berlin) towards the the LVI Panzer Corps, so cutting the 1st Belorussian Front's salient in two. Steiner called Heinrici and informed him that the plan could not be implemented because the 5th Jäger Division and the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division were deployed defensivly and could not be redeployed until the II Naval Division arrived from the coast to relieve them. This left only only two battalions of the 4th SS Police Division were available and they had no comabt weapons. Heinrici called Hans Krebs Chief German General Staff, told him that the plan could not be implemented and asked to speak to Hitler, but was told Hitler was too busy to take his call.[1][2]

When on 22 April at his afternoon confrence Hitler became convinced that Steiner was not going to attack he fell into a tearful rage. He declared that the war was lost, he blamed the generals and announced that he would stay on in Berlin until the end and then kill himself.

[edit] End of the War - Peacetime

After the surrender, Steiner was incarcerated until 1948. He faced charges at the Nuremberg Trials, but they were all dropped and he was released. He dedicated the last decades of his life to writing his memoirs and several books about the war. These books have been viewed as apologist. Steiner died on 12 May 1966.

[edit] Promotions

[edit] Commands

[edit] Reference

  • Beevor, Antony. Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5
  • Trevor-Roper, Hugh. Final Entries 1945 The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1978.
  • Ziemke, Earl F. Battle For Berlin: End Of The Third Reich, NY:Ballantine Books, London:Macdomald & Co, 1969.

[edit] Footnotes

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