Felix Steiner: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|German Waffen-SS commander, SS-Obergruppenführer(1896–1966)}}

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| name = Felix Steiner

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| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1973-138-14A, Felix Steiner.jpg

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| caption = Steiner in 1942 as [[SS-''Gruppenführer'']]

| birth_name = Felix Martin Julius Steiner

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|5|23|df=y}}

| birth_place = [[Nesterov|Stallupönen]], [[German Empire]]<br>{{small|(now [[Nesterov]], [[Russia]])}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1966|5|12|1896|5|23|df=y}}

| death_place = [[Munich]], [[West Germany]]

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| allegiance = {{flag|German Empire}}<br/>{{flag|Weimar Republic}}

| branch = {{army|Prussia}}<br/>{{army|WeimarTree Republiclist}}

|battles rank = [[World WarMajor I(rank)|Major]]

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| laterwork = Founding member of [[HIAG]], Waffen-SS lobby group

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| module = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes

|branch = [[Freikorps#Post-WorldPost–World War I|Freikorps]]<br/>[[Sturmabteilung|SA]], [[Schutzstaffel|SS]], [[Waffen-SS]]

|commands = [[2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich|SS Division Das Reich]]<br/>[[5th SS Panzer Division Wiking|SS Division Wiking]]<br/>[[III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps|III SS Panzer Corps]]<br/>[[Army Detachment Steiner|Kampfgruppen Steiner]]

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On 21 April 1945, during the [[Battle for Berlin]], Steiner was placed in command of [[Army Detachment Steiner]], with which [[Adolf Hitler]] ordered Steiner to envelop the [[1st Belorussian Front]] through a [[pincer movement]], advancing from the north of the city.<ref name="Beevor310" /> However, as his unit was outnumbered by ten to one, Steiner made it clear that he did not have the capacity for a counter-attack on 22 April during the daily situation conference in the ''[[Führerbunker]]''.<ref name="Beevor310">{{Harvnb|Beevor|2002|pp=310–312}}</ref>{{sfn|Ziemke|1968|p=89}}

BornSteiner inwas born on 23 May 1896 in [[Stalluponen]] in [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], Felix(in Steiner[[East Prussia]]) [[German Empire]]. He joined the [[Royal Prussian Army]] as an infantry cadet. During [[World War I]], he was awarded the [[Iron Cross]] 1st and 2nd class.<ref name=Thorlf>{{cite book |last1=Hillblad |first1=Thorolf |title=Twilight of the Gods: A Swedish Volunteer in the 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Nordland" on the Eastern Front |date=May 28, 2009 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=9781461752035 |page=132}}</ref> In 1919, Steiner joined the paramilitary ''[[Freikorps]]'' in the East Prussian city of [[Klaipėda|Memel]] during the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|German Revolution]] and was later incorporated into the ''[[Reichswehr]]'' in 1921. In 1933, he left the army having attained the rank of major.

At the outbreak of [[World War II]], he was [[SS-Oberführer]] (Seniorsenior leader) in charge of the Waffen-SS regiment ''SS-Deutschland''. He led this regiment through the [[Invasion of Poland]] and the [[Battle of France]], for which he was awarded the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] on 15 August 1940. Steiner was introduced to [[Heinrich Himmler]], the head of the SS, to oversee the creation of, and then command the new [[SS Division Wiking]]. This division was militarily successful but also very barbaric in the [[Operation Barbarossa|invasion of the Soviet Union]], for example killing 600 Jews in [[Zboriv]], Ukraine.<ref>[https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd122354036.html#ndbcontent Steiner, Felix] in the Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German)</ref> At the time of its creation, itthe division consisted mostly of non-German volunteers (Dutch, Flemish, Finns and Scandinavians), including the Danish regiment [[Frikorps Danmark]].{{cncitation needed|date=October 2022}}

In January 1945, Steiner along with the [[III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps|III SS Panzer Corps]] was transferred by ship from the [[Courland Pocket]] to help with the defence of the German homeland. The corps was assigned to [[Army Group Vistula]] under the new [[Eleventh SS Panzer Army]] although the army really existed only on paper. Once the Soviet Army had reached the [[Oder|Oder River]], the [[11th SS Panzer Army|Eleventh SS Panzer Army]] became inactive, and the III SS Panzer Corps was reassigned to the [[3rd Panzer Army|German Third Panzer Army]] as a reserve during the Soviets' [[Berlin Offensive Operation]]. During the [[Battle of Seelow Heights]], the first major battle of the offensive, General [[Gotthard Heinrici]], the commander of Army Group Vistula, transferred most of the III SS Panzer Corps' divisions to General [[Theodor Busse]]'s [[9th Army (Wehrmacht)|Ninth Army]].

By 21 April, [[Soviet Marshal]] [[Georgi Zhukov]]'s [[1st Belorussian Front]] had broken through the German lines on the [[Seelow Heights]]. Hitler, ignoring the facts, started to call the ragtag units that came under Steiner's command, the [[Army Detachment Steiner]] ([[Army Detachment Steiner|''Armeeabteilung Steiner'']]).

Hitler ordered Steiner to attack the northern flank of the huge [[salients, re-entrants and pockets|salient]] that had been created by the [[1st Belorussian Front]]'s breakout. Steiner's attack was supposed to coincide with General [[Theodor Busse]]'s [[9th Army (Wehrmacht)|Ninth Army]] attacking from the south in a [[Pincer movement|pincer attack]]. The Ninth Army had been pushed to south of the 1st Belorussian Front's salient. To facilitate the attack, Steiner was assigned the three divisions of the Ninth Army's [[CI Army Corps]]: the [[4th SS Polizei Division|4th SS Panzergrenadier Division ''Polizei'']], the [[5th Jäger Division]] and the [[25th Panzergrenadier Division (Germany)|25th Panzergrenadier Division]]. All three divisions were north of the [[Finow Canal]] on the Northern flank of Zhukov's salient. [[Helmuth Weidling|General Helmuth Weidling]]'s [[LVI Panzer Corps]], which was still east of Berlin with its northern flank just below [[Werneuchen]], was also ordered to participate in the attack.{{sfn|Beevor|2002|pp=267–268}}{{sfn|Ziemke|1968|pp=87–88}} The three divisions from [[CI Army Corps (Wehrmacht)|CI Army Corps]] planned to attack south from [[Eberswalde]] on the Finow Canal towards the [[LVI Panzer Corps]]. The three divisions from CI Army Corps were 24 kilometres (about 15 miles) east of Berlin, and the attack to the south would cut the 1st Belorussian Front's salient into two. Steiner called Heinrici and informed him that the plan could not be implemented because the [[5th Jäger Division (Wehrmacht)|5th Jäger Division]] and the [[25th Panzergrenadier Division]] were deployed defensively and could not be redeployed until the [[2nd Naval Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|2nd Naval Division]] arrived from the coast to relieve them. That left only two battalions of the [[4th Panzergrenadier Division (Bundeswehr)|4th SS Panzergrenadier Division]] available, and they had no combat weapons.

Based on Steiner's assessment, Heinrici called General [[Hans Krebs (Wehrmacht general)|Hans Krebs]], [[Chief of staff (military)|Chief of Staff]] of the [[German General Staff]] of the [[Oberkommando des Heeres|Army High Command]] (''[[Oberkommando des Heeres]]'' or OKH), and told him that the plan could not be implemented. Heinrici asked to speak to Hitler but was told Hitler was too busy to take his call.{{sfn|Beevor|2002|pp=267–268}}{{sfn|Ziemke|1968|pp=87–88}} On 22 April 1945, at his afternoon conference, Hitler, becoming aware that Steiner was not going to attack, fell into a tearful rage. Hitler finally declared that the war was lost, blamed the generals for the Reich's defeat and announced that he would remain in Berlin until the end and [[Death of Adolf Hitler|then kill himself]].{{sfn|Ziemke|1968|p=89}} On the same day, General [[Rudolf Holste]] was given the few mobile forces that Steiner commanded so that he could participate in a new plan to relieve Berlin. Holste was to attack from the north while General [[Walther Wenck]] attacked from the west and General [[Theodor Busse]] attacked from the south. The attacks amounted to little, and on 25 April, the Soviet forces attacking to the north and the south of Berlin linked up to the west of the city.

After the surrender, Steiner was incarcerated until 1948. He faced charges at the [[Nuremberg Trials]], but they were dropped for lack of solid evidence and he was released.

From his home in West Germany he published ''Die Freiwilligen der Waffen-SS: Idee und Opfergang'' ("The Volunteers of Waffen-SS: Idea and Sacrifice") in 1958. Steiner's books and memoirs have been characterised by historian [[Charles S. Sydnor|Charles Sydnor]] as one of the "most important works of apologist literature," together with warfare analyses ''Grenadiere'' by [[Kurt Meyer]] and ''[[Waffen-SS in Action]]'' by Paul Hausser. These works demanded rehabilitation of the military branch of the NSDAP, with Steiner's works being important in stressing the theme of the purely military Waffen-SS.{{sfn|Sydnor|1990|p=319}}

Steiner died on 12 May 1966, 11 days before his 70th birthday. He never married.

* 10 May 1943 to November 9, 1944, Commander of the [[III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps]]

* 26 November 1944 to March 5, 1945, Commander of the [[Eleventh SS Panzer Army|XI SS Panzer Army]]

[[Category:PeopleMilitary personnel from East Prussia]]

[[Category:GermanNazi ArmyParty personnel of World War Imembers]]