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{{Short description|
{{Infobox military person
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| name
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| image
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| birth_name
| other_name
| nickname
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| placeofburial_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}}-->
| allegiance
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* {{army|German Empire}}
|serviceyears = 1914-18<br/>1921-33▼
** {{army|Prussia}}
* {{army|Weimar Republic}}
|servicenumber = ▼
{{Tree list/end}}
|unit = 41st Infantry Regiment▼
|commands = ▼
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* [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]]
| awards
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| relations
| laterwork
| signature
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|embed_title = [[Freikorps#Post–World War I|Freikorps]] and [[SS]] career
|allegiance = {{flag|Weimar Republic}}<br/>{{flag|Nazi Germany}}
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|servicenumber = [[NSDAP]] #4,264,295<br/>SS #253,351
|unit =
|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]]
|battles = [[World War II]]
*[[Invasion of Poland]]
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*[[Battle of Berlin]]
|awards = [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords]]
}}
}} '''Felix Martin Julius Steiner''' (23 May 1896 – 12 May 1966) was a German [[SS]] commander during the [[Nazi era]]. During [[World War II]], he served in the [[Waffen-SS]], the combat branch of the SS, and commanded several SS divisions and corps. He was awarded the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords]]. Together with [[Paul Hausser]], he contributed significantly to the development and transformation of the Waffen-SS into a combat force made up of volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and un-occupied lands.{{sfn|Bender|Taylor|1971|p=23}}{{sfn|Stein|1984|pp=xxiv, xxv, 150, 153}}
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Steiner was chosen by [[Heinrich Himmler]] to oversee the creation of and then command the [[SS Division Wiking]]. In 1943, he was promoted to the command of the [[III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps|III SS Panzer Corps]]. On 28 January 1945, Steiner was placed in command of the [[11th SS Panzer Army]], which formed part of a new [[Army Group Vistula]], an ad-hoc formation to defend [[Berlin]] from the Soviet armies advancing from the [[Vistula River]].
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
After the [[End of World War II in Europe|capitulation of Germany]], Steiner was imprisoned and investigated for war crimes. He faced charges at the [[Nuremberg Trials]], but they were dropped and he was released in 1948. In 1953, Steiner was recruited by the U.S. [[Central Intelligence Agency]] to found the ''Gesellschaft für Wehrkunde'' ("Society for Defense Studies"), composed of former German military officers, as a propaganda tool and a military think tank for the [[rearmament of West Germany]].
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==World War I==
==SS career==
Steiner first joined the [[Nazi Party]] (NSDAP) (membership number: 4,264,295) and the ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA). In 1935 he enlisted in the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]]. He took command of a battalion of ''[[SS-Verfügungstruppen]]'' (SS-VT) troops, and within a year had been promoted to SS-''Standartenführer''; and later was put in command of the ''SS-Deutschland'' Regiment.
At the outbreak of [[World War II]], he was [[SS-Oberführer]] (senior 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, the division consisted mostly of non-German volunteers (Dutch, Flemish, Finns and Scandinavians), including the Danish regiment [[Frikorps Danmark]].{{
In April 1943, he was placed in command of a newly formed [[III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps|III SS Panzer Corps]]. The unit participated in [[Bandenbekämpfung|anti-partisan actions]] in Yugoslavia. In November/December 1943 his corps was transferred to the Eastern Front and positioned in the northern sector at Leningrad under [[Army Group North]]. Steiner's Panzer Corps played a leading role during the [[Battle of Narva (1944)|Battle of Narva]] and the [[Battle of Tannenberg Line]]. His unit then withdrew with the rest of [[Army Group North]] to the [[Courland Peninsula]].
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==Battle of Berlin==
{{Main|Battle of Berlin}}
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.
==Post-war==
[[File:Parvilahti ja kenraali Steiner crop pieni.jpg|thumb|Post-war photo of Steiner with SS veterans [[Unto Parvilahti]] (r) and Aarne Roiha (l).]]
After the surrender, Steiner was incarcerated until 1948. He faced charges at the [[Nuremberg Trials]], but they were dropped and he was released.
In 1953, Steiner was recruited by the U.S. [[Central Intelligence Agency]] to found the ''Gesellschaft für Wehrkunde'' ("Society for Defense Studies"), composed of former German military officers, as a propaganda tool and a military think tank for [[West German rearmament]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schmitt |first1=Tobias |title=U.S. intelligence and the nascent transatlantic security architecture of the Cold War – the case of the 'Gesellschaft für Wehrkunde' |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16161262.2019.1697547 |journal=Journal of Intelligence History |access-date=6 February 2021 |pages=103–121 |doi=10.1080/16161262.2019.1697547 |date=2 January 2020|volume=19 |s2cid=214247487 }}</ref> With [[Paul Hausser]], [[Herbert Gille]] and [[Otto Kumm]], Steiner became a founding member of [[HIAG]], the lobby group founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS officers in West Germany in 1951.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schön |first1=Bosse |title=Svenskarna som stred för Hitler |date=Nov 2, 2015 |publisher=Bokförlaget Forum}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bale |first1=Jeffrey M. |title=The Darkest Sides of Politics, I: Postwar Fascism, Covert Operations, and Terrorism |date=Sep 4, 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317659464}}</ref>
Despite being an ardent German nationalist and veteran, he was not fanatical like [[Theodore Ramcke]]. In fact, then Ramcke began making truly odious comments to HIAG rallies, Steiner distanced himself from Ramcke.
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 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}}▼
▲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}}
A second book was published in 1963 under the title ''Die Armee der Geächteten'' (English: "The Army of the Outlaws") and was also tendentious.{{sfn|Sydnor|1990|p=145}}
Steiner died on 12 May 1966, 11 days before his 70th birthday
==Summary of SS career==
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* On 31 December 1940 SS-Germania Division renamed SS-Wiking Division
* On 9 November 1942 SS-Wiking redesignated 5.SS-Wiking Panzergrenadier Division (I),
* 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]]
* Command of the [[III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps]] a corps in the [[3rd Panzer Army|Third Panzer Army]]
* On 21 April 1945 what remained of Steiner's command redesignated [[Army Detachment Steiner]]
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{{Subject bar
| portal1=Biography
▲| portal3=World War I
}}
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[[Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Liberty, 1st Class with a Star]]
[[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States]]
[[Category:Nazi war criminals]]
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