Steiner, Felix

Army Officer

Born in a family of immigrants from Austria who settled in East Prussia. In March 1914, he joined the 41st (5th East Prussian) infantry von Boyen Regiment, stationed in Tilsit , as a fanatic . Member of the First World War on the Eastern and Western fronts. In November 1914 he was seriously wounded, on January 27, 1915 he was promoted to lieutenant, and on October 10, 1918, he was promoted to lieutenant. He commanded a company in a machine gun battalion, during offensive military operations in 1918 on the Western Front, he served in shock units. He was awarded the Iron Cross of the 1st and 2nd class.

In 1919 he participated in the activities of the Volunteer Corps (Freikors) in East Prussia and the Baltic States , who fought against the left forces, for some time served in the Prussian Land Police. In 1921 he entered the Reichswehr service, was an adjutant of the infantry regiment, then he worked in the military training department of the Reichswehr. He was promoted to Hauptmann (captain), completed his service in the Reichswehr in the rank of major in 1933 .

SS member

In 1933 he joined the NSDAP (No. 4,264,195) and the SA , where he headed the military training system and drafted a guide to this issue. In 1935 he joined the SS (No. 253 351), on July 1, 1936 he was promoted to the rank of SS Standartenfuhrer and was appointed commander of the Deutschland SS standard (regiment) created shortly before this. It is considered one of the founders of the SS troops. Along with Paul Hausser and Cassius, Baron Montigny was among the organizers of the SS Junker school in Bad Tölz and the authors of training programs for the training of SS troops. He paid great attention to physical training and sports, giving them priority over drill training. He trained subordinates in battle tactics in small strike groups. All of these Steiner initiatives ran counter to conservative Prussian military traditions.

At the head of his regiment took part in the occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938 .

Participation in World War II

At the beginning of World War II , while continuing to command the regiment, he participated in battles on the Polish and French fronts, distinguished himself in Poland near Mlava and Modlin , and in the West - in Holland and near Dunkirk . On August 15, 1940 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . Since November 9, 1940 - SS brigadefuhrer and SS major-general.

Since December 1, 1940 - the commander of the 5th SS Viking Panzer Division , led its formation on the basis of his regiment and with the involvement of volunteers from Belgium, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries, which ended in April 1941. I was able to create a well-trained and fully combat-ready military unit, despite the heterogeneous nature of the sources of its acquisition. At the head of the division, he participated in hostilities on the Eastern Front - first in Ukraine , and then in the South of Russia, distinguishing himself in battles near Rostov-on-Don , Tuapse . In 1942, the Steiner division entered the Maykop oil fields in the Caucasus. Since January 30, 1942 - SS Groupführer and Lieutenant General of the SS troops. December 23, 1942 awarded Oak leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

From November 21, 1942 to January 2, 1943, Steiner, at the same time commanded the corps group of the SS troops ("Steiner group"). From March 30, 1943, he was the commander of the 3rd SS Panzer Corps (it included the 4th SS Police Motorized Division , the 11th Volunteer SS Motorized Division “Nordland” , and later also the 9th and 10th Airfield Divisions). July 1, 1943 was promoted to SS Obergruppenführer and SS generals. In January 1944, the 3rd SS Panzer Corps actively operated near Leningrad , preventing the encirclement of the 18th Army after lifting the blockade of the city. In the same year, he suffered significant losses in heavy defensive battles near Narva ( Estonia ). August 10, 1944 awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

In October 1944, in connection with a serious illness, he handed over command of the corps, but on February 5, 1945 he was appointed commander of the greatly weakened 11th Army , operating in Pomerania as part of the Wisla Army Group. Her commander, SS Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, tried to nominate SS officers to key posts. At the same time, according to Heinz Henet, author of The Black Order of the SS, Himmler was critical of Steiner, calling him "the most naughty of my generals." Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger, close to Himmler, argued: “Obergruppenführer Steiner cannot be educated. He does everything he wants and does not tolerate objections. "

After the counterattack of the 11th Army south of Stettin ended in failure, Steiner was removed from office on March 5, 1945, but on March 25 he became commander of the newly formed Army Group Steiner, which included three battered battalions of the division and the remains of the tank corps. On April 22, Steiner received an order from Adolf Hitler to launch a counterattack on the position of the Red Army in order to break through to Berlin . According to historian John Toland :

Of all the incredible orders Steiner has received over the past few months, this has been the most fantastic. His tank troops were nothing more than a name. They totaled only ten thousand soldiers who arrived from Danzig and Stettin by ships. And with these emaciated people and a handful of tanks he had to defeat the 100,000th army, which was supported by a powerful tank group. ^[one]

Kurt von Tippelskirch wrote the following about it: “The command of the Army Group Wisla concentrated under the command of the Obergruppenführer Steiner all the available reserves, Volkssturm and the remnants of the 9th Army thrown to the west - in short, everything that could be collected, and threw this into battle an impromptu group in the Eberswalde region and to the west, along the Havel-Oder canal up to Oranienburg with the aim of covering the open flank of the 3rd Panzer Army .

When Hitler learned on April 20 about the emergence of the Steiner group, he immediately got a new plan. The hastily assembled motley parts of Steiner were turned into an “army”. It was also supposed to include two divisions, defending east of Eberswalde and, in addition, improvised formations, which were to be put together at the expense of aviation. It was about 12-15 thousand people, who, however, in the best case, could be armed only with grenades and light machine guns, and their number was probably much smaller. And with these, for the most part completely unsuitable for the offensive, unorganized, barely armed people, of which at first there was only a small part, Steiner was supposed to advance south. According to Hitler, this offensive, which will be conducted under the command of Steiner with the greatest energy and fanaticism, as well as the offensive of the 4th Panzer and 9th Field Army, an order which was issued a few days ago, will be eliminated by the Konev breakthrough and created a new solid front line from the Baltic Sea to the upper Spree , which will save Berlin.

The fact that on the OKV map looked like 5 grenadier divisions, in most cases corresponded rather to regiments, and out of their number, only 2 divisions were German, the rest were a union of foreign SSs , some not even Nordic in composition. Steiner has already brought into battle those few of his reliable units that still had fuel left. He tried with their help to restrain the southern edge of the Soviet breakthrough, diverting the flow of Soviet tanks from the outskirts of Berlin. His own headquarters lost contact with most of the subordinate troops, he had no artillery, had no contact with the Luftwaffe , and besides, he received in turn conflicting orders from Heinrici and Dönitz , except for those that emanated from the bunker ^[2] .

Guido Knopp noted that on April 22, in the bunker of the Chancellery, the Fuhrer, nervous, all the time asked: “Where did Steiner get stuck?” ^[3] .

When Steiner, for the offensive of which the necessary prerequisites were not created, despite the relentless pressure on Berlin, did not appear until April 22, when the ring around the 9th Army closed and the Russians, having already bypassed Berlin from the north and from the south, approached him eastern suburbs, all of Hitler’s illusions collapsed. Showering the army, SS men and the whole nation with terrible insults, accusing them of betraying and misunderstanding him, Hitler, greatness and goals, he decided to stay in Berlin and wait for death here ” ^{[4] [5]} .

Steiner made an attempt to fulfill the order, but failed. Realizing that further attempts doomed his hastily formed group to death, Steiner arbitrarily began to withdraw his subordinate units to the west. He also did not obey the orders of Field Marshal Keitel , Colonel General Jodl , Chief of the General Staff of General Krebs to once again send his troops towards Berlin. The German journalist Heinz Höne outlined the details of the conversation: “Steiner, we are talking about your Fuhrer, who demands to strike this blow for his salvation!” Exclaimed Colonel-General Heinrici, who in reality was only concerned with holding the front. Keitel threatened with his marshal's baton, but Steiner remained unshakable, saying: “No, I will not do this. Counterattack - madness and thousands of new deaths "" ^[6] . On April 27, 1945, Hitler removed him from command of the group for disobedience, but Steiner again disobeyed and continued his retreat. May 3, 1945, together with his group, surrendered to American troops in the Elbe region.

Post-war activities

He was held captive for almost three years, was released on April 27, 1948 . Returning to Germany, he lived in Munich, participated in the activities of the Society for Mutual Assistance of SS Members (HIAG). He wrote several books (including the Volunteer memoirs), in which he claimed that the SS front-line troops (the so-called “green” SSs) were normal army units not involved in the crimes of National Socialism — unlike the “black SSs”, which included the SD, the Gestapo, the protection of concentration camps, etc. Steiner’s apologetic position with respect to the SS troops is often criticized, which is based on the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal , which recognized the SS troops as a criminal organization.

• iron Cross
  • 1st grade (1914)
  • 2nd class (1914)
• Buckle to the Iron Cross of the 1st and 2nd class (for the Second World War).
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross :
  • Knight's Cross (August 15, 1940)
  • Oak Leaves (No. 159) (December 23, 1942)
  • Swords (No. 86) (August 10, 1944)
• German cross in gold ( April 22, 1942).
• Oriental medal
• Ring "Dead Head" .
• Chevron of the old fighter
• Freedom Cross with oak leaves and swords of the 1st class ( Finland ).
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht (August 1, 1944)

Steiner is repeatedly mentioned in the film " Bunker ". An example is the words spoken by the Führer:

Hitler’s hysteria scene after the news that Steiner could not attack the Russians later turned into an Internet meme .

• Hyune H. Black Order of the SS. History of security detachments . - M .: Olma-press , 2003 .-- 542 p. - 6000 copies. - ISBN 5-224-03843-X .
• Guido Knopp. SS: The Black Inquisition. M .: Olma-Press, 2005.288 s. 4000 copies ISBN 5-244-04821-4

• Biography
• Wolfgang Akunov. The Nordic saga of the Fifth SS Panzer Division "Viking"
• John Toland. The last hundred days of the Reich