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Felix Martin Julius Steiner was a German SS commander during the Second World War who rose to the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS and became one of the most prominent leaders in the multinational volunteer formations of the Waffen-SS. Born on 23 May 1896 in Stallupönen in East Prussia, a region now part of modern Russia, he grew up immersed in the Prussian military tradition and entered the Royal Prussian Army as an infantry cadet in March 1914. His early service in the First World War took him through the brutal fighting on the Western Front where he distinguished himself repeatedly, earning the Iron Cross Second Class in October 1914 and the First Class in November 1917 while also receiving the Wound Badge in Black for injuries sustained in 1918. After the armistice Steiner joined the Freikorps in Memel and participated in the suppression of communist uprisings during the German Revolution of 1919 before being integrated into the Reichswehr in 1921. He advanced steadily through the ranks of the small professional army of the Weimar Republic, reaching the position of major by 1933 when he retired from regular service and briefly served in the Landespolizei. In January 1934 he joined the Nazi Party with membership number 4,264,295 and shortly afterward transferred to the SS with the number 253,351, beginning a new phase of his career that would see him shape some of the most elite and controversial units of the Third Reich. A devout Evangelical by upbringing, Steiner remained unmarried throughout his life and had no children, devoting himself entirely to his military vocation.
Steiner’s entry into the SS-Verfügungstruppe in 1935 quickly propelled him through the ranks as he demonstrated exceptional organizational talent and a modern approach to training. By June 1936 he commanded the SS-Standarte Deutschland, transforming it into a highly disciplined motorized regiment known for its aggressive tactics and esprit de corps. When the Second World War erupted in September 1939 his regiment spearheaded the SS-Verfügungs-Division through the Invasion of Poland, earning him the Clasps to both classes of the Iron Cross within weeks. The real test came during the Battle of France in 1940 when Steiner’s men were tasked with the rapid capture of the Zeeland islands in the Netherlands. Under constant enemy fire he personally directed a lightning three-day thrust westward to Vlissingen, coordinating infantry assaults with Stuka dive-bomber support while his soldiers waded through waist-deep water at the Beveland Canal and stormed fortified French positions in savage hand-to-hand combat along the narrow causeway. The regiment cleared two major defensive lines and took thousands of prisoners, isolating Allied forces and contributing decisively to the collapse of resistance in the region. For this masterful leadership and personal bravery at the front Steiner was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 August 1940, one of the earliest such decorations granted to a Waffen-SS officer, cementing his reputation as a bold and innovative commander who could achieve rapid victories even against determined opposition.
Following the French campaign Heinrich Himmler personally selected Steiner to form and lead a new division that would embody the Waffen-SS ideal of a multinational elite force. On 1 December 1940 he assumed command of what became the SS-Division Wiking, a motorized formation initially built around the Germania regiment and later reinforced with Scandinavian, Dutch, Flemish and Baltic volunteers. The division crossed into the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 as part of Army Group South and fought its way through Tarnopol and across the Dnieper River toward Dnepropetrovsk amid ferocious Soviet counterattacks. Through the muddy autumn and the brutal winter of 1941-1942 Steiner kept the formation cohesive despite heavy losses, repulsing repeated Red Army assaults on the Mius River line where one regiment alone suffered fifty percent casualties yet held its ground. In the summer of 1942 Wiking participated in the capture of Rostov-on-Don and then raced across the steppes into the Caucasus, reaching the Terek River in September. There Steiner ordered a daring river crossing under intense artillery fire, after which his panzergrenadiers and attached tanks battled for weeks in the rugged foothills around Mosdok and Alagir, holding mountain ridges against wave after wave of Soviet infantry in freezing nights and close-quarter fighting. The division’s deep penetration to the southernmost point of the German advance and its tenacious defense of the Terek bridgehead earned Steiner the German Cross in Gold in April 1942 and ultimately the Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross on 23 December 1942 while he was still commanding the now redesignated 5th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Wiking.
In April 1943 Steiner relinquished direct command of Wiking to take charge of the newly formed III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps, a larger combined-arms formation that incorporated Nordic and Western European volunteer units including Nordland, Nederland, Wallonien and Langemarck. After initial anti-partisan operations in Yugoslavia the corps was rushed to the Leningrad front in late 1943 where it faced the Soviet 2nd Shock Army. On 13 January 1944 the Red Army unleashed a massive artillery barrage followed by overwhelming infantry and tank assaults that shattered several Luftwaffe field divisions, yet Steiner’s SS troops conducted a disciplined fighting withdrawal over 150 miles westward, reaching the Narva River just ahead of the pursuers. He immediately established a bridgehead on the eastern bank while positioning artillery inside the city itself on the western side, turning the narrow strip of land and the subsequent Tannenberg Line in the Blue Hills of Sinimäe into a formidable fortress. For six months Soviet attacks came daily, often hourly, supported by hundreds of tanks and endless waves of infantry; Steiner shifted his multinational battalions like a chess master, launching precise counterattacks to retake lost heights and channeling the enemy into killing zones in the marshy forested terrain. At one critical point a single reconnaissance company of Nordland destroyed forty-eight Soviet tanks in a single engagement while the defenders held against overwhelming odds, stalling the Red Army’s drive on the Baltic for half a year. These epic defensive battles earned Steiner promotion to SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS in July 1943 and the Swords to the Knight’s Cross on 10 August 1944, the eighty-sixth recipient of this highest grade.
By late 1944 Steiner’s corps was withdrawn from the Baltic and reassigned to the Eleventh SS Panzer Army under Army Group Vistula, though the army existed largely on paper and his forces were soon placed in reserve with the Third Panzer Army. In January 1945 he briefly commanded the Eleventh SS Panzer Army before it was inactivated near the Oder River. During the final Soviet Berlin Offensive in April 1945 Adolf Hitler personally designated the remnants of Steiner’s units as Army Detachment Steiner and ordered an ambitious pincer attack northward from Eberswalde against the flank of Marshal Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian Front. Assembling a motley force that included the 4th SS Panzergrenadier Division Polizei, the 5th Jäger Division and the 25th Panzergrenadier Division, Steiner assessed the situation with brutal realism during a conference at the Führerbunker on 22 April. With only two understrength battalions available, virtually no heavy weapons and no prospect of adequate support, he informed his superiors that the planned counterattack was militarily impossible and refused to launch what he viewed as a suicidal operation. Hitler’s subsequent outburst, declaring the war lost and his intention to remain in Berlin, marked a dramatic turning point, yet Steiner’s pragmatic stance preserved what little remained of his command and prevented further pointless slaughter in the final days of the Reich.
After Germany’s capitulation on 8 May 1945 Steiner was taken into British captivity and held until his release in 1948 following investigations that ultimately dropped any war-crimes charges against him at the Nuremberg proceedings. In the postwar years he became a founding member of the HIAG veterans’ organization and emerged as one of its most influential figures, advocating for the rehabilitation of former Waffen-SS soldiers while distancing himself from the most fanatical elements of the Nazi regime. He authored two widely read memoirs, Die Freiwilligen der Waffen-SS: Idee und Opfergang in 1958 and Die Armee der Geächteten in 1963, in which he defended the combat record of the multinational SS divisions and portrayed their soldiers as idealistic volunteers rather than ideological fanatics. Living quietly in Munich, Steiner suffered from declining health and died of heart failure on 12 May 1966 at the age of seventy. His legacy remains complex: revered by some as a brilliant tactician who forged effective multinational units under extreme conditions, yet condemned by others for his senior role in an organization deeply implicated in the crimes of the Nazi regime.
Steiner’s entry into the SS-Verfügungstruppe in 1935 quickly propelled him through the ranks as he demonstrated exceptional organizational talent and a modern approach to training. By June 1936 he commanded the SS-Standarte Deutschland, transforming it into a highly disciplined motorized regiment known for its aggressive tactics and esprit de corps. When the Second World War erupted in September 1939 his regiment spearheaded the SS-Verfügungs-Division through the Invasion of Poland, earning him the Clasps to both classes of the Iron Cross within weeks. The real test came during the Battle of France in 1940 when Steiner’s men were tasked with the rapid capture of the Zeeland islands in the Netherlands. Under constant enemy fire he personally directed a lightning three-day thrust westward to Vlissingen, coordinating infantry assaults with Stuka dive-bomber support while his soldiers waded through waist-deep water at the Beveland Canal and stormed fortified French positions in savage hand-to-hand combat along the narrow causeway. The regiment cleared two major defensive lines and took thousands of prisoners, isolating Allied forces and contributing decisively to the collapse of resistance in the region. For this masterful leadership and personal bravery at the front Steiner was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 August 1940, one of the earliest such decorations granted to a Waffen-SS officer, cementing his reputation as a bold and innovative commander who could achieve rapid victories even against determined opposition.
Following the French campaign Heinrich Himmler personally selected Steiner to form and lead a new division that would embody the Waffen-SS ideal of a multinational elite force. On 1 December 1940 he assumed command of what became the SS-Division Wiking, a motorized formation initially built around the Germania regiment and later reinforced with Scandinavian, Dutch, Flemish and Baltic volunteers. The division crossed into the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 as part of Army Group South and fought its way through Tarnopol and across the Dnieper River toward Dnepropetrovsk amid ferocious Soviet counterattacks. Through the muddy autumn and the brutal winter of 1941-1942 Steiner kept the formation cohesive despite heavy losses, repulsing repeated Red Army assaults on the Mius River line where one regiment alone suffered fifty percent casualties yet held its ground. In the summer of 1942 Wiking participated in the capture of Rostov-on-Don and then raced across the steppes into the Caucasus, reaching the Terek River in September. There Steiner ordered a daring river crossing under intense artillery fire, after which his panzergrenadiers and attached tanks battled for weeks in the rugged foothills around Mosdok and Alagir, holding mountain ridges against wave after wave of Soviet infantry in freezing nights and close-quarter fighting. The division’s deep penetration to the southernmost point of the German advance and its tenacious defense of the Terek bridgehead earned Steiner the German Cross in Gold in April 1942 and ultimately the Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross on 23 December 1942 while he was still commanding the now redesignated 5th SS-Panzergrenadier Division Wiking.
In April 1943 Steiner relinquished direct command of Wiking to take charge of the newly formed III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps, a larger combined-arms formation that incorporated Nordic and Western European volunteer units including Nordland, Nederland, Wallonien and Langemarck. After initial anti-partisan operations in Yugoslavia the corps was rushed to the Leningrad front in late 1943 where it faced the Soviet 2nd Shock Army. On 13 January 1944 the Red Army unleashed a massive artillery barrage followed by overwhelming infantry and tank assaults that shattered several Luftwaffe field divisions, yet Steiner’s SS troops conducted a disciplined fighting withdrawal over 150 miles westward, reaching the Narva River just ahead of the pursuers. He immediately established a bridgehead on the eastern bank while positioning artillery inside the city itself on the western side, turning the narrow strip of land and the subsequent Tannenberg Line in the Blue Hills of Sinimäe into a formidable fortress. For six months Soviet attacks came daily, often hourly, supported by hundreds of tanks and endless waves of infantry; Steiner shifted his multinational battalions like a chess master, launching precise counterattacks to retake lost heights and channeling the enemy into killing zones in the marshy forested terrain. At one critical point a single reconnaissance company of Nordland destroyed forty-eight Soviet tanks in a single engagement while the defenders held against overwhelming odds, stalling the Red Army’s drive on the Baltic for half a year. These epic defensive battles earned Steiner promotion to SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS in July 1943 and the Swords to the Knight’s Cross on 10 August 1944, the eighty-sixth recipient of this highest grade.
By late 1944 Steiner’s corps was withdrawn from the Baltic and reassigned to the Eleventh SS Panzer Army under Army Group Vistula, though the army existed largely on paper and his forces were soon placed in reserve with the Third Panzer Army. In January 1945 he briefly commanded the Eleventh SS Panzer Army before it was inactivated near the Oder River. During the final Soviet Berlin Offensive in April 1945 Adolf Hitler personally designated the remnants of Steiner’s units as Army Detachment Steiner and ordered an ambitious pincer attack northward from Eberswalde against the flank of Marshal Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian Front. Assembling a motley force that included the 4th SS Panzergrenadier Division Polizei, the 5th Jäger Division and the 25th Panzergrenadier Division, Steiner assessed the situation with brutal realism during a conference at the Führerbunker on 22 April. With only two understrength battalions available, virtually no heavy weapons and no prospect of adequate support, he informed his superiors that the planned counterattack was militarily impossible and refused to launch what he viewed as a suicidal operation. Hitler’s subsequent outburst, declaring the war lost and his intention to remain in Berlin, marked a dramatic turning point, yet Steiner’s pragmatic stance preserved what little remained of his command and prevented further pointless slaughter in the final days of the Reich.
After Germany’s capitulation on 8 May 1945 Steiner was taken into British captivity and held until his release in 1948 following investigations that ultimately dropped any war-crimes charges against him at the Nuremberg proceedings. In the postwar years he became a founding member of the HIAG veterans’ organization and emerged as one of its most influential figures, advocating for the rehabilitation of former Waffen-SS soldiers while distancing himself from the most fanatical elements of the Nazi regime. He authored two widely read memoirs, Die Freiwilligen der Waffen-SS: Idee und Opfergang in 1958 and Die Armee der Geächteten in 1963, in which he defended the combat record of the multinational SS divisions and portrayed their soldiers as idealistic volunteers rather than ideological fanatics. Living quietly in Munich, Steiner suffered from declining health and died of heart failure on 12 May 1966 at the age of seventy. His legacy remains complex: revered by some as a brilliant tactician who forged effective multinational units under extreme conditions, yet condemned by others for his senior role in an organization deeply implicated in the crimes of the Nazi regime.
Source:
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/
https://en.wikipedia.org/
https://www.tracesofwar.com/
https://grokipedia.com/
https://rk.balsi.de/index.php?action=list&cat=300
https://www.unithistories.com/units_index/index.php?file=/officers/personsx.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20091027052912fw_/http://geocities.com/orion47.geo/index2.html
https://forum.axishistory.com/
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
https://www.bundesarchiv.de/en/
https://www.geni.com/
https://books.google.com/
https://ww2gravestone.com/people/steiner-felix-martin/
Felix Steiner, Die Armee der Geächteten (1963)
Felix Steiner, Die Freiwilligen der Waffen-SS: Idee und Opfergang (1958)
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