Felix Martin Julius Steiner, born May 23, 1896 in Ebensrode, East Prussia, ranks as one of the most celebrated and innovative senior commanders of the Waffen-SS. An army officer cadet in 1914, he earned the iron crosses of both classes and finished the war as a first lieutenant. After leading a company of Freikorps in Memel, he resumed his army service in 1922 and was a major at the time of the Nazi takeover in Germany. In 1934 he began work in the Reichswehr staff on new training techniques and tactics. These duties brought him in contact with the training requirements of the SA and SS, including the Verfügungstruppen of the later Waffen-SS. In 1935 he took command of a battalion of Verfügungstruppen and a year later was a colonel of the SS, commanding the SS “"Deutschland" Regiment. His innovative training techniques earned a well-deserved fame and a meteoric rise ensued to command of the "Wiking" Division in 1941, the III (Germanic) SS Armored Corps in 1943 and the 11th SS Army in 1945. He finished the war a highly decorated lieutenant general of the Waffen-SS. Released in 1948, he wrote several works in the apologist line of war memoirs and died May 12, 1966 in Munich.
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