 felix martin julius steiner (23 may 1896 â 12 may 1966) was a german officer, who became obergruppenfÃ¼hrer of the schutzstaffel, general of the waffen-ss, and a signed-up member of the nazi party of nazi germany. he served in both world war i and world war ii and was awarded the knight's cross of the iron cross with oak leaves and swords. he contributed significantly, together with paul hausser, to the development and transformation of the waffen-ss, as an armed wing of the nazi party's schutzstaffel, into a multi-ethnic and multinational military force of nazi germany. steiner was chosen by heinrich himmler to oversee the creation of, and command an elite panzer division, the 5th ss panzer division wiking. in 1943, he was promoted to the command of the iii (germanic) ss panzer corps. on 28 january 1945, steiner was placed in command of the 11th ss panzer army, which formed part of a new ad-hoc formation to protect berlin from the soviet armies advancing from the vistula river. on 21 april, during the battle for berlin, steiner was placed in command of army detachment steiner, while adolf hitler ordered steiner to envelop the 1st belorussian front through a pincer movement, advancing from the north of the city. however, as his worn out and exhausted unit was outnumbered by ten to one, steiner made it clear that he did not 
1896_births 1966_deaths 20th-century_Freikorps_personnel Military_personnel_referenced_in_the_Wehrmachtbericht People_from_East_Prussia People_from_Nesterov Prussian_Army_personnel Recipients_of_the_Gold_German_Cross Recipients_of_the_Knight\'s_Cross_with_Swords Recipients_of_the_Order_of_the_Cross_of_Liberty,_1st_Class_with_a_Star Recipients_of_the_SS_Honour_Ring Recipients_of_the_clasp_to_the_Iron_Cross,_1st_class SS-ObergruppenfA 1/4 hrer Waffen-SS_personnel