Desiderius Hampel Desiderius Hampel was a " SS - Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen - SS " during World War II who commanded the 13th " Waffen " Mountain Division of the SS " Handschar " ( 1st Croatian ) and was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross . Early life . Desiderius Hampel was born 20 January 1895 in the town of Sisak , Austria - Hungary ( modern - day Croatia ) . His father was an inspector on the Austrian Railway , and the family often had to move around Europe , living in different areas of the Austro - Hungarian Empire . This had the benefit of teaching the young Hampel a number of languages . After he completed his primary school education , he was sent to a military school in Karlovac . After graduation he joined the Army in October 1914 , as a warrant officer in the 16th Hungarian Infantry Regiment " Freiherr von Giesl " , and in December was sent to the front line . World War I . In April 1915 , he was given command of a platoon and shortly after promoted to Leutnant and given command of the 14th Company . At the end of the year he was sent on a heavy machine gun training course at Bruck an der Leitha . When he returned to the front in November he was given command of the 4th Company of his regiment and was promoted to Oberleutnant in May 1917 . In September 1918 , he was appointed as the second in command of the 36th Battalion fighting in Serbia until the end of the war when he became a prisoner of war in Serbia . He escaped from captivity just over a year later and made his way to Vienna and then Budapest . Between the wars . After he returned from captivity he started work on a farm and studied forestry between 1925 and 1928 at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich . He then worked in the forestry industry until December 1937 when he rejoined the Hungarian Army and served in Budapest . World War II . Hampel served in Budapest until March 1941 , and was then sent to the town of Csepel , in command of the area defences until December 1941 when he was dismissed from the army . He then joined the Croatian Home Guard with the rank of Major and was appointed as the intelligence officer for the IV Army Corps . In May 1942 , after a request from Obergruppenführer Artur Phleps he joined the Waffen SS as a Sturmbannführer . He was given command of the III Battalion , 1st SS Gebirgsjager Regiment until June 1943 when he was moved to command the Training and Reserve Battalion , 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen . Next he was given a position on the staff of the newly formed 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar ( 1st Croatian ) . In November 1943 he was promoted to Obersturmbannführer and given command of the 27th SS Mountain Infantry Regiment of SS " Handschar " . In April 1944 , he was promoted to Standartenführer and soon after given command of SS " Handschar " , and in January 1945 promoted to Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of the Waffen - SS . He was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross for his command of the division near the end of the war in May 1945 . The same month he surrendered the division in Austria to the advancing British troops . Post war . Desiderius Hampel survived the war and died on 11 January 1981 in Graz , Austria .