Paul Hausser.
In February 1931 he was elevated to Generalmajor, and one year later to Generalleutnant, at which point he retired from the Reichswehr.Hausser joined the SS in 1934. Making best use of the immense experience of this accomplished senior officer, Himmler appointed him as commander of the SS-Junkerschule (officer training academy) at Brunswick. Two years later Hausser was made Inspector of SS officer training schools; in May 1936 he was promoted to SS-Brigadefuhrer, and in October of that year appointed Inspector of the SS-Verfugungstruppe (SS-VT), the forerunner of the Waffen-SS.
During the invasion of Poland, Hausser served as SS liaison officer with the Army’s Panzer Division Kempf, and in October 1939 he was given command of the SS-Verfugungs Division, which would later evolve into 2.SS-Panzer Division ‘Das Reich’. Hausser commanded the division through the Balkan campaign and the early stages of the invasion of the USSR in 1941, being decorated with the Knight’s Cross on 8 August for his success in command. On 1 October 1941, Hausser was promoted to SS-Obergruppenfuhrer und General der Waffen-SS; but that same month he was seriously wounded, losing the sight of his right eye. On his return to duty in May 1942, now sporting the eyepatch that was to become his trademark, the 61-year-old ‘Papa’ Hausser moved to a staff posting which he held until September, when he was given command of II SS-Panzerkorps. On 28 July 1943, Hausser was awarded the Oakleaves for his command of the corps, especially in the recapture of Kharkov that March - an operation which had involved his calculated disobedience of Hitler’s orders.
In August 1944, Hausser was promoted to SS-Oberstgruppenfuhrer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS, the highest rank attainable short of the Reichsfuhrer-SS himself. He was appointed commanding general of 7.Armee on the Western Front, and saw action throughout the fighting in Normandy, where he once again suffered a serious head wound during the breakout from the Falaise Pocket. The Swords were added to his Knight’s Cross on 26 August 1944. On returning to duty in January 1945 he was appointed to command Heeresgruppe Oberrhein, holding this post until the command was disbanded in April 1945. During the closing days of the war he was attached to the staff of GFM Kesselring (qv), the Commander-in-Chief South-West. Hausser surrendered to US troops in Austria at the end of the war, and was finally released from captivity in 1948.
Hausser is often called the 'father of the Waffen SS'. Together with Josef Dietrich they formed the SS into the fighting unit it was.
