Full name: Georg Carl Paul Hausser
Nickname: Papa
Date of Birth: 07.10.1880 - Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg (German Empire)
Date of Death: 21.12.1972 - Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg (West Germany)
Battles and Operations: Border protection East (Grenzschutz Ost), Polish Campaign (1939, as observer), Western Campaign (1940), Balkan Campaign, Operation Barbarossa (1941), Third Battle of Kharkov (1943), Battle of Kursk (1943), Italy operations (1943), Normandy Campaign (1944), Falaise Pocket (1944), Mortain Counteroffensive, operations with Army Group Upper Rhine and Army Group G (1945)
NSDAP-Number: 4138779 (joined 01.05.1937, retroactive)
SS-Number: 239795 (joined 01.11.1934)
Religion: evangelisch (Protestant)
Parents: Friedrich Wilhelm Curt (Kurt) Hausser (Prussian Major) and Anna Maria Otto (Anna Hausser née Otto)
Siblings: No information available
Spouse: Elisabeth Henriette Gerard (married 09.11.1912 in Berlin; died 16.10.1979 in Munich)
Children: one daughter (born December 1913)
Promotions:
20.03.1899 Leutnant
19.08.1909 Oberleutnant
01.03.1914 Hauptmann i.G.
22.03.1918 Major i.G.
01.04.1923 Oberstleutnant i.G.
01.11.1927 Oberst i.G.
01.02.1931 Generalmajor
31.01.1932 Generalleutnant a.D. (charakterisiert)
01.03.1934 SA-Standartenführer SAR
15.11.1934 SS-Standartenführer
01.07.1935 SS-Oberführer
22.05.1936 SS-Brigadeführer
01.06.1939 SS-Gruppenführer
19.11.1939 Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS
01.10.1941 SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS
01.08.1944 SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS
Career:
1892-1899 Prussian Cadet Schools in Köslin and Lichterfelde
1899-1912 7. Westpreußisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 155 (battalion and regimental adjutant, attendance at Prussian War Academy)
1912 Assignment to Imperial Navy, then Great General Staff
1914-1918 World War I service (front and staff officer, lastly with 109. Infanterie-Division)
1919 Grenzschutz Ost
1920-1932 Reichswehr (Ia in Reichswehr-Brigade 5 and Wehrkreiskommando II Stettin, commander III. Battalion/4. Infanterie-Regiment, chief of staff 2. Division Stettin, commander 10. Infanterie-Regiment, Infanterieführer IV Magdeburg)
1932 Retirement from Reichswehr as Generalleutnant
1933 Landesführer Stahlhelm Berlin-Brandenburg, transfer to SA-Reserve
01.11.1933-1934 Landesführer SA-Reserve I
November 1934 Entry into SS, commander SS-Junkerschule Braunschweig, inspector of SS-Junkerschulen
1935-1936 Staff leader and inspector SS-Verfügungstruppe (training of SS-Standarten Deutschland, Germania, Der Führer)
1936-1939 Chief Amt I (Führungsamt) SS-Hauptamt, inspector SS-Verfügungstruppe (introduction of camouflage uniforms)
October 1939 Commander SS-Verfügungs-Division (later SS-Division Das Reich)
1940 Western Campaign
1941 Balkan Campaign and Operation Barbarossa (severely wounded October 1941, loss of left eye)
June 1942 Formation and command SS-Panzerkorps (later II. SS-Panzerkorps)
November 1942 Operation Lila (Toulon)
Spring 1943 Battle of Kharkov (withdrew against Hitler's hold order to avoid encirclement)
Summer 1943 Kursk, transfer to Italy (disarmament of Italian troops)
December 1943-1944 Preparation Western Front
29.06.1944 Commander 7. Armee (after death of Dollmann)
August 1944 Temporary Oberbefehlshaber West (after Kluge)
21.08.1944 Wounded in Falaise Pocket (shot through jaw)
January 1945 Commander Army Group Upper Rhine, then Army Group G
April 1945 Relieved by Hitler, staff with Kesselring until end of war
Post-war: Worked for US Army Historical Division (studies on 7. Armee in Normandy), founder and spokesman of HIAG (Mutual Aid Society of Former Waffen-SS Members), author of books defending Waffen-SS role
Awards and Decorations:
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse 1914 (August 1914)
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse 1914 (Januar 1916)
Militär-Verdienstorden IV. Klasse mit Schwertern
Friedrichs-Orden Komtur I. Klasse mit Schwertern
Friedrich-Kreuz I. Klasse für Militärverdienste
Militär-Verdienstorden Ritter 1. Klasse mit Schwertern
Königlicher Preußischer Hausorden von Hohenzollern Ritter mit Schwertern (27.01.1917)
Königlich Sächsischer Albrechtsorden Komturkreuz I. Klasse mit Schwertern (1918)
Kaiserlicher Orden der Eisernen Krone Ritter III. Klasse mit Kriegsdekoration (11.07.1918)
Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer (1934)
Julleuchter der SS (1935)
Ehrendegen des Reichsführers-SS (1937)
SS-Ehrenring (1937)
1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 2. Klasse (27.09.1939)
1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 1. Klasse (17.06.1940)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (08.08.1941) as SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS and Kommandeur SS-Division "Reich" (motorisiert). In the blistering heat of summer 1941 during Operation Barbarossa, Hausser's division slammed into the Soviet defenses at Yelnya on the Moscow highway. His grenadiers of the Deutschland and Der Führer Regiments stormed the high ground east of the town in a savage uphill assault through trenches and barbed wire, charging under a storm of machine-gun and artillery fire reminiscent of the Western Front in 1914-1918. Soviet elite troops counterattacked relentlessly across the open steppe, but Das Reich anti-tank gunners stood firm, knocking out wave after wave of T-34 tanks threatening the divisional artillery. By holding this vital crossroads at the farthest point of German penetration, the division destroyed over one hundred enemy tanks, shattered entire Soviet divisions, and bought precious time for Army Group Center despite suffering crippling losses.
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Silber (09.05.1942)
Medaille Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42 (1942)
Goldenes Ehrenzeichen der NSDAP (30.01.1943)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #261 (28.07.1943) as SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS and Kommandierender General II. SS-Panzerkorps. In the frozen mud of February-March 1943 at the Third Battle of Kharkov, Hausser openly defied Hitler's "hold to the last man" order. With his three elite SS divisions (Leibstandarte, Das Reich, and Totenkopf) threatened with annihilation, he ordered the city evacuated on 15 February, slipping his troops out through a shrinking corridor barely 1.5 kilometers wide while rear guards ambushed pursuing T-34s and knocked out fifteen tanks in running fights. Then, in Manstein's masterful counteroffensive, Hausser unleashed his corps in a double envelopment: the Deutschland Regiment under Harmel drove Soviet forces back eight kilometers in bloody hand-to-hand combat, while coordinated assaults with Leibstandarte and Totenkopf encircled entire tank corps in forty-eight hours of desperate close-quarters slaughter. By 14 March his men stormed back into Kharkov from west and north, mauling five Soviet armies, restoring the front line, and turning certain disaster into one of the war's greatest German victories. For this combination of cool defiance and brilliant attack, Hausser earned the Eichenlaub.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #90 (26.08.1944) as SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS and Oberbefehlshaber 7. Armee. In the inferno of Normandy after taking command of the Seventh Army on 29 June 1944, Hausser directed the desperate fighting withdrawal against overwhelming Allied air power and artillery. During Operation Lüttich (the Mortain counteroffensive) his forces struck toward Avranches in a final bid to cut the American breakout, then, as the Falaise Pocket tightened like a noose in August, he organized the breakout under ceaseless fighter-bomber attacks that turned the roads into corridors of fire and steel. Personally directing the escape from the shrinking cauldron, Hausser was shot through the jaw on 21 August yet continued issuing orders until evacuated, enabling thousands of troops and vehicles to slip through the closing jaws of the trap. For his unyielding leadership that prevented the total destruction of an entire army in the face of total Allied superiority, he received the Schwerter.
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Paul Hausser was a high-ranking German general in the Waffen-SS during the Second World War and one of only two men to reach the rank of SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Generaloberst der Waffen-SS alongside Sepp Dietrich. Born Georg Carl Paul Hausser on 7 October 1880 in Brandenburg an der Havel into a traditional Prussian military family as the son of Major Kurt Hausser and Anna Hausser née Otto he earned the affectionate nickname Papa Hausser among his troops for his paternal yet iron-willed leadership style that combined old-school discipline with bold tactical initiative. He commanded elite formations including the SS-Verfügungs-Division later renamed Das Reich the II SS Panzer Corps and ultimately the German Seventh Army in Normandy as well as Army Group Upper Rhine and Army Group G in the final months of the war. Hausser received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in 1941 the Oak Leaves in 1943 and the Swords in 1944 for decisive actions on the Eastern and Western Fronts despite being severely wounded twice once losing his left eye in Russia and later shot through the jaw during the Falaise Pocket breakout. After the war he became a prominent advocate for former Waffen-SS veterans through the HIAG organization authored apologetic books and contributed operational studies for the United States Army before dying in Ludwigsburg on 21 December 1972 at the age of ninety-two.
Hausser's military career began early when he entered the Prussian cadet schools in Köslin and Lichterfelde in 1892 and was commissioned as a Leutnant on 20 March 1899 in the 7th West Prussian Infantry Regiment Number 155. He served as battalion and regimental adjutant attended the Prussian War Academy in 1911 and married Elisabeth Henriette Gerard on 9 November 1912 in Berlin the couple having one daughter born in December 1913. During the First World War he held staff and front-line positions rising to Major in 1918 while serving primarily with the 109th Infantry Division on the Eastern Front earning multiple decorations including the Iron Cross First and Second Class the Prussian House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords and the Austrian Order of the Iron Crown. Retained in the small postwar Reichswehr he advanced steadily becoming chief of staff in Stettin commander of the 10th Infantry Regiment and deputy commander of the 4th Infantry Division before retiring in 1932 with the honorary rank of Generalleutnant. In the turbulent Weimar years he joined the Stahlhelm veterans' organization rising to lead its Berlin-Brandenburg branch in 1933 before it was absorbed into the SA and then the SS where he entered on 1 November 1934 with SS number 239795 and NSDAP membership number 4138779 granted retroactively from 1937.
As an early SS officer Hausser played a foundational role in shaping the armed SS units that later became the Waffen-SS. He commanded the SS-Junkerschule in Braunschweig served as inspector of SS officer schools and by 1936 had become inspector of the SS-Verfügungstruppe overseeing the rigorous military and ideological training of regiments such as Deutschland Germania and Der Führer while introducing distinctive camouflage uniforms. In 1939 he observed the Polish campaign as a staff officer with Panzer Division Kempf and in October of that year took command of the newly formed SS-Verfügungs-Division which fought effectively in the 1940 Western Campaign through France and the Low Countries. The division was renamed Das Reich in 1941 and participated in the Balkans operation before joining Operation Barbarossa. During the ferocious summer fighting along the Moscow highway at Yelnya Hausser's grenadiers of the Deutschland and Der Führer regiments launched savage uphill assaults through barbed wire and trenches under relentless Soviet machine-gun and artillery fire charging across open steppe while anti-tank crews stood firm against waves of T-34 tanks destroying over one hundred enemy armored vehicles and holding a critical crossroads at the extreme limit of German penetration despite heavy losses this epic stand shattered multiple Soviet divisions and earned Hausser the Knight's Cross on 8 August 1941 as the 411th recipient though he was gravely wounded in October losing his left eye.
After recovery Hausser formed and led the SS-Panzer Corps later redesignated II SS Panzer Corps which he commanded during the dramatic winter fighting of 1942-1943. In the Third Battle of Kharkov in February and March 1943 he openly defied Hitler's explicit order to hold the city to the last man ordering a tactical withdrawal on 15 February through a shrinking corridor barely one and a half kilometers wide while rear guards ambushed pursuing Soviet tanks and knocked out dozens in desperate running battles. This cool-headed decision prevented the encirclement and annihilation of three elite SS divisions. Then in Manstein's brilliant counteroffensive Hausser unleashed a double envelopment with the Leibstandarte Das Reich and Totenkopf divisions the Deutschland Regiment under Harmel driving Soviet forces back eight kilometers in brutal hand-to-hand combat while coordinated assaults encircled entire enemy tank corps in forty-eight hours of close-quarters slaughter. By 14 March his troops stormed back into Kharkov from the west and north mauling five Soviet armies restoring the front line and converting potential catastrophe into one of Germany's greatest victories of the war for which he received the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross on 28 July 1943.
Hausser's corps fought in the massive Battle of Kursk in summer 1943 before being transferred to Italy where it disarmed Italian forces after the armistice and later to France in preparation for the expected Allied invasion. In late June 1944 following the death of General Dollmann he assumed command of the Seventh Army during the Normandy Campaign directing fierce defensive actions against overwhelming Allied air and naval superiority. When Hitler ordered the Mortain counteroffensive Operation Lüttich Hausser's forces struck toward Avranches in a final attempt to sever the American breakout corridor. As the Falaise Pocket closed like a deadly noose in August he organized a desperate breakout under ceaseless fighter-bomber attacks that turned roads into corridors of fire and burning steel personally directing the escape until he was shot through the jaw on 21 August yet continued issuing orders from his command post until evacuated. This leadership enabled thousands of troops and vehicles to slip through the tightening Allied trap preventing the complete destruction of an entire army and earning him the Swords to the Knight's Cross on 26 August 1944. Briefly serving as acting Oberbefehlshaber West after Kluge's dismissal he later commanded Army Group Upper Rhine replacing Himmler and then Army Group G until relieved by Hitler in April 1945 ending the war on Field Marshal Kesselring's staff.
In the postwar era Hausser worked for the United States Army Historical Division under Franz Halder contributing detailed studies on the Seventh Army's operations in Normandy later published in English as part of operational analyses. From 1950 he became the first spokesman of the HIAG mutual aid society for former Waffen-SS members transforming it into a nationwide lobbying group that campaigned for legal and economic rehabilitation of its members through periodicals books and public speeches. He authored two influential works Waffen-SS im Einsatz in 1953 with a foreword by Heinz Guderian and Soldaten wie andere auch in 1966 both presenting the Waffen-SS as a purely military force of elite soldiers comparable to any other army while denying involvement in atrocities and shifting blame to other SS branches. At the Nuremberg Trials he testified that the Waffen-SS had only a military role and under his leadership HIAG promoted the narrative of the clean Wehrmacht myth portraying its members as apolitical victims and heroes. Hausser lived quietly in West Germany until his death in Ludwigsburg on 21 December 1972 and was buried in Munich's Waldfriedhof his legacy remaining controversial among historians for its revisionist elements yet enduring among veterans who remembered him as Papa Hausser the steadfast commander who repeatedly saved his men through decisive and sometimes disobedient leadership.
Paul Hausser as a Generalmajor in the Reichswehr, 1931.
SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser on horseback during the Polish Campaign of 1939 as an observer with the mixed Wehrmacht-SS, Panzer Division "Kempf".
SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser in 1940.
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SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser and Karl-Maria Demelhuber, 1940.
SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser.
SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser wearing early holster for polish radom pistol, 1940. The picture taken by someone close to him, as the photo came from a private album.
%20dan%20Paul%20Hausser%20dalam%20sebuah%20acara%20parade.jpg)
Ritterkreuz award ceremony for SS-Obersturmführer Fritz Vogt (Stoßtruppführer in 2.Schwadron / SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung / SS-Verfügungs-Division), which were held at Culemborg, Netherlands, on 4 September 1940. Awarding the medal is SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Paul "Papa" Hausser (Kommandeur SS-Verfügungs-Division). Other pictures from this award ceremony can be seen
HERE.
Ritterkreuz award ceremony for SS-Untersturmführer Ludwig Kepplinger (Zugführer in 11.Kompanie / III.Bataillon / SS-Infanterie-Regiment "Der Führer" / SS-Verfügungstruppe), 4 September 1940. Awarded the medal is SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser (Kommandeur SS-Verfügungstruppe). Other pictures from this award ceremony can be seen
HERE.
This photograph by SS-Bildberichter Friedrich Zschäckel show the Ritterkreuz award ceremony for SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser (Kommandeur SS-Division "Reich"), which was held on 8 August 1941 on the Eastern Front during Unternehmen Barbarossa. The one who presented the medal was General der Panzertruppe Heinrich von Vietinghoff (Kommandierender General XXXXVI. Armeekorps). Even though he was a "Reich" Divisionskommandeur, Hausser was not the first person from this unit to receive this prestigious medal, but in fact was the seventh! The six men who preceded him were as follows: SS-Oberführer Georg Keppler (15 August 1940), SS-Oberführer Felix Steiner (15 August 1940), SS-Hauptscharführer Ludwig Kepplinger (4 September 1940), SS-Obersturmführer Fritz Vogt (4 September 1940 ), SS-Sturmbannführer Fritz Witt (4 September 1940), and SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Klingenberg (14 May 1941). Other pictures from this award ceremony can be seen
HERE.
SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser in August 1941.
SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser.
SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser.
SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser in September 1941.
From left to right: SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS
Paul "Papa" Hausser (Kommandeur SS-Division "Reich"),
SS-Obersturmbannführer Werner Ostendorff (Ia Erster Generalstabsoffizier
SS-Division "Reich"), and SS-Sturmbannführer Fritz Klingenberg
(Kommandeur SS-Kradschützen-Bataillon 2 / SS-Division "Reich"). In many
books and websites, it is stated that this photo was taken during the
Unternehmen Taifun (Operation Typhoon, the invasion of Moscow) in
November 1941. This is wrong! The reason? Because since October 14,
1941, Divisionskommandeur Hausser suffered severe injuries in the battle
in the Borodino area, he had to be withdrawn from the front. His
position as division commander was taken over by SS-Oberführer Wilhelm
Bittrich. Hausser's injuries were so severe that he would only fully
recovered in May 1942, and even then, he had to sacrifice his right eye
(who is blind) and undergo surgery on part of his right jaw! In
addition, in this photo, Hausser still holds the rank of
SS-Gruppenführer (notice his collar), while in November 1941 he had
already been promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer (promotion date October 1,
1941). Therefore, it can be concluded that this photo was most likely
taken on a cold day in late September 1941, as summer was transitioning
into autumn. In addition, here we can also clearly see that there are no
signs of scars on Hausser's face and eyes. Other pictures from this occasion can be seen
HERE.
SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser in the summer 1942.
SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser.
From
April 23 to 26, 1943, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler (Chef der SS und
Deutschen Polizei) visited the SS-Panzerkorps headquarter in Kharkov
(Ukraine). During a meeting with the high-ranking officials of the
Waffen-SS corps, Himmler emphasized the racial struggle of the Germanic
people—with the Waffen-SS as their main spearhead—in countering the
"spread of non-Aryan blood." Ironically, few believed the words of the
SS Commander, because for those who were directly involved in the brutal
and prolonged battles on the Eastern Front, the issue was no longer
about racial and ideological conflicts, but rather a struggle for
survival in holding back the increasingly powerful Russian forces over
time! This photograph by SS war correspondent Friedrich Zschäckel shows
Himmler inspecting the SS-Panzer-Regiment 2, which was part of the
SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Das Reich." Here, the Reichsführer-SS
(center) is flanked by SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der
Waffen-SS Walter Krüger (Kommandeur SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Das
Reich") on his left, and SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS
Paul Hausser (Kommandierender General SS-Panzerkorps) on his right.
SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser.
Sepp
Dietrich's 51st birthday celebration near Kharkov on 28 May 1943 which
was attended by high-ranking Waffen-SS officers. Back to the camera from
left to right: SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul
Hausser (Kommandierender General SS-Panzerkorps), SS-Brigadeführer und
Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Herbert Otto Gille (Kommandeur
SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Wiking"), and SS-Obergruppenführer und
General der Waffen-SS Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (Kommandeur
SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler"). Seated
facing the camera from left to right: Oberstleutnant Gerhard Engel
(Adjutanten des Heeres beim Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der
Wehrmacht), SS-Oberführer Hermann Prieß (Kommandeur
SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Totenkopf"), SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans
Albin Freiherr von Reitzenstein (Kommandeur SS-Panzer-Regiment 2 /
SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Das Reich"), and SS-Obersturmbannführer
Otto Baum (Kommandeur SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment "Totenkopf" /
SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Totenkopf"). Army officer Engel was also
there as a special guest from the Führerhauptquartier for Hitler's
former bodyguard commander's special day. Most photos from Dietrich's
birthday were taken by SS-Kriegsberichter Klaus Weill, though it is not
certain about this one.
From
left to right: SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul
Hausser (Kommandierender General II. SS-Panzerkorps), SS-Oberführer
Hermann Prieß (Kommandeur SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Totenkopf"), and
SS-Standartenführer Heinz Lammerding (Chef des Stabes II.
SS-Panzerkorps). The photo was taken in early summer 1943 during
Hausser's visit to the SS Totenkopf Division which were under his
command. Other pictures from this occasion can be seen
HERE.
The
combat briefing of SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Das Reich" during the
Battle of Kursk, summer 1943. From left to right: unknown,
SS-Obersturmbannführer Karl Kreutz (Kommandeur
SS-Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 2 "Das Reich"), SS-Standartenführer Heinz
Harmel (Kommandeur SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment
"Deutschland"), SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul
Hausser
(Kommandierender General II. SS-Panzerkorps), and SS-Standartenführer
Dipl.-Ing. Heinz Lammerding (Kommandeur Kampfgruppe Lammerding).
The combat briefing of SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Das Reich" during the Battle of Kursk, summer 1943. Wearing stahlhelm at left is SS-Standartenführer Heinz Harmel (Kommandeur SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment "Deutschland"), while in front of him with the eye-patch is SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser (Kommandierender General II. SS-Panzerkorps), followed by SS-Obersturmbannführer Sylvester Stadler (Kommandeur SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment "Der Führer"). Between Harmel and Hausser is SS-Sturmbannführer Rudolf Enseling (Kommandeur SS-Panzer-Pionier-Bataillon 2 "Das Reich"), while with the back to the camera at right is possibly SS-Obersturmführer Ortwin Pohl (O4 SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Das Reich"). In this picture we can see that Korpskommandeur Hausser is wearing the Goldenes Parteiabzeichen der NSDAP. He just got the honor pin recently, on 30 January 1943, and only became the member of the Nazi Party in 1937. Hausser only wore the badge when he knew official photographers were around!
SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser with eyepatch.
SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser with eyepatch.
SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser, 28 July 1943.
SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser.
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This
photo is taken from the book "Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen
Wehrmacht 1939 - 1945, Teil VI: Die Gebirgstruppe. Bd. 1: A - K" by
Franz Thomas and Günter Wegmann, and it shows members of the Generalstab
of Heeresgruppe B (Rommel) in northern Italy in the fall of 1943. This
photo was taken during an anti-Partisan operation in Slovenia conducted
by II. SS-Panzerkorps (Hausser), which lasted from 20 September to 20
November 1943. From left to right: Generalleutnant Konrad Haase (General
z.b.V. Heeresgruppe B), General der Infanterie Gustav-Adolf von Zangen
(Kommandierender General LXXXVII. Armeekorps), unknown, unknown,
Generalintendant (Luftwaffe) Dr. Wilhelm Sander (Heeresgruppenintendant
Heeresgruppe B), Generalleutnant Alfred Gause (Chef des Generalstabes
Heeresgruppe B), unknown, Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel
(Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B), possibly Generalstabsarzt Dr.med.
Karl Meinardus (Heeresgruppenarzt Heeresgruppe B), General der
Gebirgstruppe Valentin Feurstein (Kommandierender General LI.
Gebirgskorps), and SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul
Hausser (Kommandierender General II. SS-Panzerkorps).
Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (left, Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B) and SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser (Kommandierender General II. SS-Panzerkorps). The picture was probably taken at the northern sector of the Italian front, autumn 1943, when Hausser and his troops involved in the anti-partisan operation in Slovenia. Rommel just recently chosen as the Commander in Chief of Army Group B, and he is still wearing his tropical uniform used in North Africa. Other pictures from this occasion can be seen
HERE.
The photo, which was taken at the end of April 1944, shows high-ranking Wehrmacht and SS officers seriously observing a close air support demonstration by Henschel Hs 129 and Junkers Ju 87 Luftwaffe aircrafts with the panzers and Panzergrenadier troops on the ground. Front row, from left to right: Generalleutnant Dipl.Ing. Gerhard Conrad (Kommandeur Luftflottentruppen der Luftflotte 4), General der Panzertruppe Erhard Raus (Oberbefehlshaber 4. Panzerarmee), SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser (Kommandierender General II. SS-Panzerkorps), and Oberst Werner Friebe (mit der Führung beauftragt 8. Panzer-Division).
From
left to right: SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul
Hausser (Oberbefehlshaber 7. Armee), Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel
(Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B), and General der Fallschirmtruppe
Eugen Meindl (Kommandierender General II. Fallschirmkorps). The photo
was taken on July 14, 1944, in Villebaudon (St.-Lô/Normandy), which was
the headquarters of the II. Fallschirmkorps. At that time, Rommel
(supervising Hausser) and Hausser (supervising Meindl) were conducting
an inspection to assess the current situation of the fierce battle
against the American army in St.-Lô. This photo was taken a few weeks
after the replacement of the commander of the 7th Army from
Generaloberst Friedrich Dollmann (who committed suicide) to
SS-Obergruppenführer Hausser, which took place on June 28, 1944. A
little attention is drawn to the camouflage jacket worn by Hausser, as
well as the M43 field cap with officer's insignia worn by Meindl!
Three
senior German commanders in the Battle against Allied troops in St.-Lô
area, Normandy, 16 July 1944. From left to right: General der
Fallschirmtruppe Eugen Meindl (Kommandierender General II.
Fallschirmkorps), SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul
Hausser (Oberbefehlshaber 7. Armee), and Generalleutnant Dipl.Ing.
Richard Schimpf (Kommandeur 3. Fallschirmjäger-Division). Behind Schimpf
is SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl-Heinz Boska (Adjutant Oberbefehlshaber 7.
Armee). In this meeting Meindl told his commander, Hausser, that the
German defense position at St.-Lô was untenable any longer due to the
superiority of the Allied forces on land and in the air. The next day
Hausser forwarded this message to his commander, Generalfeldmarschall
Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B). Unknowingly, on the same
day Rommel was badly wounded by Allied air strikes and went to the
intensive treatment at the hospital! This photo is most likely taken at
Villebaudon which is the base of II. Fallschirmkorps. Other pictures from this occasion can be seen
HERE.
SS-Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser.
Paul Hausser and Kurt Meyer.
Ritterkreuzträger who were present during the funeral of SS-Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser: 9.SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Weidinger, 10.SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel, 11.Oberstleutnant der Reserve Konrad Zeller, and 12.Oberst Walther Dahl. Paul Hausser died at the age of 92 on 21 December 1972 at Ludwigsburg, Germany, while the funeral taken place on 28 December 1972 in Neuer Friedhof Ludwigsburg, started from 02:45 PM.
Source:
https://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2018/06/foto-paul-hausser.html
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://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hausser
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hausser-99
Karl-Heinz Mathias: Paul Hausser, Generaloberst der Waffen-SS: "Ich diene". Ein Lebens- und Zeitbild
Paul Hausser: Waffen-SS im Einsatz (1953, Pless Verlag)
Paul Hausser: Soldaten wie andere auch (1966, Munin Verlag)
Weitere Quellen aus Bundesarchiv und Google Books zu Reichswehr- und Waffen-SS-Personalakten.
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