__NOTOC__ Sylvester Stadler (30 December 1910 – 23 August 1995) was a high-ranking Austrian commander of the

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

, a commander of the

9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen The 9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen" () was a Waffen-SS armoured division of Nazi Germany during World War II. It participated in battles on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. The division was activated in December 1942. Many of the men ...

, previously having been the commander of the SS regiment whose 3rd Company was responsible for the

Oradour-sur-Glane massacre On 10 June 1944, four days after Normandy landings, D-Day, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi-occupied France was destroyed when 642 civilians, inclu ...

. Only 34 years old at the end of the war, he held the rank of SS-''

Brigadeführer ''Brigadeführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that was used between 1932 and 1945. It was mainly known for its use as an SS rank. As an SA rank, it was used after briefly being known as '' Untergruppenführer'' in ...

'' and ''Generalmajor'' of the Waffen-SS and was a recipient of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.

Biography

Stadler was born in Austria, the son of a Styrian miner, who learned the profession of electrical engineer after elementary and state school in Judenburg but joined the Nazi party and the SS in May 1933. At the beginning of the Second World War, he led a company of the ''SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS-VT). He then fought with the SS-Verfügungsdivision in France in 1940, where he was wounded near Arras. He also took part in the Balkan campaign in 1941. After being wounded again in the Battle of Moscow in 1941, he was briefly employed as a tactics teacher at the SS-Junker School in Braunschweig. From March 1, 1942 he commanded the 2nd Battalion of the Panzer Grenadier Regiment ''Der Führer'' belonging to the

SS Division Das Reich The 2nd SS Panzer Division ''Das Reich'' () or SS Division ''Das Reich'' was an armored division of the of Nazi Germany during World War II. Initially formed from regiments of the ''SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS-VT), ''Das Reich'' initially served ...

. In May 1943 he was appointed commander of the 4th SS Panzergrenadier ''Der Führer'' Regiment with which he fought in Russia. For repelling an intrusion by the Red Army near Kharkov, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on April 6 1943. To recuperate, the ''Der Führer'' regiment, which had been severely decimated in Russia, was relocated to France in the Toulouse area at the beginning of 1944 - just like the remaining 2nd SS Panzer Division “Das Reich”. The division was ordered north to combat the Allied landing forces in Normandy in June 1944. While Stadler was commander of the ''Der Führer'', a subordinate unit under his command committed the

. On 10 June 1944, part of the regiment, led by SS-''Sturmbannführer'' Adolf Diekmann, killed 642 inhabitants of Oradour-sur-Glane. Stadler ordered a court martial for Diekmann, albeit the latter was killed in action before he could face the ordered trial. On 10 July 1944, Stadler was appointed commander of the

. it fought on the Eastern Front, in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

, at the

Falaise pocket The Falaise pocket or battle of the Falaise pocket (; 12–21 August 1944) was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. Allied forces formed a pocket around Falaise, Calvados, in which German Army Group B, c ...

, at

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

("Operation Market Garden"), in the

Ardennes offensive The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

and in Hungary. He surrendered his division to the U.S. Army in Austria in May 1945. Stadler was interned until 1948.

Awards

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

(1939) 2nd Class (25 September 1939) & 1st Class (26 June 1940) *

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. While it was order of precedence, lower in preceden ...

** Knight' Cross on 6 April 1943 as SS-''

Sturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Sturmbannführer'' (; ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank equivalent to Major (rank), major that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the Sturmabteilung, SA, Schutzstaffel, SS, and the National Socialist Flyers Corps, NSFK ...

'' and commander of the II./SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment "Der Führer" ** 303rd Oak Leaves on 16 September 1943 as SS-''

Obersturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Obersturmbannführer'' (Senior Assault-unit Leader; ; short: ''Ostubaf'') was a paramilitary rank in the German Nazi Party ( NSDAP) which was used by the SA (''Sturmabteilung'') and the SS (''Schutzstaffel''). The rank of ' was juni ...

'' and commander of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment "Der Führer" ** Swords in 1945 as commander of the SS Division Hohenstaufen (?) No evidence of the award can be found in the

German Federal Archives The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv (BArch) (, lit. "Federal Archive") are the national archives of Germany. They were established at the current location in Koblenz in 1952. They are subordinated to the Federal Commissioner for Culture ...

. Stadler claimed that

Sepp Dietrich Josef "Sepp" Dietrich (28 May 1892 – 21 April 1966) was a German politician, general and war criminal in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) during the Nazi era. Despite having no formal staff officer training, Dietrich was, along with Paul Hausser, t ...

proposed him on 22 March 1945, even though the SS Division Hohenstaufen was not subordinated to the

6th Panzer Army The 6th Panzer Army () was a formation of the German Army, formed in the autumn of 1944. The 6th Panzer Army was first used as an offensive force during the Battle of the Bulge, in which it operated as the northernmost element of the German offens ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stadler, Sylvester 1910 births 1995 deaths Austrian Waffen-SS personnel Austrian prisoners of war SS-Brigadeführer Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves Oradour-sur-Glane massacre People from Murtal District World War II prisoners of war held by the United States