Artur Phleps

Artur Phleps
Phleps in 1942
Birth name	Artur Gustav Martin Phleps
Nickname(s)	Papa Phleps
Born	(1881-11-29)29 November 1881 Birthälm, Szeben County, Austria-Hungary
Died	21 September 1944(1944-09-21) (aged 62) Șimand, Arad, Romania
Allegiance	Austro-Hungarian Empire  Romania  Germany
Service/branch	Austro-Hungarian Army  Royal Romanian Army Waffen-SS
Years of service	1900–1944
Rank	SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS (Lieutenant General)
Unit	SS Motorised Division Wiking
Commands held	7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen V SS Mountain Corps
Battles/wars	World War I Hungarian–Romanian war of 1919 World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
Spouse(s)	Grete
Children	Reinhart Phleps Irmingard

Artur Gustav Martin Phleps (29 November 1881 – 21 September 1944) was an Austro-Hungarian, Romanian and German army officer who held the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS (lieutenant general) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. At the post-war Nuremberg trials, the Waffen-SS – of which Phleps was a senior officer – was declared to be a criminal organisation due to its major involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity. An Austro-Hungarian Army officer before and during World War I, Phleps specialised in mountain warfare and logistics, and had been promoted to Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) by the end of the war. During the interwar period he joined the Romanian Army, reaching the rank of General-locotenent (major general), and also became an adviser to King Carol. After he spoke out against the government he was sidelined and asked to be dismissed from the army.

In 1941 he left Romania and joined the Waffen-SS as an SS-Standartenführer (colonel) under his mother's maiden name of Stolz. Seeing action on the Eastern Front as a regimental commander with the SS Motorised Division Wiking, he later raised and commanded the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen, raised the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian), and commanded the V SS Mountain Corps. Units under his command committed many crimes against the civilian population of the Independent State of Croatia, German-occupied territory of Serbia and Italian governorate of Montenegro.^[1][2] His final appointment was as plenipotentiary general in south Siebenbürgen (Transylvania) and the Banat, during which he organised the evacuation of the Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) of Siebenbürgen to the Reich. In addition to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Phleps was awarded the German Cross in Gold, and after he was killed in September 1944, he was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross.