Monday, November 1, 2010

Eugen Corrodi

Born in 1897, Eugen Corrodi was a major and commander of an infantry battalion in the Swiss Army in the beginning of World War II. A convinced national-socialist and anti-Semitic, he left to Germany in July 1941 and joined the Waffen-SS. He got a Sturmbannführer der Reserve rank and taught the military tactics at SS-Junkerschule Tölz from January or February till April, 1942. While served in the Waffen-SS, Corrodi used the pseudonym "von Elfenau".

After served a year in SS Kavallerie-Division as commander of the Cavalry Regiment 3, Corrodi became an instructor at Panzerschule in Bitche (Lorraine/France). When the Waffen-SS created an Italian SS brigade, Corrodi helping to oversee the creation of the unit.

Corrodi was the most highly decorated Swiss officer in the Waffen-SS, a German Cross in Gold winner. He was also the highest ranking Swiss enlisted in the German armed forces and ended the War as Chief of Staff of SS-Ogrupenführer Lothar Debes, Commander of the Waffen-SS in Italy, with the rank of SS-Oberführer der Reserve.

After the War, Corrodi was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for desertion by a Swiss military tribunal. He later lived as an owner of a textile factory in Basel. He died in 1980.

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