Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche car company. He is best known for creating the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner-Porsche), the Volkswagen Beetle, the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, several other important developments and Porsche automobiles. An important contributor to the German war effort during World War II, Porsche was involved in the production of advanced tanks such as the VK 4501 (P), Tiger I, Tiger II, Elefant, and Panzer VIII Maus, as well as other weapon systems, including the V-1 flying bomb. Porsche was a member of the
12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend the SS giving up the struggle for the town and withdrawing around midnight. In his analysis of the fighting against the Canadians of the Regina Rifles Regiment (which contained a number of Sherman and Firefly tanks, as did virtually every Canadian and British regiment) at Bretteville, Cardonville farm and Norrey-en-Bessin, Hubert Meyer, the commanding general of the 12 SS Panzer Division (after Kurt Meyer had been captured in September 1944) wrote later in "The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division" (volume I) that: “The tactic of surprise, using mobile, fast infantry and Panzers even in small,