Ferdinand Porsche reached the rank of "SS-Oberführer". During the war, Porsche was further decorated with the SS-Ehrenring and awarded the War Merit Cross. As the war progressed his proposed solutions to new developments became more complex and Ferdinand Porsche gained a reputation in certain circles as a "mad scientist" especially with Albert Speer (mainly due to his new found affinity for "pointy" designs). A new city, "Stadt des KdF-Wagens" was founded near Fallersleben for the Volkswagen factory, but wartime production concentrated almost exclusively on the military Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen variants. Mass production of the car, which later became known as the Beetle,
1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler of 1942 refitting as a "panzergrenadier" division. Thanks to the efforts of "Reichsführer-SS" Heinrich Himmler, along with SS-"Obergruppenführer" Paul Hausser, the SS Panzer Corps commander, the three "SS Panzergrenadier" divisions (LSSAH), "Das Reich" and "Totenkopf" were to be formed with a full regiment of tanks rather than only a Battalion. This meant that the "SS Panzergrenadier" divisions were full-strength Panzer divisions in all but name. The division also received nine Tiger 1 tanks, and these were formed into the 13th ("schwere") Company/1st "SS Panzer Regiment". The collapse of the front around Stalingrad and the encirclement of the German Sixth Army