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
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