Born in 1901, Priess volunteered for military service in the army of the German Empire in January 1919, which was transformed to the Reichsheer in the Weimar Republic.

He led this formation, as part of the 6th Panzer Army, in the failed Ardennenoffensive, which was dubbed the Battle of the Bulge.

He then commanded I SS Panzer Corps in Operation Spring Awakening, the last major German offensive of World War II.

Along with Sepp Dietrich, Joachim Peiper and others, Priess was charged with his complicity in murder of over 300 American POWs and 100 Belgian civilians between 16 December 1944 and 13 January 1945.

[5] Priess was found guilty of having ordered his men to fight with "reckless brutality and hardness", and relaying orders that the troops "were to be preceded by a wave of terror and fright, that no humane inhibitions were to be shown, and that every resistance was to be broken by terror.