 The SA also took part in street battles against the forces of rival political parties and violent actions against Jews.From the SA sprung the Schutzstaffel (SS; Protective Squadron) which grew to become one of the largest and most powerful groups in Nazi Germany, which Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler (the leader of the SS from 1929) envisioned as an elite group of guards.The Waffen-SS, the military branch of the SS, became a de facto fourth branch of the Wehrmacht.