I. SS Panzer Corps

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I. SS Panzer Corps
I. SS Panzer Corps "Leibstandarte"

Troop registration number of the I. SS Panzer Corps

Association badge
active July 27, 1943 to May 8, 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Armed SS
Type Panzer Corps
Subordinate troops

see structure

Installation site Berlin-Lichterfelde
Second World War Western front
Battle for Caen
Falaise cauldron
Battle of the Bulge

Eastern Front

Lake Balaton offensive
Battle for Vienna
Commanding generals
list of Commanding Generals

The I. SS Panzer Corps , also known as the I. SS Panzer Corps "Leibstandarte" , was a major unit of the Waffen-SS in World War II .

history

The General Command of the 1st SS Panzer Corps was set up on July 27, 1943 in Berlin-Lichterfelde . Associated with this was the renaming of the previous SS Panzer Corps as II. SS Panzer Corps . For Commanding General SS Colonel-group leader was Josef Dietrich appointed. The corps troops were set up at the Beverloo military training area in Belgium, and those of the heavy SS Panzer Division 101 at the Mailly-le-Camp military training area in France. As early as August 1943, the corps that was still in formation was relocated to Northern Italy.

In December 1943, the lineup was completed and the corps was moved to France, where it at the disposal of Army Group D was made. After the Allies landed in Normandy (→ Operation Overlord ), the corps was deployed under Panzer Group West in the Battle of Caen , then in securing the withdrawal of the 7th Army from the Falaise pocket and fighting back to the German border . After a refresher in Westphalia, the corps was deployed in December as part of the 6th Panzer Army in the Ardennes offensive . The capture of bridges over the Meuse was a necessary prerequisite for the success of the Ardennes offensive . The Peiper combat group of about 2,000 men of the 1st SS Panzer Division was supposed to force the rapid breakthrough of the American positions and reach the Maas at Huy . On December 17th, at least 82 US soldiers were captured and murdered at a street crossing in Baugnez near Malmedy ( Malmedy massacre ).

After a further refresher in January 1945, the corps was relocated to Hungary and took part in the Lake Balaton offensive in the Stuhlweissenburg area (March 6-14, 1945). After the failure of the offensive, the corps had to withdraw from the Soviet 6th Guards Panzer Army (General Kravtschenko ) via Ödenburg and Mattersburg to Lower Austria . The important industrial city Wiener Neustadt had to be closed on April 2nd because of the western encirclement by the Soviet IX. Guard mechanical corps to be evacuated without a fight. At Steinfeld between Neunkirchen via Bad Fischau to Wimpassing , the remnants of the 1st and 12th SS divisions on the right wing and the Keitel combat group of the 37th SS Cavalry Division assigned to the left wing of the corps section were overrun by the Soviet advance. On April 3, Bad Vöslau , Baden near Vienna and Traiskirchen fell into Soviet hands. While the still powerful II SS Panzer Corps ( 6th Panzer - 2nd and 3rd SS Divisions ) took over the defense of Vienna to the north , the 1st SS Panzer Corps attempted the section between Semmering and the Soviet 4th and 9th Guard Army To keep St. Pölten. On April 15, St. Pölten , which was defended by the Bünau combat group formed from alarm units , fell to the Soviet 4th Guard Army . At the beginning of May the declining I. SS Panzer Corps organized the defense of the section south of Wilhelmsburg to the Rohrer Sattel and was assigned the 117th Jäger Division as reinforcement . On May 7, 1945, the Bünau group began to withdraw to the still unfinished Mank - Melk position, while the I. SS Corps withdrew across the Enns to Upper Austria . The river was crossed between Enns and Steyr . The surrender to the American 3rd Army took place on May 8th and 9th in the area southwest of Linz .

structure

Corps troops
  • SS Corps News Department 101
  • SS Artillery Command I
  • heavy SS Panzer Division 101
  • SS thrower department 101 / heavy SS artillery department 101
  • SS Flak Division 101
  • SS Corps Medical Department 101
  • SS Corps Supply Troops 101
Subordinate divisions

Commanding generals

literature

  • Michael Reynolds: An opponent like steel. The I. SS Panzer Corps in Normandy 1944. Pour-le-Mérite, Selent 2004, ISBN 3-932381-28-9 .
  • Rolf Stoves: The armored and motorized large German formations 1935–1945 . Ed. Dörfler im Nebel-Verlag, Eggolsheim 2003, ISBN 3-89555-102-3 .
  • Manfried Rauchsteiner: The war in Austria 1945. Writings of the Army History Museum in Vienna (Military Science Institute), Österr. Bundesverlag, Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-215-01672-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dr. Manfried Rauchsteiner: The War in Austria, Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1984, pp. 123–140