II Army Corps (Wehrmacht)

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The II Army Corps of the German Wehrmacht , in the full title General Command II Army Corps , was the name for the corresponding command authority but also for the association of several divisions and its own corps troops , which was led by this General Command and was under the supreme command of an army or army group .

history

Lineup

The II Army Corps was set up in Wehrkreis II (Stettin) from the 2nd Division of the Reichswehr in Stettin in October 1934 . The commanding general had been General of the Infantry and later Colonel General Adolf Strauss since November 1938 .

1939

During the invasion of Poland , the Association of subordinate 4th Army under General of Artillery Günther von Kluge , which the Army Group North under Colonel-General Fedor von Bock was a member. On September 2, 1939, the 2nd Army Corps with the 3rd Infantry Division and the 32nd Infantry Division broke through the heavily fortified positions on both sides of the Polish Crown ( Koronowo ) on the Brahe ( Brda ), in order to close the Vistula near Kulm ( Chełmno ). Thus a connection between Pomerania and East Prussia was established through the Polish corridor ; German troops could now be moved overland. On September 4th, the corps advanced in the direction of Briesen ( Wąbrzeźno ), and further divisions were led into the bridgehead. The further pursuit led the corps on both sides of the Vistula to Warsaw .

1940

From December 1939, during the so-called seated war , the II. Corps served as border guards in the Eifel region on the western front and was again subordinate to the 4th Army . In the western campaign that began on May 10, 1940 , the corps managed to break through the southern Belgian fortifications and march into the Ardennes . This was followed by the occupation of Lille and further fighting at Cambrai and on the Scarpe. On May 30, 1940, General of the Infantry Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel took over the command of the corps, which was subordinated to Army Group B (Colonel General Fedor von Bock ) for the second phase of the campaign . In the case of red , the Weygand line was broken from June 6th and the crossing on the Somme was enforced. The attack was directed south to the Seine, then the French were further pursued as far as the Loire . Between August 1940 and February 1941 the corps of the 6th Army (GFM Walter von Reichenau ) was subordinate to the Channel coast to take part in the invasion of England. After the Seelöwe company was no longer carried out, it was relocated to the Eastern Front.

1941

The II Army Corps was transferred to the 18th Army (Colonel General Georg von Küchler ) in East Prussia in March 1941 , but was later transferred to Gumbinnen before the Barbarossa operation of the 16th Army (Colonel General Ernst Busch ) . On June 22, 1941, the commanding General Walter von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt attacked the subordinate 12th , 32nd and 121st Infantry Divisions south of Schloßberg across the Lithuanian border. Together with the attacking VI. Army Corps (General Förster) of the 9th Army, the breakthrough between Mariampol and Kalvarija was forced. Together with the northern operating XXVIII. Army Corps , the II Corps crossed the Memel near Kovno on June 25th . East Daugavpils in Krāslava takes place on July 3, the Daugava junction until July 8 Sarjanka was reached. The corps was involved in the Battle of Newel , followed by the advance to the Lowat , until August 2nd, Cholm was taken. Fighting in the Demyansk area and in the Valdai region followed by the end of the year .

1942/43

On January 8, 1942, the Soviet Northwest Front between Lake Ilmen and Lake Seliger opened the attack on the positions of the X and II Army Corps. The Soviet 11th Army (Lieutenant General Morosow) broke through the positions of the 290th Infantry Division on the southern bank of the Ilmen Lake and was already in front of Staraya Russa on January 9th , thereby encircling the II Corps together with the X Army Corps near Demyansk ( →  Demyansk Kessel Battle ). The command under General von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt was locked in for thirteen weeks, from January 18 to April 21, 1942. General Seydlitz's relief operation “ bridging the gap” re- established the connection to the corps that had been cut off, but the exhausting frontal arch was held until March 1943 on Hitler's orders . At the end of February 1943 Demyansk was evacuated and the general command that had become vacant was used for the defensive battles in the Cholm and Newel area .

1944/45

After the blockade of Leningrad was lifted , the 18th Army had to return to Narva in February 1944 , so the General Command was transferred to Estonia to be transferred to the Narva Army Department . In July 1944, as a result of the collapse of the Army Group in the middle, the 16th Army retreated via Polotsk and Daugavpils to Riga , so the General Command was briefly under their leadership again. The II. Corps was cleared to fortify the threatened Daugava line in the Daugava area, between July 6th and 8th the 205th , 225th and 263rd Infantry Divisions were concentrated west of Lake Dissna. Under the leadership of the commanding general Wilhelm Hasse , the corps took part in the defensive battle between Dorpat and Walk on August 21, 1944 and was then withdrawn to Riga via Pernau . After the Russian 51st Army (Genlt. Kreiser) had achieved the breakthrough to the Baltic Sea near Polangen on October 10, 1944, the front held by the II Army Corps to the east of Riga had to be abandoned again. The loss of Riga and the evacuation of Estonia were thus forced. The retreat brought the II. AK into the Kurland basin , it was integrated in the western section under AOK 18 in the new front. In six battles of Courland, the corps under Infantry General Johannes Mayer and from April 1945 under Lieutenant General Alfred Gause defended the section between Moscheiken and Vaiņode until the end of the war against the Baltic Front of Soviet Marshal Hovhannes Baghramjan . At the beginning of March 1945, the 263rd and 563rd Volksgrenadier Divisions and Combat Group 290 were assigned to the General Command . On the day of the surrender of Army Group Courland on May 9, 1945, the II Corps was in the area southwest of Schrunden .

guide

Commanding generals

Chiefs of the General Staff

  • Major General Hans von Salmuth , listing - October 12, 1937
  • Major General Bruno Bieler , October 12, 1937 - September 30, 1939
  • Colonel Friedrich Hoßbach , September 30, 1939 - October 24, 1939
  • Colonel Viktor Koch, December 1, 1939 - May 27, 1942
  • Colonel Karl-Erich Schmidt-Richberg, May 27, 1942 - November 15, 1943
  • Colonel Wilhelm Huhs, November 15, 1943 - May 1945

literature

  • Percy Ernst Schramm (Ed.): War Diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht , Volume I: 1940/41 edited by Hans-Adolf Jacobsen , Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen, Frankfurt am Main 1965.
  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 2. The Land Forces 1–5 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1973, ISBN 3-7648-0871-3 .
  • Werner Haupt : Army Group North 1941–1945 , Podzun Verlag, Bad Nauheim 1966.