III. Army Corps (Wehrmacht)

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The III. Army Corps of the German Wehrmacht , in the full title General Command III. Army Corps , later III. Army Corps (mot.) And III. Panzer Corps , was the name of 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 III. Army Corps was in October 1934 in Berlin in the military district III from the 3rd Division set up of the army and was initially code named commander in the military district III . The first commanding general was Lieutenant General Erwin von Witzleben , who was replaced by General of the Artillery Curt Haase in November 1938 .

1939

On August 26, 1939, the corps was mobilized leaving behind a Deputy General Command (under Lieutenant General Franz Maria von Dalwigk zu Lichtenfels ). During the invasion of Poland, the corps of the 4th Army was subordinate to General Artillery Günther von Kluge , which belonged to Army Group North under Colonel General Fedor von Bock . On the advance through West Prussia with the 50th Infantry Division and the Brigade Netze (border guard) reached the III. Army Corps on September 4, 1939 the northern edge of Bromberg . The further advance took place via Hohensalza into the Gostynin area , where there was fighting during the Battle of the Bzura from September 13 to 21 .

1940

After the end of the attack on Poland, the corps was transferred to the Eifel in October , where it was initially subordinated to the 6th Army and later to the 12th Army . In the western campaign from May 1940 onwards, the corps advanced through Luxembourg to Belgium , broke through the southern Belgian fortifications and reached the French Rethel area in the first phase of the attack . In the second phase of the western campaign, the corps, to which the 3rd , 23rd and 52nd Infantry Divisions were subordinate, attacked southwards via Aisne . After the breakthrough of the Weygand Line it crossed the Marne and Seine and advanced in the Luzy area to the Loire . It was then used for a short time to protect the demarcation line. From mid-July 1940 he was transferred to Poland to the 18th Army .

1941

After several changing positions, the new III came. Army Corps (mot.) (Renamed on March 21, 1941) in May 1941 to the 6th Army at the beginning of the Russian campaign of Army Group South (formerly. Army Group A belonged). During the German attack on the Soviet Union (June 22nd) the corps from Galicia was assigned. Deployed on the left wing of Panzer Group 1 , the corps under General von Mackensen advanced in the direction of Lutsk and took part in the tank battle near Dubno-Rovno . The assigned 13th and 14th Panzer Divisions were then involved in fighting on the Stalin Line and in the Zhitomir area . At the end of July 1941, the corps reached the Dnieper near Dnepropetrovsk . The further advance led it to Mariupol and in November to Rostov-on-Don . After the withdrawal from Rostov (→ Battle of Rostov ), forced by a Soviet counterattack  , the corps spent in the Mius position. At the end of the year, in addition to the 13th and 14th Panzer Divisions, the SS Leibstandarte , the 60th motorized and 125th infantry divisions were subordinate to the command. In the south the coast of the Black Sea at Taganrog formed the front line, in the north the XIV Motorized Army Corps joined.

1942

From February to April 1942, as well as in June 1942, the corps was also known as the Mackensen group and intervened decisively in the battle of Kharkov . On May 17, the counter-offensive of the superior Kleist Army Group began: the 14th and 16th Panzer Divisions and the 60th Motorized Division advanced northward from the Barwenkowo area towards the rear of the Soviet offensive armies. On May 19, they reached Isjum and crossed the Bereka at Petrovskoye. The 14th Panzer Division succeeded in taking Gussarowka on May 22nd, thus more than halving the width of the western Soviet bridgehead on the Donets . The four Soviet armies attacking south of the city of Kharkov were completely surprised by the impending encirclement. On May 23, the Mackensen group was able to unite with the 3rd and 23rd Panzer Divisions pushing from the north . The enclosed Soviet troops tried to break out to the southeast by May 27th, large parts were taken prisoner, and the strong bulge in the front on the western bank of the Donets was eliminated.

During the German summer offensive in 1942, from June 1942 as III. Panzer Corps was the name given to a large unit as part of the 1st Panzer Army ( Army Group A ) via Rostov , Armavir and Maikop to the Terek . After fighting for Nalchik and Ordzhonikidze , the corps withdrew from the Caucasus after the start of the Soviet North Caucasian operation .

1943

In March 1943, deployments at Stalino and Lisichansk / Slavyansk followed . After that, the corps in the Kharkov area was refreshed and prepared for the Citadel operation . It was used in early July as part of the Kempf Army Detachment in the southeastern apron of Belgorod . The 168th Infantry Division , 6th, 7th and 19th Panzer Division , the Heavy Panzer Division 503 and the Assault Gun Division 228 were subordinate to it. This was followed by retreat battles as part of the 4th Panzer and 8th Army up to the end of the year to the Dnepr.

1944

In January and February 1944 the corps was refreshed again and led together with the XXXXVII. Panzer Corps counterattacks at Kirovograd and relief attacks for the Korsun pocket . During the fighting in which the 1st , 16th , 17th Panzer Divisions and the 1st SS Panzer Division were deployed and which lasted until February 18, 1944, 728 tanks of the Red Army were destroyed. From March to April it was part of the 1st Panzer Army in the Kamenez-Podolski battle . Afterwards it was made available to the Army Group Northern Ukraine . As a result of the Red Army's Lviv-Sandomierz operation in the summer of 1944, the corps had to retreat to the Vistula, where it took part in the fighting over the Baranov bridgehead . In September the company was transferred to Hungary , where the corps was again subordinated to the 6th Army. Here it was used in October in the defense of the Soviet Debrecen operation . The 1st , 23rd and 24th Panzer Divisions were able to cut off and defeat three Soviet corps (Pliyev cavalry group), only weaker groups were able to force their way south on October 29 at Nyiregyhaza . From November 1944 to January 1945, the command was part of the Breith group , which was led by its commanding General Hermann Breith and to which other corps units were subordinate. In November, the Breith group was centrally involved in the Battle of Budapest . Due to the critical military situation in Transdanubia , the General Command entrusted with the defense of Budapest on December 2nd was withdrawn on December 12th and relocated to the Stuhlweissenburg area.

1945

On January 7th, the corps carried out relief attacks, which were supposed to relieve the IV. SS Panzer Corps, which was already in combat between Czolnok and Gran . For this purpose, the 1st, 3rd and 23rd Panzer Divisions, in cooperation with the Harteneck Cavalry Corps, had taken positions east of Mór , southwest of Csákberény, northwest of Sárkeresztes to Székesfehérvár . The advance from the southern Vértes Mountains took place northwards towards Csákvár and Bicske . In March 1945, he participated in the unsuccessful Lake Balaton offensive . The corps withdrew via Veszprém and the Raab via Oberwart to Hartberg . The subordinate 1st Panzer Division carried out a final counter-offensive in Joglland . A last major attack by the 1st Mountain Division took place at the end of April against enemy forces that had broken through in Feistritztal in order to close a threatening gap on Semmering . The front section could be held until the end of the war. On May 7th, the order was given to retreat to the Americans behind the Enns . The remaining troops of the corps were captured by the Soviets on May 8, 1945 between Leoben and Gleisdorf .

structure

Corps troops (selection)

  • Arko 3
  • Corps Intelligence Division 43
  • Corps Supply Troops 403

Subordinate associations

September 1939
May 1940
June 1941
December 1942
July 1943
March 1945

Commanding general

Rank Surname date
Lieutenant General / General of the Infantry Erwin von Witzleben October 1, 1934 to November 10, 1938
General of the Artillery / Colonel General Curt Haase November 16, 1938 to November 13, 1940
General of the cavalry Eberhard von Mackensen February 15, 1941 to March 31, 1942
General of the armored force Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg March 31 to July 20, 1942
General of the cavalry Eberhard von Mackensen July 20, 1942 to January 2, 1943
General of the armored force Hermann Breith January 2 to October 20, 1943
General of the artillery Heinz Ziegler October 20 to November 25, 1943
General of the Infantry Friedrich Schulz November 25, 1943 to January 9, 1944
General of the armored force Hermann Breith January 9 to May 31, 1944
General of the armored force Dietrich von Saucken May 31 to June 29, 1944
General of the armored force Hermann Breith June 29, 1944 to May 8, 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 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Niall Barr: Panzerkrieg, Kaiser Verlag, p. 125.
  2. Krisztián Ungváry: The Battle of Budapest, Herbig Verlag Munich 1999, p. 121.
  3. Manfried Rauchsteiner : The War in Austria 1945, Österr. Bundesverlag, Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-215-01672-9 .