IV. SS Panzer Corps

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IV. SS Panzer Corps

active June 30, 1944 to May 8, 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Armed SS
Type Panzer Corps
Subordinate troops

see structure

Second World War Eastern Front
Tank battle in front of Warsaw
Battle for Budapest
Lake Balaton offensive
guide
Commanding general See list

The IV. SS Panzer Corps was a major unit of the Waffen SS during World War II .

history

The establishment of the General Command IV. SS Panzer Corps was ordered on August 5, 1943 by the SS Leadership Main Office on the basis of a Führer order from June 1, 1943 in the Poitiers area in France. SS-Obergruppenführer Alfred Wünnenberg was commissioned with the establishment. However, the installation was canceled and the existing staffs for the installation of the VI. SS volunteer army corps (Lat.) Used in Frankfurt / Oder. The corps was not actually established until June 30, 1944, when the corps troops of the VII SS Panzer Corps were renamed and taken over. SS-Gruppenführer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp became the first commanding general . In contrast to the previous SS Panzer Corps, no heavy tank division was set up for the IV SS Panzer Corps . The corps was originally intended to lead the 10th SS Panzer Division "Frundsberg" and the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen" on the invasion front in Normandy.

By order of July 19, 1944, the corps was assigned to Army Group Center on the Eastern Front and the previous commander of the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" , SS Group Leader Herbert Otto Gille , was appointed as the new Commanding General. With effect from July 30, the corps was placed under the 9th Army . Until December 1944, the corps was then in defensive battles in the Warsaw area , before it was ordered to Hungary by order of December 24, 1944.

The first squadrons of the IV SS Panzer Corps arrived in Raab in the last days of 1944 and were placed under the 6th Army . In January 1945, the corps carried out several unsuccessful relief attempts under the name "Enterprise Konrad 1–3" for the troops trapped in Budapest (→ Battle of Budapest ). After the surrender of the trapped troops, the corps withdrew to the Stuhlweissenburg area, where it was prepared for the "Spring Awakening" operation, the Lake Balaton offensive. The attack by the 6th Panzer Army failed after a small initial success and the IV. SS Panzer Corps was threatened with enclosure. By deploying the 9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen" , the corps was just able to free itself and then withdrew to Austria, where the corps leadership with some of the subordinate units surrendered to American units on May 9, 1945 in Radstadt . Other parts of the corps surrendered to the Americans in other communities in Salzburg and Upper Austria.

structure

Corps troops
  • SS Corps News Department 104
  • SS artillery commander 104
  • SS thrower department 104 / heavy SS artillery department 104/504
  • SS Flak Department 104/504
  • SS Corps Pioneer Battalion 104/504
  • SS Corps Medical Department 104
  • SS Corps Supply Troops 104
Subordinate divisions

Commanding generals

  • August 5 to August 30, 1943: SS-Obergruppenführer and Police General Alfred Wünnenberg
  • October 24, 1943 to March 14, 1944: SS-Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the Waffen-SS Walter Krüger
  • July 1 to July 19, 1944: SS-Gruppenführer and Lieutenant General of the Waffen-SS Matthias Kleinheisterkamp
  • July 28, 1944 to May 8, 1945: SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS Herbert Otto Gille

literature

  • Rolf Stoves: The armored and motorized large German formations 1935–1945 . Ed. Dörfler im Nebel-Verlag, Eggolsheim 2003, ISBN 3-89555-102-3 .