Corps department

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Provisional large units of the German Wehrmacht in division size, which were set up in 1943 and 1944, were designated as corps department .

Lineup

During the German-Soviet War , the units of the German Wehrmacht suffered great losses in the course of 1943. This particularly affected the German infantry divisions , which were increasingly helpless in the face of the increased use of artillery and tanks by the Red Army. In many divisions, the losses could no longer be replaced by new soldiers, so that their strengths and combat strength fell drastically.

With effect from November 2, 1943, three decimated divisions were merged into corps departments for the first time. These corps divisions were organized as a new type of infantry division, with the regiments being referred to as divisional groups. However, they led the command signals of corps to deceive the enemy . In order to preserve the tradition and to facilitate a possible re-formation, the three divisional groups kept the number and the replacement troop units of the division from which they emerged. The artillery regiment and the other division troops continued the number and tradition of the first of the three starting divisions, which also formed the staff of the corps department. As the war situation worsened, a re-establishment of the divisions became utopian. All still existing corps departments were later renamed into infantry divisions and the numbers and traditions of the respective 2nd and 3rd original divisions were extinguished.

In the southern army group the corps sections "A", "B" and "C" were, in the Army Group Center the corps departments "D" and "E" placed. In March 1944, the Army Group South Ukraine formed the "F" Corps Division. Corps divisions "G" and "H" were formed for the last time after the catastrophic defeat of Army Group Center in the summer of 1944. (→ Operation Bagration )

List of corps departments

  • Corps division A : emerged from the 161st , 293rd and 355th Infantry Divisions, was renamed the 161st Infantry Division on July 27, 1944 and destroyed near Jassy in Eastern Romania after August 20, 1944 (→ Operation Jassy-Kishinew )
  • Corps Detachment B : from the 112th , 255th and 332nd Infantry Division emerged, was in the period from 24 January to 17 February 1944 during the battle of encirclement of Korsun destroyed
  • Corps division C : formed from the 183rd , 217th and 339th Infantry Divisions, was destroyed during the Lviv-Sandomierz operation in a pocket near Brody on July 22, 1944; the planned renaming to the 183rd Infantry Division did not take place instead of.
  • Corps division D : amalgamation of the 56th and 262nd infantry divisions, was almost destroyed during the Soviet attack on Vitebsk from June 22, 1944 to June 28, 1944 (→ Operation Bagration ) and four weeks later with one grenadier brigade and two Grenadier regiments reorganized, renamed the 56th Infantry Division on September 10, 1944
  • Corps Division E : formed from the 251st , 137th and 86th Infantry Divisions, was deployed in Belarus and Poland and renamed the 251st Infantry Division on October 16, 1944
  • Corps Division F : After the remnants of the 38th Infantry Division had already been added to the 62nd Infantry Division , this division formed a new Corps Division together with the 123rd Infantry Division in March. This was renamed on July 20, 1944 in the 62nd Infantry Division and after 20 August 1944, Jassy in eastern Romania destroyed
  • Corps Department G : formed in July 1944 from the remnants of the 299th , 260th and 337th Infantry Divisions in East Prussia , was renamed the 299th Infantry Division on September 1, 1944
  • Corps Division H : emerged in July 1944 from the 95th , 197th and 256th Infantry Divisions and deployed in Lithuania , was renamed the 95th Infantry Division on September 10th

literature

  • Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in World War II. Volume 1: Formation history of the army and the reserve army 1939 to 1945. Scherzers Militär-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-11-0 .
  • Rolf Hinze: Eastern front drama 1944. Army group center retreat. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-613-01138-7 .
  • Wolfgang Lange: Corps Department C from the Dnieper to Poland, (November 1943 - July 1944). Fight of an infantry division on a broad front against large superior forces. Battle in the cauldron and breakout. Verlag Vowinckel, Neckargemünd 1961 ( The Wehrmacht in Battle 28).

Individual evidence

  1. a b Scherzer: German troops in World War II , p. 277
  2. a b c Scherzer: German troops in World War II , p. 278
  3. a b Scherzer: German troops in World War II , p. 280
  4. Scherzer: German troops in World War II , p. 290
  5. a b Scherzer: German troops in World War II , p. 306
  6. Hinze: Ostfrontdrama 1944 , p. 434 ff.