XIX. Army Corps (Wehrmacht)

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The XIX. Army Corps of the German Wehrmacht , in the full title General Command XIX. (mot.) 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

The XIX. Army Corps was set up on July 1, 1939 in Vienna as a motorized general command without its own military district for the 2nd Panzer Division and the 4th Light Division . The commanding general was the General of the Panzer Force and later Colonel General Heinz Guderian .

attack on Poland

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. The Army Corps was subordinated to the 3rd Panzer Division under Lieutenant General Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg , the 2nd Infantry Division (motorized) under Lieutenant General Paul Bader and the 20th Infantry Division (motorized) under Lieutenant General Mauritz von Wiktorin .

The motorized XIX. On the evening of September 1, 1939, the Army Corps, advancing through Praust ( Pruszcz ) with the 3rd Panzer Division , took possession of the bridge at the confluence of the Sępolna in the Brahe ( Brda ) and formed a bridgehead on the east bank on the the 4th Polish Infantry Division was established. In the middle of the corps front the 2nd Infantry Division lagged a little behind, while further north the 20th Infantry Division had taken Neukirch ( Nowa Cerkiew ), pushing past Konitz ( Chojnice ) . The Polish Uhlan Regiment 18 of the Cavalry Brigade "Pomorska" was identified in front of the division (see also battle near Krojanty ).

On September 2, a bridgehead over the Brahe came northeast of Konitz into German hands. Strong attacks by the Poles against the corps were carried out in a southerly direction from the Tucheler Heide , obviously to avoid being encircled (see battle in the Tucheler Heide ). The attempts to break out were in vain, and the Polish army "Pomorze" under General Władysław Bortnowski lost almost half of its troops, as well as the 9th Polish Infantry Division in addition to the units already mentioned. 100 guns were captured and 16,000 men captured.

With the end of this battle, the connection with the 3rd Army in Graudenz ( Grudziądz ) was established and the northern part of the Polish corridor was cordoned off. The XIX. Army Corps was now preparing to move to the Marienwerder ( Kwidzyn ) area, while the 218th Infantry Division was deployed from the reserve from September 6th to further combat the remaining Polish troops under the command of the 3rd Army .

The corps later advanced from East Prussia to Brest-Litovsk , where it met Soviet troops. General der Panzertruppe Guderian received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on October 27, 1939 for his rapid advances .

Western campaign

During the western campaign in 1940, the corps comprised three tank divisions and belonged to the Kleist tank group . Guderian's corps advanced through the Ardennes according to the sickle plan , and at Sedan it went over the Meuse . During the Battle of Sedan , the focus of the attack was in the center, where the French had evacuated a protruding headland due to its exposed location. Since the French had blown up all bridges over the Meuse, the attacking storm pioneers and infantrymen had to cross over with inflatable boats. The 1st Panzer Division under General Kirchner with the assigned infantry regiment "Greater Germany" ( von Schwerin ) attacked in the center, the 2nd Panzer Division under General Veiel further west near Donchery and the 10th Panzer Division (General Schaal ) went through the southern suburbs of Sedan. Had the counterattack by the reserve of the French X. Corps (General Grandsart) got underway more quickly, the weak German bridgehead could have been pushed in with almost no problems. Warned by reconnaissance planes of a French counter-attack, General Kirchner immediately put the 1st Panzer Division across the Maas and decided the "Race to Bulson". To protect the Sedan bridgehead, Guderian only left the 10th Panzer Division and the Infantry Regiment "Greater Germany" behind and led the 1st and 2nd Panzer Divisions on Montcornet , where on May 16 the XXXXI. Mot. Army Corps that had already taken the place the day before. "

The Kleist Panzer Group then quickly led the advance to the Channel coast , the 2nd Panzer Division had already reached Abbeville on May 20, cutting off a large part of the French Army and the British Expeditionary Corps . Because the commanding general against an order of his superior cavalry general Ewald von Kleist acted, ignoring his long open edge in the advance persistently, he was removed from that on May 16, 1940 of his command, but by his superiors Colonel General Gerd von Rundstedt again used. The British under Lord Gort and the French 1st Army under the command of General Blanchard had the opportunity from 24 to 27 May to strengthen the defensive ring around Dunkirk. On May 25, Boulogne was captured by the 10th Panzer Division, but the majority of the Allied divisions had previously escaped by sea. After the Battle of Dunkirk the XIX. Mot. Corps renamed and restructured in Group Guderian. On November 16, 1940, Panzergruppe 2 (also called Panzergruppe Guderian) emerged from this army corps , which was later renamed the 2nd Panzer Army .

The corps number XIX was reassigned in 1942 when the "Mountain Corps Norway" in " XIX. Mountain Army Corps ”was renamed.

guide

Commanding generals

Chiefs of the General Staff

First general staff officer

literature

  • Heinz Guderian: memories of a soldier. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-87943-693-2 .
  • 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
  • Kenneth Macksey: Guderian der Panzergeneral , Econ Verlag, Düsseldorf 1976, 119-180
  • Alistair Horne : The French Campaign 1940 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1969
  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 4. The Land Forces 15–30 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1976, ISBN 3-7648-1083-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. Sedan 1940 - Battlefield Travel: Kleist relieves Guderian of his post ( memento of the original from March 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.battlefield-travel.com