XXXXI. Army Corps (Wehrmacht)

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The General Command XXXXI. (41.) was a large association of the German armed forces and was on February 24, 1940 in military district VIII (Breslau) as XXXXI. Army corps (mot.) Set up. After participating in the Western and Balkan campaigns in the course of Operation Barbarossa , it was relocated to the Eastern Front and on July 10, 1942 in XXXXI. Renamed Panzer Corps . In June 1944 the General Command at Army Group Center was broken up and reorganized in August 1944.

history

1940

After the formation, Lieutenant General Reinhardt became the first commanding general of the XXXXI in February 1940 . Army Corps (motorized) appointed. In May 1940, during the western campaign, it was XXXXI. Army Corps (motorized) one of the two mobile corps of the Kleist Panzer Group , which broke through the Ardennes during the Battle of Sedan and then advanced westward via Abbeville to the Canal . The XXXXI. AK went from May 12 to the right of the XIX. AK in the direction of Charleville-Mézières and enforced the Meuse crossing at Monthermé on May 13th . During the Battle of Arras (May 21) the subordinate 6th Panzer Division ( Kempf ) and 8th Panzer Division ( Brandenberger ) supported the battle of the 7th Panzer Division ( Rommel ) of the XV, which was hard pressed by the British . Army Corps (motorized) .

For the second phase, Fall Rot, the corps was subordinated to Panzer Group Guderian (General Command XIX. AK) and reinforced from the reserve with the motorized 20th Infantry Division . Together with the motorized XXXIX. Corps , the corps was concentrated in the unit of the 12th Army in the Rethel area and after the breakthrough of the XXIII. Army Corps on the Weygand Line brought forward. The advance across the Marne to the Swiss border was carried out in the rear of the French armies on the Maginot Line . On June 17th they stood in the Besançon area , until the armistice Pontarlier was reached. In September 1940, Reinhardt's Corps was designated for Operation Sea Lion as part of the first wave of landing of the 16th Army , but the operation was not carried out because of the high losses in the Battle of Britain . After the end of the campaign, the General Command stood as an occupying force in the Paris area .

1941

In January 1941, the command of the 1st Army was placed under. At the end of March 1941 the transfer from the west to the Balkans took place . In April 1941 the corps was assigned to Panzer Group 1, which was deploying in Bulgaria . The 8th Panzer Division and the 20th Infantry Division were assigned to the command . During the break-in in Serbia , the motorized SS division “Reich” and the infantry regiment “Greater Germany” led the advance on Belgrade . In May 1941 the General Command was transferred to East Prussia and placed under Panzer Group 4 for Operation Barbarossa . The corps entered on June 22, 1941 with the 1st and 6th Panzer Divisions , covered on the right by the XXXVIII. Army Corps ( 96th and 254th Infantry Divisions ) across the Memel ( Nyemen ) in the direction of Tauroggen . On June 23, the corps between Schaulen and Raseiniai was embroiled in a tank battle by the Soviet 3rd (General AW Kurkin ) and 12th mechanical corps (General Schestapalow) on the Dubyssa , where almost 180 Soviet tanks were destroyed by the end of June. The 1st Panzer Division operated over the Daugava , which was crossed at Daugavpils , and then advanced with the motorized 36th Infantry Division on Ostrow and Pskow . The Luga section was reached at the beginning of July , where an eastern bridgehead was erected on July 14th. On August 8, the second phase of the Battle of Luga began . The Kingisepp –Krasnowardeisk railway line was interrupted until August 14th . At the end of August the corps advanced via Wolossovo to Duderhof and the outskirts of Leningrad . With the beginning of the Leningrad blockade (September 8th), the general command was set up in the direction of the southern city center of Leningrad.

In October 1941, the corps for Operation Taifun was transferred to the central eastern front in order to take part in the battles north of Vyazma and the attack on Moscow as part of Panzer Group 3 . Subordinated were the 1st Panzer Division (Major General Krüger ), the 6th Infantry Division (Lieutenant General Auleb ) and the 36th Infantry Division (motorized) (Lieutenant General Ottenbacher ). The breakthrough came via Bjeloje, on October 8th the 1st Panzer Division and the 36th Motorized Infantry Division attacked Sychevka and reached the Volga in the Kalinin area near Pogoreloje Gorodishche . After Kalinin could be occupied on October 17th, the corps was forced into defense and released in mid-November to move to the right flank of the LVI standing in the Jachroma area . Army Corps (mot.) To be relocated. Against Krasnaya Polyana recognized the attackers at parted Kryukovo still about 25 kilometers from the target Moscow until December 6, the Russian counter-offensive began and also at the Moscow Canal forced to the general German retreat. By December 13th, the front arch of Klin was evacuated , and the retreat to Wolokolamsk was threatened by Soviet troops on both flanks.

1942

The corps suffered heavy losses when retreating over the Wasusa sector to Subzow and was reorganized as part of the 9th Army.In January 1942, the command on the eastern promontory of Rzhev was assigned the 2nd Panzer , 14th and 36th Infantry Division (mot.) Assigned. In March 1942, the front facing the Soviet 20th Army east of Sychevka was reinforced by the 342nd Infantry Division . On the left wing were parts of the 161st Infantry Division of VI. Army Corps subordinated. After the fighting against Soviet troops in the rear, the army corps was on July 10, 1942 in XXXXI. Renamed Panzer Corps. Until August 1942, the 17th Panzer Division and the 52nd Infantry Division were assigned to the corps, then at the beginning of September the 9th , 11th and 19th Panzer Divisions and the 52nd, 56th and 134th Infantry Divisions were subordinate. During Operation Mars , the Corps carried out counter-attacks against the 41st Army , which had broken in south of Belyi , between November 25 and December 15, 1942 , with the 86th and 246th Infantry Divisions and the 2nd Air Force Field Division reassigned. In mid-November 1942, the corps were assigned the 205th , 330th and 328th infantry divisions , while the SS cavalry division fought against Soviet partisan units in the hinterland near Yarzewo , Vyazma and Duchowschtschina .

1943

In February 1943, worn-out units in the corps section were relieved and the 246th and 256th Infantry Divisions were reassigned. In March and April 1943 the command was withdrawn after the clearing of the front arc from Rzhev to Bryansk . In May he was assigned to the 2nd Panzer Army in the Orel area . At the end of June 1943 the new front sections at Sevsk , Trubchevsk and Ponyri were straightened by counter-attacks .

In July 1943 the XXXXI. Panzer Corps deployed on the northern section of the Battle of Kursk . The XXXXI. The Panzer Corps were the 18th Panzer Division , the 86th and 292nd Infantry Divisions , the Panzerjäger Regiment 656 (with the Heavy Tank Hunter Division 653 ) and the Assault Gun Divisions 216, 177 during the attack in the direction of the village of Olchowatka . and 244 allocated. The opposing Soviet troops under Marshal Rokossovsky were ordered to defend. On the morning of July 7th, the massed second attack began, along with the XXXXVII. Panzer Corps pushed more than 400 tanks and 4 infantry divisions south. The target of the attack was the railway station of Ponyri and Olchowatka, a crucial traffic junction in the region for both sides. In addition to the 18th Panzer Division and the 4th Panzer Division , which were already concentrated in the immediate vicinity, marching orders were issued to the 12th Panzer Division , the 10th Panzer Grenadier Division and the 36th Infantry Division, which are located in the area south of Orel kept ready. Despite the experiences of the first two days of the attack, the High Command of the 9th Army hoped to be able to penetrate the second defense strip held by the Soviet 13th Army (General Puchow) on July 7th. A small success for the Germans was looming on July 8 at Teploje. After heavy fighting and attacks with waves of 60 to 80 tanks, the tank divisions captured the place. But on the evening of July 6th the German attacks had come to an end for the time being due to heavy losses and little gain in land. In July 1943 he withdrew to the Desna , where he was briefly assigned to the 2nd Panzer Army, which in turn was replaced by the 9th Army after being relocated to the Balkans in August 1943. During the fighting for Roslavl , the LV. and LVI. by the corps command of the XXXXI. Panzer Corps are brought together. However, during the Smolensk operation, Corps Command XXXXI was stripped of its superior position again after fleeting action and was temporarily referred to as Gruppe Harpe after its commander during the fighting back to the Dnieper .

1944

In January 1944 the XXXXI. Armored corps between Pripjet and Berezina on the south wing of the 9th Army: 36th, 134th and 253rd infantry divisions . On June 22, 1944, Army Group Center was captured by the Soviet summer offensive during Operation Bagration . The corps was attacked by the Soviet 65th Army and the 35th, 36th and 129th Infantry Divisions were thrown back over the Tremlja on Bobruisk. Together with the XXXV. Army Corps was destroyed in the Titovka and Cherven areas while retreating to Minsk , where counter-attacks by the 12th Panzer Division were unsuccessful. On August 13, 1944, the corps in Military District XVIII was reorganized and placed under the newly formed 4th Army , with the 170th and 299th Infantry and the 558th People's Grenadier Divisions. The turn of the year spent the command in the East Prussia position east of the Suwalki - Augustów area , which two cities fell into Soviet hands on October 20th.

1945

After the East Prussian offensive that broke out on January 13, 1945 , the 3rd Panzer Army in the Haselberg and Gumbinnen area was breached and forced to retreat. The 4th Army to the south also had to go back, the XXXXI. Panzer Corps withdrew the 50th Infantry and 28th Jäger Divisions from Goldap and the 367th and 170th Infantry Divisions from the Treuburg border area to the Masuria on January 22nd . At the end of January the Alle section was no longer tenable either, and the retreat took place on Königsberg , where the Weidling group took up a new defensive position between Braunsberg and Zinten. After weeks of heavy fighting in the Heiligenbeil Kessel , the combat group 170th Infantry Division became the division staff z. b. V. 605 and the 56th Infantry Division destroyed at the end of March. From April 6 to 9, 1945, the corps headquarters and the intelligence department were evacuated from Pillau by sea from the East Prussian bridgehead.

From April 15, 1945, the corps staff gathered in the Hohenferchesar forest camp near Brandenburg and was transferred to the newly established 12th Army on the Elbe-Havel Canal . In order to stop the Soviet 47th Army (General Perchorowitsch) that broke through over the Havel between Nauen and Ketzin , the Holste group with the Hake division group , the "Hitler Youth" tank destruction brigade, the "Hermann Göring" tank hunting brigade and the tanks - Reconnaissance Department 115 concentrated in the Neuruppin area and northwest of Havelberg. Parts of the 199th Infantry Division and the Hamburg Reserve Division gathered behind it as a reserve. North of Altruppin and near Eberswalde , units of the 3rd Marine Division were replaced by units of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division . The Soviet breakthrough on Kyritz took place on May 1st, and in the evening the staff of Gen. Kdo. XXXXI. Panzer Corps dissolved, because the left flank was completely open due to the departure of the Gaudecker division group . Further resistance was no longer possible, the returning troops tried to escape to Tangermünde in the west via the eastern Elbe bridgehead .

guide

Commanding General:

literature

  • Percy E. Schramm (Ed.): War diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht , 8th volumes, Volume I: 1940/41 edited by Hans-Adolf Jacobsen, Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen, Frankfurt am Main 1965, appendix: respective war organization.
  • Percy E. Schramm (Ed.): War diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht , 8th volumes, Volume II: 1942 edited by Andreas Hillgruber, Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen, Frankfurt am Main 1965, appendix: respective war organization.
  • Percy E. Schramm (Ed.): War Diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht , 8th volumes, Volume III: 1943 edited by Walther Hubatsch, Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen, Frankfurt am Main 1965, appendix: respective war organizations.
  • Günther Gellermann : The 12th Wenck Army - Hitler's last hope . Bernard and Graefe Verlag, new edition Bonn 2007.
  • MK Barbier: The Battle of the Kursk Arch , Tosa Verlag Vienna 2002
  • Alistar Horne: The France Campaign 1940 , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1981
  • Christoph Clasen: Colonel General Hans-Georg Reinhardt , Stuttgart 1996.
  • Heinz Guderian: Memories of a Soldier , Heidelberg 1951
  • Samuel W. Mitcham : Hitler's Commanders , Scarborough House 1992
  • Niall Barr / Russell Hart: Tank War , Kaiser Verlag 2000

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Günter W. Gellermann: The 12th Army Wenck, p. 30 and 100 f.