XXXXII. Army Corps (Wehrmacht)

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The XXXXII. Army Corps was a major unit of the Wehrmacht in World War II . After taking part in the western campaign in 1940, he continued to work on the eastern front from 1941 until the end of the war in 1945 . Between June and August 1942 the corps was also known as Gruppe Mattenklott , after which the command was also the commander in the Crimea until April 1943 . In January 1945 the corps was broken up as a result of the Soviet Vistula offensive.

history

The XXXXII. Army Corps was set up in Military District XIII (Nuremberg) on January 29, 1940 , and General of the Pioneers Walter Kuntze became the first in command .

1940

In the first phase of the western campaign , the command served as a reserve for Army Group A and was concentrated together with that of the 2nd Army in the Sedan area in mid-May ; the headquarters were in Charleville-Mézières . In the second phase of the attack from June 9, 1940, the command was used as part of the 9th Army on the Aisne, subordinate to the 50th , 291st and 292nd Infantry Divisions . The breakthrough of the Weygand Line took place via the Chemin des Dames on Fère-en-Tardenois , after which the French troops were pursued via the Marne and Seine . On the day of the armistice, the Loire had already been crossed and the subordinate divisions 25, 291 and 96 had reached the area north of Bourges .

After the campaign in the west, the corps was placed under the 16th Army and used to secure the Flemish coast . In mid-July 1940 it took over the coastal protection between the Scheldt estuary and the Cap Gris-Nez , initially subordinate to the 225th and 208th Infantry Divisions . On July 29, 1940, the 208th was reassigned to the 45th Infantry Division , and in August the 164th Infantry Division . The 16th Army was scheduled to land in Britain , but the invasion was canceled. On October 1st the headquarters was opened in Ypres . The neighboring 5th Army Corps was responsible for the coastal defense on the Strait of Calais . In December 1940, divisions 45 and 296 were assigned to the XXIII. Army Corps assigned during the XXXXII. AK were now assigned to divisions 225 and 267 .

1941

From the end of April to the beginning of June 1941 the corps , which was still securing the Channel coast, was subordinate to the newly formed 15th Army , because AOK 16 had departed to the east, and the corps were assigned the 45th, 95th and 96th Infantry Divisions .

The general command for Operation Barbarossa was moved to the east and made available to Army Group Center . It initially took part in the Bialystok Kessel Battle , when the western Kesselfront was cut off, the 87th Infantry Division (General Studnitz) were subordinate to it. On June 28, the corps was briefly assigned to the 9th Army , parts of the 87th Division occupied the city of Bialystok together with the 23rd Division (Major General Hellmich) . As early as the end of June, the General Command including the 106th and 110th Infantry Divisions was concentrated in the area east of Mariampol as a reserve. The corps , which had been in the rear area of ​​the 18th Army since July 22nd, fought with the 61st and 217th Divisions for the coast of Estonia . It conquered Tallinn by August 28 and the large Baltic islands of Moon, Ösel and Dagö by mid-October . Between September and October 1941 the corps was subordinate to the 18th Army , in the Oranienbaum area the 61st and 217th Infantry Divisions and the Friedrich group were assigned. After the blockade of Leningrad was passed, the command was withdrawn from the Baltic States and transferred to Army Group South . As part of the 11th Army under General von Manstein , it took part in the conquest of the Crimean peninsula . The 46th, 73rd and 170th Infantry Divisions were subordinate to the command during the advance through Feodosia to the Kerch Peninsula .

In the course of the Kerch-Feodosia operation , large parts of the Soviet 44th Army landed at Feodosia, threatening the XXXXII. Army Corps cut off. The bridgehead of the 244th Rifle Division built on December 29th was cordoned off by the 46th Infantry Division . The commanding General Sponeck ordered the evacuation of the Kerch peninsula without consulting his superior . Due to the rapid implementation of the order and the dismantling of the radio stations, it also made it impossible for AOK 11 to withdraw the order. On December 31, Sponeck was relieved of his command because of this arbitrariness and was later sentenced to death.

1942

Under the new commander, General Mattenklott, it was XXXXII. Corps significantly involved in the bustard hunt . Between June and August 1942 the corps was called Gruppe Mattenklott (170th and 46th Infantry Divisions, parts of the 22nd Panzer Division ), and the attacking unit was supplemented by the VII. Romanian Corps (Gen. Lt. Florea Mitrănescu ) the Romanian 19th and 10th divisions, as well as the Romanian 8th Cavalry Brigade. After the capture of Sevastopol , General von Manstein recommended that the 11th Army should cross the Kerch Strait and advance to the Krasnodar region in order to take the city of Rostov from there. Hitler decided differently, the forces of the 11th Army were divided: The XXXXII. Army Corps remained with the 46th and 50th Infantry Divisions for security in the Crimea. General Mattenklott also acted as Wehrmacht commander in Crimea from August 29, 1942 to April 1943. The Romanian Mountain Corps (1st and 4th Mountain Division) and the Romanian 8th Cavalry Division were initially subordinated. After the 46th and 170th divisions transferred to the Taman Peninsula , the 5th Air Force Division, the 153rd Reserve Division and the Romanian 10th Division came to the Crimea in December 1943 . commanded the 170th and 46th Infantry Divisions. The attack group was supplemented by the VII. Romanian Corps (Gen. Lt. Florea Mitrănescu) with the 19th and 10th Romanian infantry divisions and the 8th Romanian cavalry brigade.

1943

For the planned German summer offensive against the front arch at Kursk , the General Command XXXXII. At the end of April 1943 he was transferred to the Kempf Army Division on the central section of the Eastern Front. During Operation Citadel (July 3-15), divisions 39, 161 and 282 were assigned to the corps in the area east of Kharkov . After the onset of the Soviet counter-offensive, Kharkov became untenable. The timely retreat of the XI. Army Corps prevented a premature breakthrough, but at the beginning of August this saw itself outstripped on both sides in Kharkov, the XXXXII deployed on the right. Corps had already withdrawn its positions on the Donets . On August 11th, the penultimate German position before Kharkov was run into by Soviet troops. The XXXXII. Corps were on the line Volchansk - Chuguev Smijew the 39th, - 161 and 282. Infantry Division assumed the 6th Panzer Division took part in these battles. The attacks of the Soviet 1st Panzer Army and 6th Guard Army could be repulsed until August 17th, and on August 22nd, Kharkov had to be evacuated for good. After the general fighting to retreat to the Dnieper , the XXIV Panzer Corps maintained contact with the XXXXII at Kanew . Army Corps upright, which formed the left wing of the 8th Army . Between November 12th and 30th, the General Command was also known as the Mattenklott Army Group ; the 88th, 168th Infantry and 25th Panzer Divisions were assigned to the 4th Panzer Army .

1944

On January 24, 1944, the 2nd Ukrainian Front attacked Shpola from the east, and the 1st Ukrainian Front followed on January 26, 1944 in a south-westerly direction on Zvenigorodka . They achieved a double breakthrough on the German front. From January 27, there were violent German counter-attacks against the flanks of the Red Army , the unification at Zvenigorodka could not be stopped. Six German divisions were encircled in the Cherkassy (Korsun) pocket, the Mattenklott group was included with the 72nd , 88th and 389th infantry divisions . General of the Artillery Stemmermann , commanding general of the included XI. Army Corps , took command in the pocket. Until the eruption over the Gniloi Tilkitsch in March 1944, most of the corps in the basin was broken up.

General Recknagel was in the military district XIII with the reorganization of the XXXXII. AK z. b. V. commissioned, on April 28, 1944 he was commissioned with the deputy command, on June 15 with the command of the newly established corps. Until September 1944, the 4th Panzer Army was deployed with Army Group Northern Ukraine . The corps held defensive positions in the Kovel area . After that, the Corps had on the western bank of the Vistula River across from Zawichost to the north of Sandomierz retreat, were subordinated next to the 17th Panzer Division , the infantry divisions 72, 88 and 291. which the new positions in the winter eastern Poland held .

1945

On January 12, 1945 Army Group A was attacked by the 1st Ukrainian Front from the Vistula bridgehead at Baranów Sandomierski . The section of the XXXXVIII. The Panzer Corps east of Pinschow was completely overrun , as was its own section - 72nd , 88th , 291st and 342nd Infantry Divisions . The XXIV Panzer Corps , pulled forward to counter-attack , was immediately enclosed in the area east of Kielce by the broken armored wedges of the Soviet 3rd Armored Guard and 4th Panzer Army . The Soviet 3rd Guards Armored Army took Petrikau on January 18th . In heavy fighting with Soviet army troops and Polish partisans , the German troops tried to re-establish the connection with the German front, which had meanwhile been pushed far to the west, as a “wandering cauldron”. The XXXXII. AK Corps destroyed by the end of January 1945. General Recknagel was shot by partisans between Petrikau and Tomaszów Mazowiecki on January 23, 1945 .

guide

Commanding generals

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.
  • Carl Wagener: Army Group South, Podzun Verlag, Bad Nauheim 1972
  • Georg Tessin: Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in the Second World War 1939–1945, 5th volume.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ C. Wagener: Army Group South, p. 257