Country Nazi Germany Type Panzer Size Division | Branch Army Role Armoured warfare | |
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Active October 1942 – March 1943 | ||
The 27th Panzer Division began forming in the southern sector of the Eastern Front in late 1942, but was never completed due to the loss of its assets during the Soviet counteroffensives around Stalingrad, and no further attempts were made to reconstitute the division.
Contents
History
During summer-autumn 1942, part of the division was formed in France, including the division's artillery regiment. Meanwhile, in the Eastern Front, the Brigade Michalik (led by Colonel Helmut Michalik) was formed around the 140th Panzer Grenadier Regiment (which was previously part of 22nd Panzer Division).
In Autumn 1942 the two echelons joined in Voronezh, situated then in the rear area of the German 2nd Army, and the division was formally activated on 1 October 1942. With about 3,000 men its strength was well under that required for a Panzer Division; however the situation required that it had to be scattered in several groups to support different sectors of the Eastern Front: Don, south of Kharkov, Hungarian 2nd Army, Italian 8th Army. Twenty tanks were incorporated to the German 2nd Army Headquarters. The 127th Pz.Eng.Batt. never joined the rest of the Division, as it was one of the units encircled at Stalingrad, where it was destroyed.
This activity took a heavy toll on the division's strength: by 1 January 1943, it had only half of its panzergrenadiers and 11 tanks; and the estimated total strength by 8 February was less than 1,600 men. Once the Soviet winter offensive was stopped, the 27th Panzer was disbanded around 3 March 1943. The survivors of the 127th Panzer and 127th Panzer Signals Battalions were assigned to the 24th Panzer Division in France, while the remainder men and materiel were incorporated into the 7th Panzer Division in Russia.