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III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps

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Country
  
Nazi Germany

Type
  
Panzer corps

Size
  
Corps

Branch
  
Waffen-SS

Role
  
Armoured warfare

Active
  
April 1943 – 4 May 1945

The III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps (III. (germanische) SS-Panzerkorps) was a German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on the Eastern Front during World War II. The (germanische) (lit. Germanic) part of its designation was granted as it was composed primarily of foreign volunteer formations.

Contents

History

The corps was formed in April, 1943 as a headquarters for the SS Division Wiking and SS Division Nordland. The corps was placed under the control of former Wiking commander SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner. After training, the corps took part in operations against Yugoslav partisans. The corps was then sent to a quiet sector in Army Group North, now made up of the Nordland Division and the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Netherlands. By this stage, Wiking had been sent south and came under the control of Army Group South's Eighth Army.

Forced back by the 1944 Soviet winter offensive, the corps participated in the Battle for the Narva Bridgehead in the summer of 1944. It then retreated with the rest of the army group across Estonia and into the Courland Peninsula. Transferred to the Oder Front and placed under Steiner's 11th SS Panzer Army, the corps participated in Operation Solstice before being assigned as the reserve corps to 3rd Panzer Army.

Commanders

  • SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner (1 May 1943 – 30 October 1944)
  • SS-Obergruppenführer Georg Keppler (30 October 1944 – 4 February 1945)
  • SS-Obergruppenführer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp (4 February 1945 – 11 February 1945)
  • Generalleutnant Martin Unrein (11 February 1945 – 5 March 1945)
  • SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner (5 March 1945 – 4 May 1945)

    • Order of battle

    15 June 1944 — Narva Front

  • 103rd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion
  • SS Division Nordland
  • 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)
  • 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Netherlands

    • 16 September 1944

  • 103 SS Heavy Panzer Battalion
  • 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland
  • 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)
  • 23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Nederland
  • 27th SS Volunteer Division Langemarck
  • 28th SS Volunteer Grenadier Division Wallonien (Only the Battle Group)
  • 11th Infantry Division
  • 300th Infantry Division

    • References

    III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA