Normal establishment strength for a two-batallion Panzer Division was around 170-190 tanks. Not one of the Panzer Divisions of HG Süd that fought at Kursk were at full strength, or even very close to full strength, as the battle started. We will therefore compare the total of the three divisions on 1 July with the total of DR and TK on 1 August: Note that "in workshops" refers to vehicles classified as in short term repair, ie, expected to be returned within 3 weeks. As we shall see, this was far from the case - in fact, none of the Panzer Divisions are even close to fitting that assumption. The assumption of many readers will be that most German formations were at or near full strength at the start of the battle. It is not unusual to come across statements giving the strength of these formations after the battle without taking into consideration the state they were in before it started. I thought it might be interesting to compare the figures for 1 July and 1 August respectively, not just as an indication of tank loss levels, but also to illustrate the condition of the German Panzer Divisions after the battle, and the extent to which this was a product of the battle itself. The II.SS-Panzer-Korps took part in the Ardennes Offensive inDecember, 1944, and was later transfered to the Eastern Front where it endedthe War in May, 1945.INiklas Zetterling and Anders Franksson's "Kursk 1943" contains an appendix giving the tank strength in HG Sud on 1 July and 1 August. The 9th and 10thtook part in these operations against the Allies under control of theII.SS-Panzer-Korps. TheBritish 1st Airborne Division was dropped on Arnhem, and then crushedunder the shear pressure of the German counter-attack. The 9.SS-Panzer-Divison and the 10-SS-Panzer-Division were present in and aroundthe city of Arnhem, the Northern most goal of the Allied offensive. In Septemeber, 1944, the II.SS-Panzer-Korps took part in opeationsduring the Allied Operation Market-Garden, an air and land assault intothe Netherlands. In Late Summer, 1944, the Korps took part in theBattle of Falaise gap, and managed to break-out before the Allies closed thering around them. In June, 1944,the Korps was once again back in France, this time fighting against theD-Day landings in Normany. In the Winter of 1943 the Korps was in France again, until the Spring of1944 when it was transfered to the Eastern Front once more. The Korps was ordered to Italy to help stabilize the rapidly crumblingsituation of Germany’s Italian Ally after the failed Kursk offensive.Mussolini was deposed on the same day that the II.SS-Panzer-Korps wasordered to Italy, and in the end, only the 1.SS-Panzer-Division actaully was transfered, while theother unit of the Korps stayed on the Eastern Front. Against massive Soviet pressure and manpower, theoffensive stalled and was called off shortly after it was launched,and the II.SS-Panzer-Korps was pulled back. The Divisions of the Korpsmanaged to push deeper into the salient then any other unitin the offensive. TheII.SS-Panzer-Korps spearheaded this offensive by driving into thesouthern edge of the Kursk salient. This was the Kursk Offensive, and it wasthe most massive and important tank battle in all of History. The Korps was sent to the Southern Front in Russia inEarly 1943 where it took part in operations to stem the Soviet 1943 WinterOffensive and then to recapture Kharkov and Belgorod in the earlySpring, 1943.Īfter the German success on the Eastern Front in stemming SovietOffensives, the Germans launched an offensive of their own in the Summerof 1943 aimed at further crushing the Soviet forces already pushed back fromthe previous months of fighting. The Korps wasfirst used to control reorganizing SS-Infanterie-Divisionen in France inthe Summer of 1942. It was ready for action 8.42, and in 6.43it was renamed as tje Generalkommando II.SS-Panzerkorps. The II.SS-Panzer-Korps was formed in 7.42 in Bergen (Holland) as ssPanzer-Generalkommando.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |