User:Hirnbeiss1/sandbox
The 24th Army Corps XXIV. Armeekorps of the World War II German Army Wehrmacht, its full title Generalkommando XXIV. Armeekorps, originally Generalkommando der Grenztruppen Saarpfalz, later XXIV. Armeekorps (mot.) and XXIV. Panzerkorps, was the name for the corresponding command authority as well as the overall organization composed of several Divisions Divisionen and its own order of battle de:Korpstruppen, which were led by this command authority and were placed under the superior command of an Army or Army Group.
History[edit]
The „Generalkommando der Grenztruppen Saarpfalz“ was created in October 1938 in Kaiserslautern in army sector XII under the command of General (de:General der Pioniere) Walter Kuntze as one of three such general commands. On August 26th, 1939 the Corps was mobilized and on September 17th of the same year renamed to 24th Army Corps „XXIV. Armeekorps“. At the start of the war it contained several border infantry regiments (Grenz-Infanterie-Regimenter) in addition to three Infantry-Divisions. The Corps was assigned to the 1st Army 1st Army (Wehrmacht) of the Army Group C Army Group C from the beginning of the Phoney War until the end of the Battle of France, and operated primarily defensively on the western border. In the final phase of the Battle of France, it participated in the breakthrough of the Maginot Line. Afterwards, it remained in France until November 1940, when it was transferred back to the homeland and converted into a motorized army corps.
1941[edit]
In May 1941, the Corps was transferred to German-occupied Poland, where it was assigned to the 2nd Panzer Army of Army Group Centre under Colonel General Heinz Guderian. Here it took part in the encirclement battles at the Battle of Białystok–Minsk, Battle of Smolensk (1941), Battle of Kiev (1941) and Brjansk and afterwards in the advance on Tula. During the Battle of Moscow in the Winter 1941/42 it had to withdraw back to Bryansk.
1942[edit]
After being refreshed in May, it was assigned in June 1942 to the 4th Panzer Army 4. Panzerarmee of the Army Group South Heeresgruppe Süd, in order to take part in the German summer offensive Case Blue . In July its name was changed to „XXIV. Panzerkorps“. In August, during the advance on Stalingrad Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kalach, the Corps was temporarily assigned to the 6. Armee, until the general command was transferred in order to reinforce the Hungarian 2nd Army 2. Armee around the central Don river Don in September. With that, divisions with relatively little combat experience were assigned to it. On October 3rd commanding General Kommandierende General de:Willibald von Langermann und Erlencamp was killed by artillery fire during a trip to the front near Storoschewoje.
1943[edit]
In January 1943 during the Soviet pincer operation Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive, see also Operation Little Saturn, the Corp was effectively destroyed, and the battle HQ of the Corps was overrun near Schilin, killing the Commanding General, Lieutenant General Martin Wandel and driving off the staff. Lieutenant GeneralArno Jahr, who assumed leadership of the Corps temporarily, took his own life on the 20th of January near Podgornoje. On the following day his successor, Karl Eibl, was killed in the fog mistakenly by retreating Italian soldiers. In February, the remaining troops of the Corps were gathered in the area of de:Starobjelsk and assigned to de:Armeeabteilung Lanz. On the 9th of February, General of Panzer Troops Walther Nehring, who had fought in the African campaign, took over leadership of the Corps. It was then rebuilt through May '43 with the addition of fresh units.
1944[edit]
During the Kursk offensive Operation Citadel in July 1943, the Corps acted as the reserve for Army Group South under Erich von Manstein. However, it was not put into action here, but instead was transferred south to defend against the Soviet offensive de:Donez-Mius-Offensive. Directly afterwards it was deployed to defend against the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive Operation. There followed some defensive battles on the Mius in conjunction with the 4th Panzer Army and the retreat to the Dneiper as well as battles around Kiev. Before the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive in January 1944, the corps had to withdraw to the Vinnytsia area, after which it was transferred to the 1. Panzerarmee in Luzk, together with whom it had to fight out of the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket in March. After that it fought until the end of 1944 in Galicia (Eastern Europe) and Subcarpathia and around the bridgehead Baranów Sandomierski.
1945[edit]
In the winter 1944/45 the corps was re-formed into a „Panzerkorps neuer Art“ per a Fuehrer-directive of Sept 13, 1944. In January 1945 the Corps had to withdraw ahead of the Vistula–Oder Offensive to Glogau on the river Oder. At the end of the war, the corps was assigned to the 1. Panzer Army near Budweis in Czechoslovakia.
Commanding Generals[edit]
- General der Pioniere Walter Kuntze – 1. Oktober 1938 until 14. Februar 1940
- General der Kavallerie/General der Panzertruppe Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg – 14. Februar 1940 until 7. Januar 1942
- General der Panzertruppe Willibald von Langermann und Erlencamp – 7. Januar until 3. Oktober 1942 (KIA)
- General der Panzertruppe Otto von Knobelsdorff – 3. Oktober until 30. November 1942
- Generalleutnant Martin Wandel – 30. November 1942 until 14. Januar 1943 (MIA)
- Generalleutnant Arno Jahr – 14. until 20. Januar 1943 (m.st.F.b.; Suicide)
- Generalleutnant Karl Eibl – 20. until 21. Januar 1943 (KIA)
- Oberst Otto Heidkämper – 21. Januar until 9. Februar 1943 (m.st.F.b.)
- General der Panzertruppe Walther Nehring – 9. Februar 1943 until 27. Juni 1944
- Generalleutnant Fritz-Hubert Gräser – 27. Juni until 5. August 1944
- Generalleutnant Karl von Le Suire – 5. until 20. August 1944 (died as POW)
- Generalleutnant Maximilian von Edelsheim – 20. August until 22. September 1944 (acting)
- General der Panzertruppe Walther Nehring – 15. Oktober 1944 until 19. März 1945
- Generalleutnant Hans Källner – 19. März until 1. April 1945
- General der Artillerie Walter Hartmann – 1 April 1945 until war's end
Order of Battle[edit]
Corps Troops (Selection)[edit]
- Arko 143/424
- Corps-Messenger-Department 424
- Corps-Replensihment 311/424
Assigned Units[edit]
- September 1939
- 6. Infanterie-Division
- 9. Infanterie-Division
- 36. Infanterie-Division
- 6 Grenz-Infanterie-Regimenter
- June 1940
- June 1941
- June 1942
- December 1942
- 385. Infanterie-Division
- Teile 213. Sicherungs-Division
- Gruppe Fegelein
- 387. Infanterie-Division
- Teile 27. Panzer-Division
- July 1943
- January 1945
Literatur[edit]
- Georg Tessin (1976). "2. Auflage". Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945. Band 4. Die Landstreitkräfte 15–30. Osnabrück: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 3-7648-1083-1.