XIV Panzer Corps

The XIV Panzer Corps was originally formed as the XIV Motorised Corps in Magdeburg on 1 April 1938 to take command of units in the process of motorization, where it was placed under the leadership of Gustav von Wietersheim.[1] The corps participated in the Polish Campaign in 1939 where it fought in the Battle of Kock. The Corps later saw action in the Battle of France in 1940, as part of armoured group Kleist, where the 2nd Motorised Division, 13th motorised Division and the 29th Motorised Division served under it.[2] It was renamed the XIV Panzer Corps on 21 Juned 1941.[1]

In June 1941, it participated in Operation Barbarossa, where as part of the First Panzer Group, it served with Army Group South on the southern sector of the eastern front, advancing via Lvov, Tarnopol and Zhitomir to Kremenchug and Mirgoro, and south to Marfinskaya in the Mius sector. It took part in Fall Blau where it commanded the 60th Motorized Infantry Division, 16th Panzer Division and the 3rd Motorized Infantry Division. Elements of the Corps were the first German units to reach Stalingrad. It was surrounded in the Stalingrad Pocket in November 1942 and was subsequently destroyed in January 1943.

Re-formed and reorganized at Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhe in 1943, it was transferred to the West and directed all German forces in the Battle of Sicily under Hans Hube where it commanded the 1st Fallschirmjager Division, 15th Panzer Grenadier Division, Herman Goering Panzer division and elements of the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division.[3] It was briefly commanded by Hermann Balck in September and October 1943, before he was seriously injured in a plane crash.[4]

The Corps also participated in the Battle of Monte Cassino under the command of General von Senger und Etterlin and included among its formations,[3] the 1st Fallshirmjager Division, the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division and the 29th Panzer Grenadier Division, which had previously fought under it in Sicily. It remained on the Italian front until its surrender at the end of the war.[1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Mitcham, Samuel W. (2006). The Panzer Legions: A Guide to the German Army Tank Divisions of World War II and Their Commanders. Stackpole Books. p. 263. ISBN 9780811733533.
  2. ↑ Strange Victory, Hitler's Conquest of France by Ernest R. May
  3. 1 2 Bitter Victory, the Battle for Sicily 1943 by Carlo D'Este
  4. ↑ Rommel's Desert Commanders: The Men Who Served the Desert Fox by Samuel W. Mitcham
  5. ↑ "XIV". Lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de. Retrieved 2013-05-12.
  6. ↑ "XIV. Armeekorps - Lexikon der Wehrmacht". Lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de. Retrieved 2013-05-12.
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