The IV. SS-Panzerkorps was formed in August 1943 in Poitiers, France. The formation was originally to be a skeleton formation to supervise those SS divisions that were being reformed as SS Panzer divisions.
On 30 June 1944, the formation absorbed the VII. SS-Panzerkorps and was reformed as a headquarters for the SS Division Totenkopf and SS Division Wiking. The Corps was placed under the control of former Wiking commander SS-Obergruppenführer Herbert Otto Gille.
The corps was placed into the line around Warsaw, Poland, where it saw action against the Red Army as a part of the 9th Army. In August, 1944, elements of the corps took part in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. After holding the line near Warsaw, the corps was pushed back to the area near Modlin, where it saw heavy fighting until December.
When SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Pfeffer Wildenbruch's IX SS Mountain Corps and large numbers of Hungarian troops were encircled in Budapest in December 1944, the corps was shifted south from Army Group A to join 6th Army and to take part in the relief efforts. The operations were named Konrad. In Operation Konrad III, the largest of the relief operations, IV SS Panzer Corps destroyed all the tanks of the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front in an intense two-week battle in Transdanubia but could not relieve the city.
After the failure of Operation Konrad III, the corps was moved west to the area around Lake Balaton, where it was responsible for defending the left flank of the Operation Spring Awakening (Frühlingserwachen), near Stuhlweissenberg. After the failure of this operation, the Soviet Vienna Offensive tore a gap between the IV SS-Panzerkorps and the neighboring Third Hungarian Army. After escaping an encirclement thanks to the efforts of the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen, the corps withdrew towards Vienna. The remnants of the corps surrendered to the Americans on 9 May 1945.
Commanders
SS-Obergruppenführer Alfred Wünnenburg (8 June 1943 - 23 Oct 1943)
SS-Obergruppenführer Walther Krüger (23 Oct 1943 - 14 Mar 1944)
SS-Obergruppenführer Matthias Kleinheisterkamp (1 July 1944 - 20 July 1944)
SS-Brigadeführer Nikolaus Heilmann (20 July 1944 - 6 Aug 1944)
SS-Obergruppenführer Herbert Otto Gille (6 Aug 1944 - 8 May 1945)
Chef des Stabes
SS-Standartenführer Nikolaus Heilmann (1 Apr 1943 - 1 Aug 1944)
SS-Obersturmbannführer Manfred Schönfelder (1 Aug 1944 - 8 May 1945)
Area of operations
France (June 1943 - July 1944)
Poland (July 1944 - Jan 1945)
Hungary & Austria (Jan 1945 - May 1945)
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The corps staff of the IV. SS Panzer Corps, like all German higher level staffs at the time, was essentially divided into two elements: The Operations and Intelligence section (known as the Führungsabteilung) and the Logistics and Administrative section (known as the Adjutantur and Quartiermeisterabteilung). They often were located in two separate and distinct areas, with the Operations and Intelligence staffs usually located closer to the front line, where the corps commander spent most of his time. Here, the various key officers who made up the Führungsabteilung are represented. Mostly these men were hidden behind the scenes, and wanted it that way, resulting in few photos being taken of them during the war (after all, what's sexy about pushing paper?).
SS-Obersturmbannführer Manfred Schönfelder, who was the IV. SS-Panzerkorps chief of Staff from August 1944 until May 1945.
The first chief of staff of the corps was SS-Standartenführer Nicolaus Heilmann, who held the position until the first week of August 1944.
The corps' first Ia or operations officer was SS-Hauptsturmführer Richard Pauly, who held the position until the beginning of August 1944.
The second Ia of the corps was SS-Hauptsturmführer Werner Westphal, who served as its acting Ia from 17 August until 9 November 1944.
The third acting Ia of the corps was SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Klose, who replaced Westphal in November 1944 until 16 January 1945, when he became the Ia of the Wiking Division.
The fourth Ia of the Corps staff was SS-Sturmbannführer Fritz Rentrop, who served in the position from 16 January until he was captured/killed in action on 2 February 1945. Is it more known about the death of Rentrop: He was captured and beaten up near Dinnyes and his death was 2 February 1945.
After his loss, Rentrop was temporarily replaced by SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Velde, who was a general staff candidate but was serving as the assistant corps operations officer or O1 at the time.
The fifth and final Ia of the corps was SS-Sturmbannführer Friedrich Rauch, who performed the duty from 1 March to 8 May 1945.
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Besides the operations officers in the Führungsabteilung, there was also an intelligence or Ic staff section. For most of the time that the IV. SS-Panzerkorps served in combat, its Ic was SS-Sturmbannführer Herbert Jahnkuhn. Jahnkuhn was an interesting character; not only was he an anthropologist and archaeologist, he had been a college professor at the University of Goettingen before the war. Like the Nazi nemesis in Steven Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," Jahnkuhn along with others scoured the globe, including the Middle East, for artifacts which would allegedly "prove" the origins of the so-called "Aryan Ideal" type of civilization, often resorting to unsavory methods to acquire cultural objects. When the war in the East began on 22 June 1941, Jahnkuhn led a team that was established to search the Ukraine and Crimea for such items, and helped to catalog many of the riches confiscated by a special battalion established by Himmler to loot the occupied Eastern territories. After the war and his rehabilitation, Jahnkuhn was able to regain his chair at Goettigen's anthropology department, though by the mid-1970s, his Nazi past finally began to catch up with him.
Photo of Jankuhn taken February 1945 in Hungary.
Photo of Jahnkuhn taken November 1944 in Modlin.
Subordinate to Jahnkuhn, though not a member of the corps staff, was SS-Untersturmführer Erich Kernmayr, who was the commander of the Psychological Warfare Platoon for Hungary (Kampf-Propaganda-Zug "Ungarn"). Though a member of the SS Kriegsberichter Regiment "Kurt Eggers," Kernmayr received his daily assignments from Jankuhn, based upon his estimate as to where PSYOP leaflets and broadcast messages targeted towards Soviet and Hungarian troops would be most effective. After the war, writing under the name Erich Kern, he became a prolific author and member of various far-right German political parties.
Jahnkuhn's assistant or Deputy Ic was SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Herbert Metowsich, shown here in February 1945 in Hungary.
Although not a member of the Headquarters staff, SS-Hauptsturmführer Gerhard Dieckmann was the commander of the 2nd Company, SS-Nachrichten-Abteilung 104, the corps' signal battalion.
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Far less glamorous than the operations and intelligence staff sections but just as important to the success of the corps' engagements and battles were the Administration and Supply staffs, along with some of the specialized staffs that focused on artillery matters, engineering, legal, communications, and propaganda. Here are a few of those senior officers who were responsible for the orderly performance of those mundane tasks so necessary for a successful corps in battle.
The officer responsible for coordinating the corps' artillery supporting effort was the ARKO, the abbreviation for Artilleriekommandur. The IV. SS-Panzerkorps' ARKO for most of its existence was SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Kurt Brasack, shown here in a prewar photo as a SS-Obersturmbannführer. An artillery veteran from World War I, Brasack was instrumental in the successful prosecution of artillery strikes, counterstrikes, and deep strikes.
Just as important as Panzers, assault guns, and artillery were signal troops. Without the means to communicate orders and messages via radio, land line telephone, or telex, a corps would be virtually unable to adequately coordinate the activities of all of its combat arms. To carry out this specialized function, the corps was authorized its own corps signal battalion, SS-Nachrichten-Abteilung 104. The commander of the battalion for the last several months of the war was Wiking veteran SS-Obersturmbannführer Hubert Hüppe, shown here before the war as an SS Sergeant.
A Panzer Corps, with two or three panzer or mechanized divisions operating under its banner, usually had thousands of motor vehicles assigned, as well as hundreds of armored vehicles, including tanks, assault guns, self-propelled artillery, and armored half-tracks. To keep track of the readiness of these vehicles and their maintenance requirements to keep them combat ready, each corps staff had an officer called a TFK, short for Technischer Führer für Kraftfahrwesen, or simply motor transport maintenance officer. The IV. SS-Panzerkorps' TFK for most of its existence was SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Brandt, shown here before the war in civilian clothes.
The corps staff was authorized a senior engineer advisor, the Korpspionierführer, who was responsible for planning and supervising the execution of various engineering tasks, such as road repair, barrier construction, bridge construction and maintenance, minefield emplacement, and so on. The Corps Engineer Officer for most of the IV. SS-Panzerkorps' existence was SS-Obersturmbannführer Fritz Braune, who was supervised by the corps' chief of staff and who resided in the operations and intelligence staff section.
Just like any military organization, it could not ignore matters that arose in the legal and judge advocate arena. The corps' Staff Judge Advocate, or Korpsrichter, was SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans Heinz, who worked in the Adjutantur under the supervision of the Staff IIa, Karl-Willi Schulze.
The 2nd General Staff Officer, or Ib, was SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans Scharff, another Wiking Division veteran elevated to the corps staff when Herbert Gille was named as the corps commander. The Ib was responsible for coordinating and planning the supply requirements of not only the subordinate divisions, but also that of corps troops, attached army troops, and the corps heaquarters itself.
Within the Ib Staff, was another officer designated as the Officer for Transportation and Traffic Regulation, called the Id or Offizier für Verkehrsregelung. Although he was subornated to the Ib, Hans Scharff. the corps' Id actually worked within the operations and intelligence staff element. The corps' 1d for the first six months of its existence was SS-Obersturmbannführer Wilhelm Honsell, shown here as an SS Captain before the war. By the turn of the year 1944/45, he was designated as the Ib of the Wiking Division.
With an organization encompassing at times more than 40,000 men, the proper administration of the corps' manpower needs and concerns was a very demanding job. The staff officer responsible for personnel administration was SS-Obersturmbannführer (shown here as a Sturmbannführer) Karl-Willy Schulze, another Wiking Division veteran chosen by Gille to follow him to the IV. SS-Panzerkorps at the end of July 1944. Schulze had been the Adjutant of the Wiking, and as such was fully qualified to perform a similar function one level higher.
Hubert Hüppe's predecessor as Corps Signal Officer was SS-Hauptsturmführer Martin Müller, shown here in his prewar Allgemeine SS uniform.
The corps' "Morale" officer, also known as the NSFO, was SS-Hauptsturmführer Franz Wehofsich, an Austrian officer known for his pre-war activity in the Austrian Nazi Party. Officially designated as the Staff "VI" Officer, he not only looked after the morale of the troops, but was responsible for their political education in the proper aspects of National Socialism.
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Two other individuals who performed an important role within the corps headquarters were the two officers who served as Gille's Begleitoffizier, or escort officer, a position designated as the O5. The U.S. Army or British equivalent was the general's aid, or aide-de-camp. These two men, SS Lieutenants Günther Lange and Joachim Barthel, served both the corps commander and chief of staff (the latter was not authorized an O5, but Barthel, who had suffered an incapacitating head wound, performed the role) between the end of July 1944 and the end of the war. Their duties included ensuring that the corps commander's coffee cup was always filled and his cigarettes were always available; ensuring that his staff car and driver (SS Sergeant Pippo) were always ready to go to the front; to make sure that his personal situation maps was always up to date, that Gille's spare uniforms were always cleaned and ready for wear, and that he, as the escort officer, would always know the routes to and from their destination, as well as what the "threat" level ways there and back. A truly demanding job, one that was only given to the most intelligent and experienced young officers.
On the right, SS-Untersturmführer Günther Lange holds a situation map for his corps commander, SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Herbert-Otto Gille. Lange had been serving as a platoon leader in the 2nd Battalion of SS Panzer Regiment 5 until he was selected to replace Hermann Kaufmann as Gille's O5. After the war, Lange returned to his art studio and earned a master's degree equivalent in art, while pursuing a career as an officer in the Bundeswehr, where he finally retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after 20 years of service.
SS-Untersturmführer Joachim Barthel, Wiking Division veteran and recipient of the German Cross in Gold for the manner of his performance while serving in the 3rd Company of the Germania Regiment. His fate after the war still remains unknown.
SS-Obersturmführer Hermann Kaufmann was Lange's predecessor as Gille's O5 in the Wiking Division. When he was replaced by Lange, Kaufmann went on the command the 1st Company of SS Armored Reconaissance Battalion 5 of the Wiking Division, where he was killed in action in Hungary on 25 January 1945.
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A
Panzer Corps is more than just staff officers, radios, and motorcycle
messengers; it also consists of divisions, usually two or more. And
these divisions are led by men who have proven themselves in subordinate
positions, such as battalion and regimental commanders who learned
their trade while serving as subalterns before the war or during the war
in the crucible of combat. During the Tank Battle of Praga, the IV.
SS-Pz.Korps was fortunate, in that at one time or another before,
during, and after the battle, it had several of the finest (and one of
the not-so-finest) divisions of the Wehrmacht subordinated to it. These
includes the 4th and 19th Panzer Divisions, the Herman Goering Panzer
Division, the ill-fated 73rd Infantry Division, and Grenadier-Brigade
1131. For most of the next three months, the corps with its two SS
divisions, the Wiking and Totenkopf, would cooperate closely with these
units of the Heer and Luftwaffe, enabling General Gille and the 9th Army
to keep Marshal Rokossovskiy and his armies away from their goal of
Warsaw.
The
commander of Fallschirm-Panzer-Division Hermann Göring during the Tank
Battle of Praga was Luftwaffe Generalmajor (Major General) Wilhelm
Schmalz, who went on to command Fallschirm-Panzer-Korps Hermann Göring.
The
commander of the 19th Panzer Division was Generalmajor Hans Källner,
who brought his division from Holland, where it had recently undergone
complete reconstitution, and deployed it quite effectively during the
Tank Battle of Praga.
Oberst
Franz Schlieper (shown here as a Generalmajor) took command of the
ill-fated 73rd Infantry Division only two days before its collapse
during the Battle of Praga in September 1944. He later proved to be an
adept commander who rebuilt his division and led it competently during
the remainder of its existence.
Generalmajor
Clemens Betzel, who expertly led the veteran 4th Panzer Division as it
conducted its lethal counterattack at a critical moment during the Tank
Battle of Praga, sealing the fate of the Soviet III Tank Corps.
Oberst Wilhelm Söth, the Afrika Korps veteran who commanded and expertly led the newly-raised Grenadier Brigade 1131.
Source :
"From the Realm of a Dying Sun. Volume I: IV. SS-Panzerkorps and the Battles for Warsaw, July–November 1944" by Douglas E. Nash, Sr.
https://www.axishistory.com/books/118-germany-waffen-ss/germany-waffen-ss-corps-etc/1227-iv-ss-panzerkorps
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IV_SS_Panzer_Corps
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