The IV SS Panzer Corps was a

panzer corps A panzer corps (german: Panzerkorps) was an armoured corps type in Nazi Germany's ''Wehrmacht'' during World War II. The name was introduced in 1941, when the motorised corps (''Armeekorps (mot)'' or ''AK(mot)'') were renamed to panzer corps. Pan ...

of the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

of Nazi Germany which saw action on the Eastern Front and in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

History

The Panzerkorps was formed in August 1943 in Poitiers,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. 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 Panzer Corps 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 ' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...

Herbert Otto Gille Herbert Otto Gille (8 March 1897 – 26 December 1966) was a high-ranking German SS officer, and divisional & corps commander of the Waffen SS. He commanded the SS Division Wiking during World War II. Gille was a recipient of the Knight's Cr ...

. The corps was placed into the line around

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, where it saw action against the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

as a part of the 9th Army. In August, 1944, elements of the corps took part in the suppression of the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...

. 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 The IX Waffen Mountain Corps of the SS (Croatian) (german: IX. Waffen-Gebirgskorps der SS (Kroatisches)), later simply IX SS Mountain Corps, was a German Waffen-SS alpine corps during World War II. Originally set up to control Croatian and Albani ...

and large numbers of Hungarian troops were encircled in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

in December 1944, the corps was shifted south from

Army Group A Army Group A (Heeresgruppe A) was the name of several German Army Groups during World War II. During the Battle of France, the army group named Army Group A was composed of 45½ divisions, including 7 armored panzer divisions. It was responsibl ...

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 The 3rd Ukrainian Front (Russian: Третий Украинский фронт) was a Front of the Red Army during World War II. It was founded on 20 October 1943, on the basis of a Stavka order of October 16, 1943, by renaming the Southweste ...

in an intense two-week battle in

Transdanubia Transdanubia ( hu, Dunántúl; german: Transdanubien, hr, Prekodunavlje or ', sk, Zadunajsko :sk:Zadunajsko) is a traditional region of Hungary. It is also referred to as Hungarian Pannonia, or Pannonian Hungary. Administrative divisions Trad ...

but could not relieve the city. After the failure of Operation Konrad III, the corps was moved west to the area around

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and ...

, where it was responsible for defending the left flank of the

Operation Spring Awakening Operation Spring Awakening (german: Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen) was the last major German offensive of World War II. The operation was referred to in Germany as the Plattensee offensive and in the Soviet Union as the Balaton defensive operati ...

(''Frühlingserwachen''), near Stuhlweissenberg. After the failure of this operation, the Soviet

Vienna Offensive The Vienna offensive was an offensive launched by the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts in order to capture Vienna, Austria, during World War II. The offensive lasted from 16 March to 15 April 1945. After several days of street-to-street f ...

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 en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The remnants of the corps surrendered to the Americans on 9 May 1945.

Commanders

* SS-Obergruppenführer

Alfred Wünnenberg __NOTOC__ Alfred Wünnenberg (20 July 1891 – 30 December 1963) was a high-ranking commander in the Waffen-SS and the police of Nazi Germany. He commanded of the SS Polizei Division between December 1941 and June 1943. He was a recipient of th ...

(5 Aug 1943 - 23 Oct 1943) * SS-Obergruppenführer Walter Krüger (23 Oct 1943 - 1 Jul 1944) * SS-Obergruppenführer

Matthias Kleinheisterkamp Matthias Kleinheisterkamp (22 June 1893 – 29 April 1945) was an SS-''Obergruppenführer'' during World War II. He commanded the SS Division Totenkopf, SS Division Nord, SS Division Das Reich, III SS Panzer Corps, VII SS Panzer Corps, IV SS P ...

(1 Jul 1944 - 20 Jul 1944) * SS-Brigadeführer

Nikolaus Heilmann Nikolaus Heilmann (20 April 1903 – 4 January 1945) was a high-ranking commander in the Waffen-SS during World War II. He was a recipient the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Born in 1903, Heilmann joined the police force in 1 ...

(20 Jul 1944 - 6 Aug 1944) * SS-Obergruppenfuhrer

(6 Aug 1944 - 8 May 1945)

Orders Of Battle

;September 16, 1944 - Defence of Modlin * Korps Stab *

Gruppe von dem Bach Gruppe or Gruppé may refer to: *Gruppe, a military term, see Glossary of German military terms * Charles Paul Gruppé (1860–1940), an American painter * Emile Albert Gruppé (1896–1978), an American painter * Otto Gruppe (1851–1921), German ...

* 19.Panzer-Division * 3.SS-Panzer-Division ''Totenkopf'' * 5.SS-Panzer-Division ''Wiking'' * 73.Infanterie-Division * 1.ungarische Kavallerie-Division * Werfer-Abteilung 104 / 504 * Schwere SS-Artillerie-Abteilung 504 * SS-Korps-Nachrichten-Abteilung 104 * SS-Sanitäts-Abteilung 104 * Feld-Ausbildungs-Battalion IV.SS-Panzer-Korps * Kraftfahrzeug-Kompanie 504 * Bekleidung-Instandsetzungs-Zug 504 * SS-Feldpostamt 104 ;Jan 17, 1945 - Operation Konrad III (Budapest) * Korps Stab * 3.SS-Panzer-Division ''Totenkopf'' * 5.SS-Panzer-Division ''Wiking'' * 1.Panzer-Division * 3.Panzer-Division * Schwere Panzer Abteilung 509 * I./24.Panzer-Abteilung * 1335.Stug-Abteilung * 219.Sturmpanzer-Abteilung * Volks-Werfer-Brigade 17 * Werfer-Abteilung 104 / 504 * Schwere SS-Artillerie-Abteilung 504 * SS-Korps-Nachrichten-Abteilung 104 * SS-Sanitäts-Abteilung 104 * Feld-Ausbildungs-Battalion IV.SS-Panzer-Korps * Kraftfahrzeug-Kompanie 504 * Bekleidung-Instandsetzungs-Zug 504 * SS-Feldpostamt 104 ;March 1, 1945 - Operation Frühlingserwachen * Korps Stab * 3.SS-Panzer-Division ''Totenkopf'' * 5.SS-Panzer-Division ''Wiking'' * 356.Infanterie-Division * Werfer-Abteilung 104 / 504 * Schwere SS-Artillerie-Abteilung 504 * SS-Korps-Nachrichten-Abteilung 104 * SS-Sanitäts-Abteilung 104 * Feld-Ausbildungs-Battalion IV.SS-Panzer-Korps * Kraftfahrzeug-Kompanie 504 * Bekleidung-Instandsetzungs-Zug 504 * SS-Feldpostamt 104

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:04 Waffen-SS corps IV SS Panzer Corps Military units and formations disestablished in 1945