SS Panzer Brigade ''Gross'' was a unit 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 ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

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 ...

, under the command of Obersturmbannführer Martin Gross. The brigade was formed from the SS Panzer Training and Replacement Regiment based in Dundaga, Latvia and the SS Panzer Troop Training Regiment ''Seelager'' based at the training grounds at

Ventspils Ventspils (; german: Windau, ; see other names) is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It ...

together with the SS Reconnaissance Training BattalionMitcham, p. 182 in August 1944.Tessin, p. 109 The brigade consisted of two

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...

s, a

panzer This article deals with the tanks (german: panzer) serving in the German Army (''Deutsches Heer'') throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht ...

battalion of two companies with

Panzer III The ''Panzerkampfwagen III'', commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was Sd.Kfz. 141. It was intended to fight ot ...

and

Panzer IV The ''Panzerkampfwagen'' IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the ''Panzer'' IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161. The Pan ...

, a reconnaissance battalion, a StuG battalion, a pioneer company and a

Flak Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

company. The brigade participated in the fighting in Courland and Riga in August and September before it was transferred west to training grounds in

Sennelager Sennelager is a village in Germany that forms part of the City of Paderborn. It is notable for its association with the military since the 19th century. Location Sennelager lies around 5 km north of Paderborn city centre in the west of the ...

and Steinhagen in November where it was broken up for replacements. It was not formally disbanded until April 1945.

References

Bibliography

*Mitchum, Samuel. ''German Order of Battle, Volume 3'', Stackpole Books, 2007, * Tessin, Georg. ''Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945; Band 14: Die Landstreitkräfte: Namensverbände/ Die Luftstreitkräfte (Fliegende Verbände)/ Flakeinsatz im Reich 1943–1945'' Osnabruck: Biblio, 1980 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ss Panzer Brigade Gross The Holocaust Military units and formations established in 1944 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944 Waffen-SS brigades Armoured brigades