The XXVII Corps (german: XXVII. Armeekorps, or ''XXVII.AK'') was an infantry

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

in the German army. It fought in several notable actions 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The corps was originally raised in August 1939 in

Wehrkreis VII The military districts, also known in some English-language publications by their German name as Wehrkreise (singular: ''Wehrkreis''), were administrative territorial units in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. The task of military dis ...

Wartime service

1939

Organisation (September 1939): 16th, 69th, 211th and 216th Infantry Divisions During September 1939 the XXVII Corps was used to screen the Dutch-German border.

1940

Organisation (June 1940): 211th, 213th, 218th and 239th Infantry Divisions The Corps participated in Nazi Germany's Invasion of France as part of Army Group C. In May, it crossed the southern

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

towards Roubaix, where it helped in surrounding the French

1st Army First Army may refer to: China * New 1st Army, Republic of China * First Field Army, a Communist Party of China unit in the Chinese Civil War * 1st Group Army, People's Republic of China Germany * 1st Army (German Empire), a World War I field Arm ...

. Later in the campaign, it attacked from the east bank of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

towards

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it i ...

. It then remained on occupation duties in eastern France until the following year.

1941

Organisation (November 1941): 86th, 129th and 162nd Infantry Divisions; '' Gruppe'' Landgraf (parts of

6th 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second ...

and 7th Panzer Divisions) The XXVII Corps did not take part in the initial stages of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

, but was transferred to the Ninth Army,

Army Group Centre Army Group Centre (german: Heeresgruppe Mitte) was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army for ...

, for

Operation Typhoon The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive ...

, the attack on

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. On the Army's north flank, it advanced towards Kalinin, but by December had been forced to retreat into the Rzhev salient.

1942

Organisation (early November 1942):

, 72nd, 87th, 95th, 129th, 251st and 256th Infantry Divisions; heavy artillery and

assault gun Assault gun (from german: Sturmgeschütz - "storm gun", as in "storming/assaulting") is a type of self-propelled artillery which uses an infantry support gun mounted on a motorized chassis, normally an armored fighting vehicle, which are designed t ...

detachments The Corps suffered heavy losses during 1942 in the series of defensive battles around Rzhev. Its organisation changed several times during this period, but included up to eight infantry divisions at various points. Along with the remainder of Army Group Centre, it was ordered to evacuate the Rzhev salient the following year in Operation Büffel.

1943

Organisation (July 1943): 52nd, 197th, 246th and 256th Infantry Divisions In the autumn of 1943 the Corps, now assigned to Fourth Army, took part in the defence against the Soviet offensive Operation Suvorov around

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest ...

. By the next year, it had been pushed back to positions east of

Orsha Orsha ( be, О́рша, Во́рша, Orša, Vorša; russian: О́рша ; lt, Orša, pl, Orsza) is a city in Belarus in the Vitebsk Region, on the fork of the Dnieper and Arshytsa rivers. History Orsha was first mentioned in 1067 as R ...

1944

Organisation (June 1944):

25th Panzergrenadier Division The 25th Infantry Division was a military unit of the German Wehrmacht. It was later reclassified to 25th Infantry Division (mot.), and in June 1943 to the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division. The 25th Panzergrenadier Division fought in the central s ...

78th Sturm Division The 78th Infantry Division (German: ''78. Infanterie-Division''), later the 78th ''Sturm'' (Assault) Division, was a German infantry formation which fought during World War II.The title ''Volks-Sturm'' indicates a "Volksgrenadier Sturm Division ...

, 260th Infantry Division During 1944, the Corps was positioned in the sector of the strategically important

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

road near Orsha, having been specially reinforced for the purpose. In late June the Soviets commenced their summer offensive,

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration (; russian: Операция Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (russian: Белорусская наступательная оп ...

; the XXVII Corps was attacked by forces of the 3rd Belorussian Front and took heavy casualties. Bypassed by a breakthrough of Soviet forces to the north, the Corps found itself encircled in the forests east of

, and despite a breakout attempt on 5 July spearheaded by the 25th Panzergrenadier Division, was almost entirely destroyed. The corps commander, General Paul Völckers, was captured, as were the commanders of the 78th and 260th Divisions,

Hans Traut Hans Traut (25 January 1895 – 9 December 1974) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. Traut surrendered to the Red Army troops in the course of the ...

and

Günther Klammt Günther, Guenther, Ginther, Gunther, and the variants Günter, Guenter, Guenther, Ginter, and Gunter, are Germanic names derived from ''Gunthere, Gunthari'', composed of '' *gunþiz'' "battle" ( Old Norse ''gunnr'') and ''heri, hari'' "army". Gu ...

. The Corps, and its staff, was hurriedly reconstructed in July / August from replacement units and deployed on the

East Prussian East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

border.

1945

The rebuilt XXVII Corps was transferred to Second Army, facing the Soviet East Prussian Offensive. During the course of the offensive it was encircled on the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

coast at Danzig, and again destroyed / disbanded. The staff was evacuated and transferred to the reconstructed Third Panzer Army; the remnants of the Corps eventually surrendered to troops of the US Army on 4 May, north of Ludwigslust.

Commanders

*August 1939 General

Karl Ritter von Prager Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...

*November 1939 General

Alfred Wäger Alfred Wäger (17 August 1883 – 9 July 1956) was a General of the Infantry in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during the Second World War who commanded several units. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Career After th ...

*23 December 1941 Lieutenant-General Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz *13 January 1942 General

Joachim Witthöft __NOTOC__ Joachim Witthöft (23 September 1887 – 7 July 1966) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Witthöft commanded Army Group South Rear Area (as Army Group B) during the 1942 ...

*1 July 1942 Colonel-General Walter Weiß *10 February 1943 Lieutenant-General

Karl Burdach __NOTOC__ Karl Burdach (28 July 1891 – 30 December 1976) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, of Nazi Germany. Awards and decorations * German Cross in Gold ...

*8 June 1943 General Paul Völckers *27 July 1944 General Helmuth Prieß *October 1944 General

Maximilian Felzmann Maximilian Felzmann (22 April 1894 – 8 June 1962) was an Austrian general (General of the Artillery) in the Wehrmacht during World War II, and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Awards and decorations * Iro ...

*April 1945 General Walter Hörnlein

References

*

. German language article at www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de. Retrieved February 11, 2008. {{Subject bar , portal1=Military of Germany , portal2=World War II Corps of Germany in World War II, Army,27 Military units and formations established in 1939 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945