XII Army Corps (German: ''XII. Armeekorps'') was a corps in the German Army during World War II. It was formed in the Wehrkreis XII recruitment and training district in Wiesbaden in October 1936 and was mobilized before the outbreak of war at the end of August 1939. At the start of World War II the corps were part of the

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

and based in the

Saar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name * Sarr Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist * Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), E ...

region. In 1939 it fought with the 4th Army in Poland. In June 1940 they broke through the Maginot line to the Moselle near Nancy. In

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

in June 1941 the corps were attached to Panzer Group 2 for the attack on the stronghold of

Brest-Litovsk Brest, formerly Brest-Litovsk and Brest-on-the-Bug, is a city in south-western Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the Polish town of Terespol, where the Bug and Mukhavets rivers meet, making it a border town. It serves as the admini ...

. After advancing further into Russia they were held up by Soviet counter-attacks. Following

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration () was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (), a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern ...

, the huge Soviet counter-attack in 1944, XII Corps were forced to retreat in bad condition and in July 1944 were finally destroyed in a pocket east of

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and 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 status in Belarus and is the administra ...

. General Müller was taken prisoner. The corps was reformed in April 1945 to defend the middle

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

under General Herbert Osterkamp.

Commanders

* Infantry General ''(

General der Infanterie General of the infantry is a military rank of a General officer in the infantry and refers to: * General of the Infantry (Austria) * General of the Infantry (Bulgaria) * General of the Infantry (Germany) ('), a rank of a general in the German Impe ...

)''

Walther Schroth __NOTOC__ Walther Schroth (3 June 1882 – 6 October 1944) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Schroth served on the " Court of Military Honour," a dr ...

, 4 February 1938 – 9 April 1940 * Colonel-general ''(

Generaloberst A ("colonel general") was the second-highest general officer rank in the German '' Reichswehr'' and ''Wehrmacht'', the Austro-Hungarian Common Army, the East German National People's Army and in their respective police services. The rank w ...

)''

Gotthard Heinrici Gotthard Fedor August Heinrici (; 25 December 1886 – 10 December 1971) was a German general during World War II. Heinrici is considered to have been the premier defensive expert of the ''Wehrmacht''. His final command was Army Group Vistula, fo ...

, 9 April – 17 June 1940 * Infantry General ''(

)''

, 17 June 1940 – 19 February 1942 * Infantry General ''(

)''

Walther Graeßner __NOTOC__ Walther Graeßner (31 January 1891 – 16 July 1943) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the XII Army Corps. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Graeßner was wounded in mid-Febr ...

, 19 February 1942 – 18 February 1943 * Infantry General ''(

)''

Kurt von Tippelskirch Kurt Oskar Heinrich Ludwig Wilhelm von Tippelskirch (9 October 1891 – 10 May 1957) was a German general during World War II who commanded several armies and Army Group Vistula. He surrendered to the United States Army on 2 May 1945. Tippelskir ...

, 18 February 1943 – 4 June 1944 * Lieutenant-general ''(

Generalleutnant () is the German-language variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries. Austria Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed Forces (''Bundesheer''), roughly equivalent to the NATO ...

)''

Vincenz Müller Vincenz Müller (5 November 1894 – 12 May 1961) was a military officer and general who served in the Imperial German army, the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany, and after the war in the National People's Army of the (East) German Democratic Republic ...

, 4 June – 5 July 1944 After reformation * Artillery General ''(

General der Artillerie (English language, en: General of the artillery) may mean: A rank of three-star rank, three-star General of the branch, general, comparable to modern armed forces OF-8 grade, in the Imperial German Army and its contingency armies of Prussian A ...

)'' Herbert Osterkamp, April 1945 –8 May 1945

Area of Operation

* Poland : September 1939 - May 1940 * France : May 1940 - June 1941 * Eastern Front, Central sector : June 1941 - May 1944 * Minsk : May 1944 - July 1944 * South-west Germany : July 1944 - February 1945

References

* Article based on equivalent articles ( :de:Armeekorps (Wehrmacht)) on German Wikipedia and ( :fr:10e corps d'armée (Allemagne) on French Wikipedia. *

Percy Ernst Schramm Percy Ernst Schramm (14 October 1894 – 12 November 1970) was a German historian who specialized in art history and medieval history. Schramm was a Chair and Professor of History at the University of Göttingen from 1929 to 1963. Early lif ...

(Hrsg.): ''Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht'', Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen, Frankfurt am Main 1965. ** Volume I: 1940/41 written by Hans-Adolf Jacobsen. ** Volume II: 1942 written by

Andreas Hillgruber Andreas Fritz Hillgruber (18 January 1925 – 8 May 1989) was a Conservatism, conservative German historian who was influential as a military and diplomatic historian who played a leading role in the ''Historikerstreit'' of the 1980s. In his contr ...

, Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen, Frankfurt am Main 1965. ** Volume III: 1943 written by

Walther Hubatsch Walther Hubatsch (17 May 1915 – 29 December 1984) was a German military historian. He was born in Königsberg in East Prussia. During World War II he served in the German Army. He was appointed professor in Göttingen from 1949, and from 1 ...

, Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen, Frankfurt am Main 1965. * Georg Tessin: ''Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939 – 1945'', Frankfurt/Main and Osnabrück 1966. * Rolf Hinze: ''Zusammenbruch der Heeresgruppe Mitte 1944'', Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1992. * Rolf Hinze: ''Das Ostfront Drama 1944'', Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1987. {{German Army Corps of the Wehrmacht Army,12 Military units and formations established in 1936 1936 establishments in Germany Military units and formations disestablished in 1945