The XXXIX Panzer Corps (, also previously designated the ''XXXIX. Armeekorps (mot)'') was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
panzer
{{CatAutoTOC, numerals=no
Words and phrases
Germanic words and phrases
Words and phrases by language
la:Categoria:Verba Theodisca ...
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 formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...
which saw action on the
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
and
Eastern Fronts during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Operational history
The Corps whose home station was formed (as the XXXIX Army Corps) on 13 May 1940 shortly after the German
Invasion of France and was originally assigned to the 18th Army under von Kuchler. After the British evacuation from Dunkirk, it was assigned to Group
Guderian
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (; 17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II who later became a successful memoirist. A pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in the development of ...
, the
2nd
A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI).
Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to:
Mathematics
* 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'')
* Minute and second of arc, ...
and
1st
First most commonly refers to:
* First, the ordinal form of the number 1
First or 1st may also refer to:
Acronyms
* Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array
* Far Infrared a ...
Armies. In June 1941 the Corps was assigned to
Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre () 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 during the planning of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the So ...
for
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 ...
, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. It initially attacked towards
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
and then took part in the first
Battle of Minsk. By August, it was assigned to
Army Group North
Army Group North () was the name of three separate army groups of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Its rear area operations were organized by the Army Group North Rear Area.
The first Army Group North was deployed during the invasion of Pol ...
for the
attack on Leningrad
''Attack on Leningrad'', or just ''Leningrad'', is a 2009 war film written and directed by Aleksandr Buravsky, set during the Siege of Leningrad.
Plot
In 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and their troops besieged the city of Leningr ...
.
In 9 July 1942 the Corps was reorganised as the XXXIX Panzer Corps. It was shifted to the
Rzhev salient, under the
9th Army of
Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre () 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 during the planning of Operation Barbarossa, Germany's invasion of the So ...
, where it was involved in
Battle of Rzhev in the summer of 1942. Army Group Centre evacuated the Rzhev salient early in 1943. During the autumn, the Corps took part in the defence against
Operation Suvorov
The second Smolensk operation (code naming " Suvorov";Istomin (1975), pp. 20–21 7 August – 2 October 1943) was a Soviet strategic offensive operation conducted by the Red Army as part of the Summer-Autumn Campaign of 1943. Staged almost simu ...
, withdrawing to positions east of
Mogilev
Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...
.
During June 1944 the XXXIX Panzer Corps took part in the defence against the Soviet summer offensive,
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 ...
; covering the strategically important highway through Mogilev, it was one of the strongest corps in the Army Group at the time, with four high-quality divisions. Soviet breakthroughs to the north and south saw the Corps threatened with encirclement within a matter of days, while the 12th Infantry Division was encircled in Mogilev and destroyed. The corps commander, General
Robert Martinek
__NOTOC__
Robert Martinek (2 February 1889 – 28 June 1944) was an Austrian general who served in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.
An artillery offic ...
was killed on 28 June and his replacement
Otto Schünemann
__NOTOC__
Otto Schünemann (6 October 1891 – 29 June 1944) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Schünemann was killed on 29 June 1944 near Mogilev during the Sovi ...
, was killed the following day. The Corps disintegrated at the
Berezina River
The Berezina or Byarezina (, ; ) is a river in Belarus and a right tributary of the Dnieper. The river starts in the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve. The length of the Berezina is . The width of the river is 15–20 m, the maximum is 60 m. The ba ...
crossings as its columns attempted to cross the river under heavy air attack; nearly all its units were destroyed by the
2nd Belorussian Front
The 2nd Belorussian Front (, ''Vtoroi Belorusskiy front'', also romanized "Byelorussian SSR, Byelorussian"), was a Front (military formation), major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to a Western army group.
I ...
in the subsequent encirclement 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 ...
. The commanders of the 110th, 12th, 31st and ''Feldherrnhalle'' Divisions, Kurowski, Bamler, Ochsner, and Steinkeller respectively, were all captured.
The Corps was reformed by redesignating ''Gruppe von Saucken'', composed of ''ad hoc'' battle groups along with the
5th Panzer Division and commanded by
Dietrich von Saucken
Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Kasimir Dietrich von Saucken (16 May 1892 – 27 September 1980) was a German general during World War II who commanded the 2nd Army and the Army East Prussia. Turning down an offer to escape by air, he surrendered t ...
. Renamed XXXIX Panzer Corps, it fought for the control of Minsk and then retreated in the face of the subsequent stages of the Soviet strategic offensive through Belarus, Poland and Lithuania, being pushed back into the
Courland Pocket
The Courland Pocket was a Pocket (military), pocket located on the Courland Peninsula in Latvia on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 9 October 1944 to 10 May 1945.
Army Group North of the ''Wehrmacht'' were ...
. During this period, the rebuilt Corps was reinforced with the
4th
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama
...
and
12th
Twelfth can mean:
*The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution
*The Twelfth, a Protestant celebration originating in Ireland
In mathematics:
* 12th, an ordinal number; as in the item in an order twelve places from the beginning, follo ...
Panzer Divisions as well as the
Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland
The , also commonly referred to simply as or , was an elite combat unit of the German Army (1935–1945), German Army () that fought on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front in World War II.
Originally formed in 1921, it was known as ...
, taking part in
Operation Doppelkopf
Operation Doppelkopf () and the following Operation Cäsar were German counter-offensives on the Eastern Front in the late summer of 1944 in the aftermath of the major Soviet advance in Operation Bagration with the aim of restoring a coherent ...
. Late in the year it was redeployed to
East Prussia
East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...
before being reorganised and withdrawn for use in the
Ardennes Offensive
The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France.
Geological ...
. It was assigned to
Hasso von Manteuffel
Hasso Eccard Freiherr von Manteuffel (14 January 1897 – 24 September 1978) was a German baron born to the Prussian noble Manteuffel, von Manteuffel family and was a general during World War II who commanded the 5th Panzer Army. He was a recip ...
's
5th Panzer Army
5th Panzer Army () was the name of two different German armoured formations during World War II. The first of these was formed in 1942, during the North African campaign and surrendered to the Allies at Tunis in 1943. The army was re-formed in F ...
.
After the defeat of the Ardennes offensive in the
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive or Unternehmen Die Wacht am Rhein, Wacht am Rhein, was the last major German Offensive (military), offensive Military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western ...
, the Corps was redeployed against the Soviet offensives in
Pomerania
Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...
as part of the newly organised
11th SS Panzer Army __NOTOC__
The 11th SS Panzer Army (''SS-Panzer-Armeeoberkommando 11'') was little more than a paper army formed in February 1945 by Heinrich Himmler while he was commander of Army Group Vistula. (The army was officially listed as the 11th Army but ...
,
Army Group Vistula
Army Group Vistula () was an Army Group of the ''Wehrmacht'', formed on 24 January 1945. It lasted for 105 days, having been put together from elements of Army Group A (shattered in the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive), Army Group Centre (similar ...
. It was employed in
Operation Solstice
Operation Solstice (), also known as ''Unternehmen Husarenritt'' or the Stargard tank battle, was one of the last German armoured offensive operations on the Eastern Front in World War II.
It was originally planned as a major offensive but w ...
, the failed counter-offensive at
Stargard
Stargard (; 1945: ''Starogród'', 1950–2016: ''Stargard Szczeciński''; or ''Stargard an der Ihna''; ) is a city in northwestern Poland, located in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. In 2021 it was inhabited by 67,293 people. It is situated on ...
against the spearheads of the
1st Belorussian Front
The 1st Belorussian Front (, ''Pervyy Belorusskiy front'', also romanized " Byelorussian"), known without a numeral as the Belorussian Front between October 1943 and February 1944, was a major formation of the Red Army during World War II, bein ...
. On 27 March the Corps was thrown into a disastrous counter-attack to relieve the fortress of
Küstrin, and was almost entirely destroyed.
Commanders
* Generaloberst
Rudolf Schmidt
Rudolf Schmidt (12 May 1886 – 7 April 1957) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II who commanded the 2nd Panzer Army on the Eastern Front. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leav ...
(1 February 1940 – 10 November 1941)
* Generaloberst
Hans-Jürgen von Arnim
Hans-Jürgen Bernard Theodor von Arnim (; 4 April 1889 – 1 September 1962) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded several armies and was the last commander of Axis forces in North Africa. He was a recipi ...
(11 November 1941 – 30 November 1942)
* General der Artillerie
Robert Martinek
__NOTOC__
Robert Martinek (2 February 1889 – 28 June 1944) was an Austrian general who served in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.
An artillery offic ...
(1 December 1942 – 13 November 1943)
* General der Infanterie
Carl Püchler
__NOTOC__
Carl Püchler (13 May 1894 – 5 February 1949) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.
Awards and decorations
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 20 Dece ...
(13 November 1943 – 18 April 1944)
* General der Artillerie
Robert Martinek
__NOTOC__
Robert Martinek (2 February 1889 – 28 June 1944) was an Austrian general who served in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.
An artillery offic ...
(18 April 1944 – 28 June 1944) - KIA
* Generalleutnant
Otto Schünemann
__NOTOC__
Otto Schünemann (6 October 1891 – 29 June 1944) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Schünemann was killed on 29 June 1944 near Mogilev during the Sovi ...
(28 June 1944 – 29 June 1944) - KIA
* General der Panzertruppe
Dietrich von Saucken
Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Kasimir Dietrich von Saucken (16 May 1892 – 27 September 1980) was a German general during World War II who commanded the 2nd Army and the Army East Prussia. Turning down an offer to escape by air, he surrendered t ...
(29 June 1944 – 15 October 1944)
* General der Panzertruppe
Karl Decker
Karl Decker (30 November 1897 – 21 April 1945) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II who committed suicide in the Ruhr Pocket on 21 April 1945. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak ...
(15 October 1944 – 21 April 1945)
* Generalleutnant
Karl Arndt
__NOTOC__
Karl Hermann Arndt (10 March 1892 – 30 December 1981) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded several divisions. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Ge ...
(21 April 1945 – 8 May 1945)
Orders of battle
* May 1940
**
208th infantry division
**
225th infantry division
* June 1941
**
14th Infantry Division
**
20th Infantry Division
**
7th Panzer Division
**
20th Panzer Division
* October 1942
**
78th Infantry Division
**
102nd Infantry Division
**
1st Panzer Division
**
5th Panzer Division
* June 1944
**
12th Infantry Division
**
31st Infantry Division
**
110th Infantry Division
**
337th Infantry Division
**
''Panzergrenadier Division Feldherrnhalle'' (reserve)
* 27 March 1945 – Küstrin Counterattack
** Korps Stab
*** Arko 140
*** Korps-Nachrichten-Abteilung 439
*** Korps-Nachschub-Truppen 439
*** Ost-Bataillon 439
***
schwere-SS-Panzer-Abteilung 502
***
Kampfgruppe ''1001 Nachtes''
**
Panzer-Division Müncheberg
**
20.Panzergrenadier-Division
**
25.Panzergrenadier-Division
**
''Führer''-Grenadier-Division
Footnotes
References
*
*
*
*
*
{{German Army Corps of the Wehrmacht
P039
Military units and formations established in 1940
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945