In January 1943 SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS, Das Reich and Totenkopf were organized into the SS-Panzerkorps. In early February 1943, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler ordered the newly formed corps moved to the Eastern Front with all possible speed to join Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein's Heeresgruppe Süd in Ukraine. SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser was placed in charge of the corps, and was tasked with defending the strategic city of Kharkov. The SS-Panzerkorps was an immensely powerful force and Hitler pinned his hoped-for stabilization of the southern sector of the Eastern Front on it. The first elements to arrive were the Leibstandarte's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 1 under regiment commander
Fritz Witt, which threw an improvised defence ring around Kharkov blocking the direct route to the city. Das Reich's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Deutschland under regiment commander
Heinz Harmel, was sent to extend the screen northwards. Top image: Prussian officers SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser, his Chief of Staff SS-Standartenführer Werner Ostendorff and the highly experienced Das Reich officer SS-Sturmbannführer
Fritz Klingenberg at a field commanders' strategy meeting in Ukraine. Photo taken before the Donets Campaign by South Tyrol-born SS-Kriegsberichter Friedrich Zschäckel. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: half-hidden behind an izba, a Nashorn tank destroyer. The Hornisse is believed to belong to s.Pz.Jg.Abt.519. Eager eyes scan the snow covered fields in search of the enemy. The strong winds mask engine sounds and disturb the soft snow creating a white screen that conceals movement and blinds the defenders. Credit: Rui Manuel Candeias. ECPAD archives. Fair use.
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ReplyDeleteThe veteran of World War I, Paul Hausser was promoted to SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Generaloberst of the Waffen-SS in August 1944. Hausser was, along with Sepp Dietrich, the highest-ranking officer in the Waffen-SS.
ReplyDeleteBy all accounts Klingenberg took Belgrade on a ruse. Brilliant officer, only to die in the closing days of the war.
ReplyDeleteBy 1943 the premiere Waffen-SS formations were pound-for-pound the best conventional fighting units in the world.
ReplyDelete"My old chief in Stettin, former Army General Paul Hausser, was tasked with the develoment of the officer corps of the Waffen-SS. General Hausser was an exeptional officer, an intelligent and gallant soldier and an outstanding, honest and blameless charachter. The Waffen-SS had much to thank this distinguished officer for. I have encountered the SS divisions Leibstandarte and Das Reich in battle and later, as General-Inspector of the Panzer Troops, have inspected the Waffen-SS Divisions many times. They always distinguished themselves through their self-discipline, comradeship and good soldierly behaviour in battle. They fought shoulder to shoulder with the Army Panzer Divisions and became, the more so the longer the war lasted, one of us." - General Heinz Guderian
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