III.Panzerkorps in the North Caucasus October 19 – November 12 1942

SS-Panzergrenadier-Divison Wiking in North Caucasus

SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Dorr in North Caucasus

Waffen-SS 15 cm NbW 41

The nature of the difficult fighting against a vastly superior enemy at the foot of the Caucasus, under the Kasbek, which was glittering in snow and ice, is confirmed by figures supplied by the III.Panzerkorps. During the operations conducted from October 25 to November 12 1942, the three divisions attached to the corps, the 13.Panzer-Division, 2nd Rumanian Mounted Division and SS-Panzergrenadier-Divison Wiking, had made contact with 30 enemy formations. The corps took 16,000 prisoners, knocked out 188 tanks and four armored trains and captured 249 artillery pieces. The losses of the III.Panzerkorps consisted of 1,257 killed, 273 missing and 5,008 wounded during the operations conducted from October 19 to November 12 1942. The men of the Wiking improved the dugouts that they had been assigned. It goes without saying that the men were thinking of spending the winter in the Caucasus and wanted to be prepared for it. Credit: Peter Straßner, European Volunteers and Ewald Klapdor, Viking Panzers. Top image: European comrades of the Wiking side by side in the Northeastern Caucasus in 1942. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Willi Altstadt. U.S. National Archives. Middle image: battle fatigue etched into his face, this tough-looking SS officer and Wiking veteran Hans Dorr prepare for renewed close-quarters fighting in the North Caucasus in the fall of 1942. Hans Dorr had joined the SS-Verfügungstruppe at 21 back in April 1933 and would rise to the rank of Obersturmbannführer within the Waffen-SS and became the Commander of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 9 Germania in May 1944. He would be one of the few to be awarded the prestigious Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves and Swords. Dorr also received the Close-Combat Clasp in Silver but was probably also awarded it in Gold, however, no confirmation of this has yet been found. In total he was injured 16 times during the war and carried the Wound Badge in Gold. SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans Dorr died at a Field hospital near Judenburg in Austria on April 17 1945 at age 33, only weeks before the war's end. Note: Although Dorr is wearing the collar patch of an SS-Obersturmführer, he had already made SS-Hauptsturmführer before Edelweiß. Photo by SS-KB Willi Altstadt. U.S. National Archives. Bottom image: Waffen-SS 15 cm Nebelwerfer 41 multiple rocket launcher of SS Nebeltruppen. c. Bundesarchiv.