LXXVI Panzer Corps
The LXXVI Panzer Corps (LXXVI Panzerkorps, 76th Armoured Corps) was a panzer corps of Nazi Germany during World War II. The headquarters were formed in France under Army Group D on 29 June 1943 as LXXVI Army Corps but renamed a month later. In August it shipped to Italy to become part of 10th Army. It spent the rest of the war in Italy fighting in the Italian Campaign mainly under 10th Army but with short periods from February 1944 (Battle of Anzio) and January 1945 (Spring 1945 offensive in Italy) under 14th Army. The Corps was commanded for most of its active fighting by General Traugott Herr.
Order of battle
In 1943 the corps included:
On 25 August 1944 the composition of the corps was:
Commanding officers
Panzer corps
A panzer corps (German: Panzerkorps) was a military formation type in the German Wehrmacht during World War II. The name was introduced in 1941, when the motorised corps (Armeekorps (mot) or AK(mot)) were renamed to panzer corps. Panzer corps were created throughout the war, and existed in all service arms of the Wehrmacht except the Navy. Those renamed from ordinary motorised corps retained their numbering.
Purpose
Panzer corps underwent transformation as the war went on. Initially they were the main strike force of the Wehrmacht, and consisted of motorised infantry divisions (ID (mot)) and panzer divisions. Later in the war it was possible to find panzer corps that consisted solely of infantry divisions.
During the initial period of the war the panzer corps predecessor, the motorised corps, were grouped into various panzer groups (Panzergruppen). Panzer groups were named (i.e. not designated with numbers) during the campaigns in Poland, France, and Greece, they were not used at all in Norway and Denmark in 1940, and numbered 1-4 during the first half year of the war against the Soviet Union. In the last case, a panzer group normally consisted of two or three motorized corps. They were the operational movement element of Army Group North, Army Group Centre and Army Group South. The motorized corps served as the tactical command element in the command structure, with the individual divisions serving as tactical combat elements.
XXXXVIII Panzer Corps
XXXXVIII Panzer Corps (also: 48th Panzer Corps), formerly designated as XXXXVIII Corps (also: XXXXVIII Army Corps or XXXXVIII. Armeekorps or 48th Corps or 48th Army Corps), was a corps-level formation of the German Heer which saw extensive action on both the eastern and western fronts during World War II.
History
The corps was originally formed on 15 December 1940 in Germany as the XXXXVIII. Armeekorps (mot). At the dawn of Operation Barbarossa, on 22 June 1941, it was officially redesignated as the XXXXVIII Panzer Corps. However, the corps seems to have used both names until June–July 1942.
XXXXVIII Panzer Corps was attached to Field Marshal Ewald von Kleist's Panzer Group 1, a part of Army Group South. The corps was involved in the armored battles near Dubno early in the campaign, and later saw action at Berdichev and Kirovograd.
From late 1941 to May 1942, the corps took part in defensive operations in the Kursk area. Thereafter the corps joined the Fall Blau offensive towards Stalingrad under Army Group B. During the Battle of Stalingrad the corps was trapped and its major units, 22nd Panzer Division and 1st Armoured Division (Romania), were annihilated. However, it was quickly reformed and used by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Operation Winter Storm efforts to relieve General Friedrich Paulus' trapped Sixth Army still in Stalingrad.
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