Victory in the West, 1940
In Operation 'Yellow', Army Groups 'A' and 'B' with Luftwaffe support, smash across the Meuse and in ten days outmanoeuvre the Western Allies whose armies, including a British Expeditionary Force of nine divisions, serve a French commander-in-chief - General Gamelin, replaced 19 May 1940 by General Weygand.
Schmidt and Hoepner (Fourth Panzer Army) 10 May with two panzer corps (1) and (2) allotted to Army Group 'B', lead a decoy offensive into Holland and Belgium where airborne operations under General Kurt Student aim to reduce key defences astride the Army Group axis of advance.
Von Kleist and subordinate Guderian (First and Second Panzer Armies) 13 May attack west across the Meuse at Sedan-Montherme (4), (5), (6) initiating the main armoured movement of Operation 'Yellow'
- a westward thrust by two panzer and one motorized infantry corps under Panzer Croup von Kleist (K) - the vanguard of Army Croup 'A'. See also Panzer break-through, France.
Von Kleist leads German Twelfth Army (List), but under pressure from superior headquarters, limits subordinates to a narrow range of action. Despite this, the panzer group pushes ahead until Hitler's nervousness at the danger to the resulting panzer 'corridor' and technical considerations finally halts the armour.
Hoth (Third Panzer Army) 13 May starting from a Meuse crossing at Dinant - (3) - also strikes west, reinforcing von Kleist.
A total of ten panzer divisions, six and two-thirds motorized infantry divisions support Army Groups 'A' and 'B'. The panzer force is swiftly regrouped for phase two of the battle - Operation 'Red'* commencing 5 June 1940.
Schmidt (1) XXXIX PzK: 9th PzDiv; SS Verfugungs Div; After 13 May LSSAH
Hoepner(2) XVI PzK: 3rd, 4th PzDivs; 20th InfDivMot; SS Totenkopf
Hoth (3) XV PzK: 5th PzDiv; 7th PzDiv
(K) Reinhardt (4) XXXXI PzK: 6th PzDiv; 8th PzDiv
(K) Guderian (5) XIX PzK: 1st PzDiv; 2nd PzDiv; 10th PzDiv; Inf Regt Mot-Gross Deutschland (K) Von Wietersheim (6) XIV MotK: 2nd, 13th, 29th InfDivs Mot
*Hoth (7) XV PzK: 5th, 7th PzDivs; 2nd InfDiv Mot
"Von Kleist Gr (8) XIV PzK von Wietersheim: 9th, 10th PzDivs; 13th Inf Div Mot, SS Verfugungs Div, InfReg Mot-Gross Deutschland. After 12 June SS Totenkopf Div XVI PzK Hoepner: 3rd, 4th PzDivs; Reserve LSSAH
*Guderian Gr (9) XXXIX PzK Schmidt: 1st, 2nd PzDivs; 29th InfDiv Mot
XXXXI PzK Reinhardt: 6th, 8th PzDivs; 20th InfDiv Mot German Army Von Brauchitsch: 120 infantry divs, 16% mobile divs, 2,574 tanks
A Grs 'A', 'B' Von Runstedt 45 1/3 divisions; von Bock 29Vi divisions
Luftwaffe Kesselring 2nd Air Fleet-A Gr 'B'; Sperrle 3rd Air Fleet-A Gr 'A': 2,750 aircraft
Western Allies Gamelin; 10 Dutch, 22 Belgian, 9 British (plus 1 Inf Tank Bde), 77 French infantry divs, 6 (Fr) mobile divs, 3,600 tanks Allied Air Forces 2,372 aircraft ind 1,151 fighters.
Campaign in the Balkans
In the aftermath of victory over Western Allies in May 1940 , a prime German concern is to safeguard Roumanian oil supplies and deter Turkish intervention in the Balkans. The German Army and Luftwaffe are consequently filtered as 'training' units into friendly Roumania and Bulgaria. But Hitler is faced with an unexpected military situation when Axis partner Mussolini, invading Greece from Albania (28 October 1940), fails against the Greek Army and a British expeditionary force lands in Greece in November.
Instructing German Twelfth Army (List) to invade Greece ('Marita') and eliminate opposition to the Italians in Albania ('Alpine Violet'), Hitler also thereby expects to counter British intervention in the region. But anti-German moves in Yugoslavia complicate the issue and Hitler deploys German Second Army (von Weichs) in Austria and Hungary for Operation '25' - the subjugation of Yugoslavia - in which Twelfth Army, invading the southern part of the country, will also participate.
Kleistgruppe (First Pz-Army) 8 April 1941 joins the German offensive. Striking at largely immobile opponents, military operations are concluded in twenty days. The British Expeditionary Force, including a tank brigade deployed in northern Greece, is outmanoeuvred by XXXX PzKorps and withdraws south - escaping mainly to Crete; 5th Panzer reaches Kalamata 28 April 1941.
The Luftwaffe then takes control of the offensive, improvising Operation 'Mercury' at short notice. Enlarging upon the paratroop and glider assault tactics that had taken the west by surprise in May 1940, XI Air Corps (Student) with the assistance of 5th Mountain Division (Ringel) and a panzer detachment, landed late in the campaign, captures the island in twelve days; VIII Air Corps (von Richthofen) in support.
Six panzer divisions, three and two-thirds motorized divisions including SS Das Reich and LSSAH lead the Balkans offensive. Kuebler (1) XXXXIX Mtn K; LI AK six infantry inc. 1st MtnDiv Vietinghoff (2)XXXXVI PzK: 8th, 14th PzDivs; 16th InfDiv Mot Von Kleistgruppe (3) Von Wietersheim XIV PzK: 5th, llth PzDivs; 60th InfDiv Mot; Reinhardt XXXXI PzK: SS Das Reich Div, Regt Gross Deutschland, Regt General Goering XI AK: 294th InfDiv, 4th MtnDiv
Stumme (4) XXXX PzK: 9th PzDiv; SS InfBde Mot Leibstandarte AH and after 12 April, 5th PzDiv
Boehme(5) XVIII AK: 2nd PzDiv; 5th MtnDiv; 6th MtnDiv; XXX AK: three InfDivs
OKH uncommitted Reserve: 4th, 12th, 19th PzDivs, three InfDivs. Twelfth Army reserve, 16th PzDiv (frontier security BulgariaTurkey)
German Second, Twelfth Army von Brauchitsch: 23 Infantry, 9 2/3 mobile divisions, 1,200 tanks
Luftwaffe Lohr 4th Air Fleet, 800 Aircraft (400 Stukas, 210 fighters)
Yugoslav Army/YAF 28 inf divs, three cav divs, 400 aircraft Greek Army/GAF 20 inf divs, one motorized division. 80 aircraft BritExp. Force Greece: 1 Tank Bde, 2-3 inf (Brit. NZ, Aust) divisions, Crete: 2-3 inf (Brit. NZ, Aust, Greek) divisions. No air support Italian Ninth, Eleventh Armies in Albania: 38 divs (two armd)
320 aircraft.
'Mercury' Student XI Air Corps: 1st Para Div, 1st Assault (glider) Regt, 5th Mtn Div; part 5/31st Pz Regt landed 29 March 1941. 530 Ju 52 transports. Von
Richthofen VIII Air Corps 150 Stukas, 180 fighters, 320 other aircraft.
Operation Barbarossa
In Operation 'Barbarossa', Army Groups North, Centre and South with powerful Luftwaffe support strike in three directions: Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev-Rostov.
Encirclements of the Red Army are a triumphant feature of the early days, but military operations fanning out over a vast and often trackless interior are soon brought to a standstill. Halted by difficult terrain, bad weather, inadequate supplies and exhausted by an unyielding defence, the panzer divisions after capturing Kiev are driven to unrewarding battles for Leningrad and Moscow.
Hoepner (Fourth Pz-Army) 22 June leads Army Group North (von Leeb) to Leningrad. Guderian and Hoth (Second and Third Pz-Armies) 22 June responsible for the main German effort, lead Army Group Centre (von Bock) in the Moscow direction. Von Kleist (First Pz Army) 22 June leads Army Group South (von Runstedt) to Kiev and Rostov.
The outstanding panzer success of the early weeks is an envelopment of five Russian armies east of Kiev resulting in 600,000 prisoners for which von Kleist and Guderian are responsible. In the course of a subsequent operation, 'Typhoon' 2 October 1941, convergent action by Guderian, Reinhardt and Hoepner encircling Bryansk and Vyasma proves equally rewarding.
Seventeen panzer divisions, thirteen and a half motorized divisions lead 'Barbarossa' - but despite optimistic predictions of a three-week campaign, operations are destined to last four years. Expanded and re-equipped, in later campaigns the panzer force will nevertheless fail to match Russian numbers or strategy. Divisions are switched between theatres, fronts, and controlling corps. Four years later on the Central Front in January 1945, when the Red Army pushes across the Vistula, only four panzer divisions supporting indifferently equipped infantry divisions face 163 Russian divisions. At the conclusion of hostilities the panzer force is totally burned out and only weak battle groups remain at the Army's disposal.
Hoepner (4) PzGr 4: XXXXI PzK Reinhardt, LVI von Manstein: three PzDivs 1st, 6th, 8th: three MotDivs 3rd, 36th and SS Totenkopf (later trapped with SS 'Polizei', 'Danemark' and others at Demjansk). Hoth (3) PzGrS: XXXIX PzK Schmidt, LVII PzK Kuntzen: four PzDivs 7th, 12th, 19th, 20th: three MotDivs 14th, 18th, 20th: No SS formations
Guderian (2) PzGr 2: XXIV PzK Geyr, XXXXVI PzK Vietinghoff XXXXVII PzK Lemelsen, five PzDivs 3rd, 4th, 10th, 17th, 18th: 3 1/2 Mot Divs 10th, 29th, SS Das Reich (later switched to Hoepner for attack on Moscow) and Regiment 'Gross Deutschland'
Von Kleist (1) PzGr 1: III PzK von Mackensen; XIV PzK von Wietersheim; XXXXVIII PzK Kempf; five PzDivs 9th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th; four MotDivs 16th, 25th, SS 'Wiking', SS (Brigade) 'Leibstandarte' AH, Regt Gen Goering. OKH Reserve 2nd, 5th PzDivs: 60th MotDiv German Army von Brauchitsch 153 divisions (seventeen Pz, + two reserve, 134 mot divs) 3,417 tanks
Luftwaffe Keller, 1st Air Fleet; I Air Corps/A Gr North; Kesselring 2 Air Fleet, II, VIII Air Corps/A Gr Centre; Lohr 4th Air Fleet, IV, V Air Corps/A Gr South; - 3,800 aircraft
Red Army/Air Force 150-180 divs, 20,000 tanks, but only 1,000 T34s and 500 KVs, 10,000 aircraft (2,750 modem types).
Maps
Bibliography
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des Eisernen Waffen-SS, Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland
des Eisernen Waffen-SS, Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland