2nd Panzer Army
This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(November 2012) |
2nd Panzer Army | |
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2. Panzerarmee | |
![]() Insignia | |
Active | 5 June 1940 – 8 May 1945 |
Country | ![]() |
Branch | Army (Wehrmacht ) |
Type | Panzer |
Role | Armoured warfare |
Size | Army |
Engagements | |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Heinz Guderian |
The2nd Panzer Army(German:2. Panzerarmee) was a Germanarmouredformation duringWorld War II,formed from the 2nd Panzer Group on October 5, 1941.
Organisation
[edit]Panzer Group Guderian(German:Panzergruppe Guderian) was formed on 5 June 1940 and named after its commander, generalHeinz Guderian.In early June 1940, after reaching theEnglish Channelfollowing the breakthrough in theArdennes,thePanzergruppe Guderianwas formed from theXIX Army Corps,and thrust deep intoFrance,cutting off theMaginot Line.In November 1940, it was upgraded intoPanzergruppe 2.
The2nd Panzer Group(German:Panzergruppe 2) was formed in November 1940 from Panzer Group Guderian. In October 1941 it was renamed the 2nd Panzer Army. Panzer Group 2 played a significant role in the early stages of the German invasion of theSoviet UnionduringOperation Barbarossain 1941 when it was a constituent part ofArmy Group Centre.
Operational history
[edit]2nd Panzer Group was part of theArmy Group CentreduringOperation Barbarossa,the invasion of the Soviet Union. Guderian's 2nd Panzer Army formed the Army Group's southern pincer while Hoth's 3rd Panzer Army formed the northern pincer destroying several Soviet armies during the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa. During the battles of Bialystok and Minsk substantial numbers of prisoners were captured and several weapons captured.
Suffering heavy losses in men and equipment, the German forces advanced deeper into the Soviet Union. Therasputitsaseason (literally "roadlessness", due to heavy rains and sluggish muddy roads) began to slow down the formation's progress to a few kilometres a day. The rasputitsa was not an unusual phenomenon, but the Wehrmacht did not prepare for this contingency as the German high command had expected the German army to be in Moscow and beyond at this time, with the campaign over before the end of summer. After Minsk, the 2nd and 3rd Panzer Armies captured Smolensk in another successful pincer operation taking around 300,000 prisoners.
Hitler ordered Army Group Center to detach the 2nd Panzer Group, turning southward towards Kyiv to form the northern pincer at Kyiv. Guderian's 2nd Panzer Army and Kleist's 1st Panzer Army were locked in a pincer around Kyiv to trap 665,000 Soviet prisoners. After concluding the Kyiv encirclement, the German planned for the three Panzer armies to attack Moscow from different directions:
4th Panzer Army in the North around Leningrad would attack southward. Hoth's 3rd Panzer Army would attack eastward towards Moscow, while the 2nd Panzer Army would turn northwest and attack Moscow from the south. Guderian's forces tried to encircle the50th Army,which was successfully defendingTula.After unsuccessful attempts to capture Tula, the high command ordered Gudarian to bypass Tula on November 18 and head towards the vital town of Kashira. The furthest attack was stopped near Kashira by the1st Guards Cavalry Corps,173rd Rifle Division,and other units that withstood the central attack of the Guderian army.
The Group's divisions had suffered heavy attrition since the beginning of the invasion and experienced shortages in fuel and ammunition due to the breakdown in logistics. By November, the situation of Guderian's Panzer Group was dire. Nonetheless, Guderian expected the Red Army's resistance to collapse and, driven by National Socialist military thinking, including the idea that the "will" was key to success, continued to direct his forces to attack.
By early December, the final advance on Moscow failed in the face of stiffening Soviet resistance and due to shortages in men and equipment. Until the Soviet counter-offensive, the Germans enjoyed complete domination of the skies and numerical advantage in material and men power during theBattle of Moscow.The massive and unexpected counter-attacks of1st Guards Cavalry Corps,50th Army,10th Army,and parts of49th Armydrove the Germans the furthest from the capital, thus resulting in Hitler's dismissal ofHeinz Guderian.After the battle he would never again reach the height and the popularity with Hitler or command any significant part of the German forces.
In August 1943, the 2nd Panzer Army was transferred to occupiedYugoslavia,where it was incorporated intoArmy Group Fand engaged inanti-partisan operationsagainst theChetniksunderDraža Mihailovićand the communistYugoslav PartisansunderJosip Broz Tito.Despite engaging in several operations aimed to crush the partisan movement, particularly the communists, no clear victory was gained. Indeed, the partisan movement grew in size and equipment, particularly after Italy signed theArmistice of Cassibileon 8 September 1943, which led to Italian units in occupiedBosniaandMontenegroeither surrendering or defecting to the partisans.
Throughout 1943-44, the 2nd Panzer Army was progressively stripped of its heavy armor destined for the war on theEastern Front,and became a primarily motorized infantry force. It did gain specialized Alpine support from units like theBrandenburgersand7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugendivisions. However, endemicguerilla warfarecost the 2nd Panzer Army heavily, and only months after theRaid on Drvar(Operation Rösselsprung) failed to assassinate the communist partisan leadership viaairborne assault,the 2nd Panzer Army and all of Army Group F were pushed out ofBelgradein a joint operation by the Partisans and Red Army during theBelgrade Offensive.The 2nd Panzer Army finished the war in disarray in modernAustria.
War crimes
[edit]As all German armies on the Eastern Front, Panzer Group 2 implemented the criminalCommissar OrderduringOperation Barbarossa.[1]In September 1942, the 2nd Panzer Army took part in war crimes while conducting anti-guerrilla operations in the Soviet Union. These operations killed at least a thousand people, razed entire villages, and deported over 18,500. During these operations, Jews and suspected partisans were murdered by being forced to drag ploughs through minefields.[2]
In August 1943, the army's headquarters was subordinated toArmy Group Fand transferred to theBalkansfor anti-partisan operations. The army became primarily an infantry formation at this point and found itself committed to anti-partisan operations, and personnel were accused postwar of multiple atrocities against civilians and partisans.
After theBelgrade Offensiveovertook army headquarters, surviving units of the 2nd Panzer Army were subsequently transferred to Hungary as part ofArmy Group Southin January 1945, holding off the Soviet invasion of Austria. 2nd Panzer Army took part in theBattle of the Transdanubian Hillsin March 1945 before surrendering at the end of the war to both Soviet and Anglo-American forces.
Commanders
[edit]No. | Portrait | Commander | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Heinz Guderian (1888–1954) | Generaloberst5 June 1940 | 25 December 1941 | 1 year, 203 days | |
2 | Rudolf Schmidt (1886–1957) | Generaloberst25 December 1941 | 10 April 1943 | 1 year, 106 days | |
3 | Heinrich Clößner (1888–1976) | General der Infanterie11 April 1943 | 3 August 1943 | 114 days | |
4 | Walter Model (1891–1945) | Generalfeldmarschall6 August 1943 | 14 August 1943 | 8 days | |
5 | Lothar Rendulic (1887–1971) | Generaloberst14 August 1943 | 24 June 1944 | 315 days | |
6 | Franz Böhme (1885–1947) | General der Infanterie24 June 1944 | 17 July 1944 | 23 days | |
7 | Maximilian de Angelis (1889–1974) | General der Artillerie18 July 1944 | 8 May 1945 | 294 days |
Order of battle
[edit]Organization of Panzer Group Guderian on 28 May 1940
Group | Corps | Division |
---|---|---|
Panzer Group Guderian General der PanzertruppeHeinz Guderian |
XXXIX Army Corps (mot.) GeneralleutnantRudolf Schmidt |
1st Panzer Division GeneralleutnantFriedrich Kirchner |
2nd Panzer Division GeneralleutnantRudolf Veiel | ||
29th Infantry Division (mot.) GeneralmajorWillibald Freiherr von Langermann und Erlencamp | ||
XXXXI Army Corps (mot.) GeneralleutnantGeorg-Hans Reinhardt |
6th Panzer Division GeneralmajorWerner Kempf | |
8th Panzer Division GeneralleutnantAdolf-Friedrich Kuntzen | ||
20th Infantry Division (mot.) GeneralleutnantMauritz von Wiktorin |
June 22, 1941
[edit]July 27, 1941
[edit]September 30, 1941
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/German_Panzer_Group_2%2C_Battle_of_Moscow%2C_27_SEP_41.png/500px-German_Panzer_Group_2%2C_Battle_of_Moscow%2C_27_SEP_41.png)
November 30, 1943
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^Stahel 2015,p. 28.
- ^"www.verbrechen-der-wehrmacht.de p. 22"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2011-09-28.Retrieved2012-02-19.
- ^Glantz, David,Barbarossa Derailed: The battle for Smolensk, Volume 2,November 2010, page 54
Sources
[edit]- Stahel, David(2015).The Battle for Moscow.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1-107-08760-6.