Hitler's Panzer Armies on the Eastern Fron (20 page)

The day after Kugelblitz ended, Prinz Eugen and other units advancing under Stuka CAS launched Operation Schneesturm. Fought near Srebenica in eastern Bosnia, it pitted Germans against the 1st Proletariat Division, ‘Tito’s best troops’, and lasted until 27 December. For most German troops, the winter of 1944 compared favorably to the Stalingrad winter a year earlier. By 9 March 1944, OKW Operations Staff had identified 11 partisan corps (10-15,000 men each) and over 30 divisions (2–4,000 men), by far the bulk of which operated out of Croatia. Supreme Commander Southeast, Luftwaffe Colonel General Alexander Lohr (another Austrian) wrote, ‘The classification of the enemy as bandits and the fighting against them as bandit warfare is incorrect. They are operationally and tactically well led, equipped with heavy weapons and the constantly increasing number of units cannot be over-estimated.’
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This growing danger caused Army Group F Commander von Weichs to order another massive strike at the partisans.
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Accordingly, the XV Mountain Corps, under General of Infantry Ernst von Leyser, would lead Operation Rosselsprung against Tito’s headquarters near Drvar in western Bosnia. Under command were three infantry divisions, the reinforced Motorized Grenadier Regiment 92, elements of the Brandenburger Regiment 1 and the 500th SS Parachute Battalion. Defending were over 12,000 partisans and representatives of various Allied countries in barricaded positions supported by tanks from nearby Petrovac. Von Leyser’s plan envisioned CAS preparation, followed by the first wave of nearly 650 SS paratroopers, Brandenburgers and Abwehr men and a second wave of over 200 paratroopers. Then on d-day, 25 May, the 373rd Infantry Division and Regiment 92 would then come overland to relieve the special forces units. But weeks before the attack, partisans attacked a train and captured documents indicating that the Germans knew of Tito’s Drvar hideout so were somewhat forewarned.
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After softening up by Stukas and fighter-bombers (the Luftwaffe flew 440 sorties that day, a significant number for a backwater theater so late in the war), the first wave arrived by parachute and glider at 0700 on the 25th. The second wave arrived 5 hours later. Despite their advanced intelligence captured on the train, the assault surprised the partisans, who fled into the mountainous countryside. Soon, however, they regrouped and counterattacked. That day, the commander of the SS paratroopers, Hauptsturmfuhrer Kurt Rybka was wounded during hand–to–hand combat. His men created a 360 degree defense at the local cemetery that night. More Luftwaffe CAS arrived at 0500 on the
26th and advance elements of the 373rd showed up 2 hours later. Still, once the partisans recovered from the initial shock, they put up a stout defense, complete with Allied CAS flying from Italy. Rendulic kept a firm hand on the operation, at one point overhearing a radio transmission: ‘Wherever we are, that is the front!’ On the 29th, panzer army headquarters told von Leyser, ‘The commander expects decisiveness and cleverness from all leaders. The chances of success depend on speed of maneuver.’
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But they did not act fast enough for the wily partisans. On the 31st, SS men found Tito’s marshal’s jacket hanging over a chair and Randolph Churchill’s backpack – obvious signs the partisans left in a hurry. The wounded Tito escaped in a Soviet DC–3 to Italy with members of the British mission. After the war, in 1974, he admitted it had been a very close call at Drvar. Nevertheless, Second Panzer Army had reason to be satisfied with Rosselsprung: they had destroyed Tito’s headquarters and communication gear, mauled his 1st and 6th divisions and captured 6,000 of his men. That was Rendulic’s last major event at head of the Second Panzer; on 24 June he turned over command to fellow Austrian, General of Mountain Troops, Franz Bohme. Bohme only lasted three weeks before giving up the post to yet another Austrian, General of Artillery Maximilian de Angelis.
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During the early summer of 1944, Operations Waldrausch and Freie Jagd in Bosnia followed. A final major operation, Rubezahl, also in Bosnia, took place between 12-30 August. Participating were Prinz Eugen, the 181st and 369th Infantry Divisions plus the 13th SS Handschar and 21st SS Skanderbeg Mountain Divisions. The two last named formations consisted mainly of nonGermans, respectively Croatians and Albanians, and were of doubtful military value. Numerous smaller anti-partisan operations also took place that usually lasted only a few days: Zeitgenosse, Herbsternte, 1828, Freibeuter, Roter Mann, Otto, Seydlitz and Horrido 1, 2, 3. Second Panzer Army also disarmed Bulgaria’s I Corps in Macedonia, when that nation changed sides in September, kept a weary eye on Romania when it did the same and assisted in Operation Schwartz, the evacuation of one-third of a million Volksdeutsche through the ‘Vardar Corridor’ and back to the Reich.
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A year of fighting partisans had little to do with being a ‘panzer army’ and even less to do with the operational level of warfare.

By autumn 1944, the Red Army had liberated the Ukraine and began its victorious march through the Balkan Peninsula. The Second Panzer’s experiences became more conventional. Yugoslav partisans also continued to evolve toward a more conventional fighting force, and by late in the war can almost be considered an auxiliary of the Soviets. In view of the approaching danger from the east, on 5 October, Army Group F commander von Weichs reoriented
Second Panzer toward the mountains in central and northern Yugoslavia. He gave de Angelis, centered on the confluence of the Tisza and Danube Rivers, the twin missions of guaranteeing Croatian loyalty and of defending Belgrade. But the Soviet 57th Army, moving from the Iron Gate up the Morava River (the same route taken by First Panzer Army in April, 1941), soon overcame the weak Armeeabteilung Serbia. This maneuver cut off both German formations from Belgrade, which the Soviets ‘liberated’ on the 19th, with help from Tito’s 1st Proletarian and 12th Corps (four and three divisions respectively). Once the Belgrade bridgehead evacuated, the German position in Yugoslavia collapsed. During the latter half of October, von Weichs ordered Second Panzer to resist along the next natural defensive line to the north, the Danube, Sava and Drava Rivers. At precisely this time, however, de Angelis’ men received a much-needed pause when Marshal FI Tolbulkin’s 3rd Ukrainian Front swerved north into Hungary, leaving Tito alone facing Second Panzer. By 2 November, de Angelis stabilized his front, even linking up with the Hungarian 2nd Army, creating a solid line with other Axis units for the first time in months.
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Von Weichs could not discern the Soviet main effort so was indecisive about what to do next. During the first week of November, Second Panzer received its new mission: defend the oil fields in southwest Hungary. A week later, on 15 November, Tolbulkhin attacked with his 3rd Ukrainian Front assisted by the Bulgarians and Tito’s partisans. They levered the Second Panzer and 2nd Hungarian Armies off the Danube and reached the Pecs (Funfkirchen) Line five days later. The 1st Mountain and 44th Infantry (Reichs Hoch und Deutschmeister) Divisions fought a skillful rearguard action. In accordance with the new situation on the ground, on 1 December, Hitler transferred Second Panzer from Army Group F to Army Group South. Under increasing pressure from the 57th Army, his new boss, General of Infantry Josef Freissner, kept de Angelis moving northwest toward the southern tip of Lake Balaton. Here Second Panzer received significant reinforcements and occupied part of the Margarethe Line and Drava River guarding Nazi Germany’s sole remaining natural oil field at Nagykanizsa.
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The Germans devised numerous operations to guard their last ally, Hungary, and keep the Soviets off balance. In most cases the Sixth SS Panzer Army acted as the army group’s Schwerpunkt, with Second Panzer, and sometimes Sixth Armies in supporting roles. Army Group South launched Operation Eisbrecher on 19 January 1945. On the 24th, de Angelis contributed by attacking with 1st Mountain, 71st Infantry, 118th Jager Divisions plus elements of SS 16th Panzergrenadier Division, Reichsfuhrer SS, in the direction of Kaposvar. The XXII Mountain Corps launched another assault on 30 January, b t by the last day of the month German strength had played o t at a cost of
500 killed and 3,000 wounded. The Germans had doubts over the reliability of their allies, as one Landser wrote, ‘In every German regiment, in every division, the question is always the same: “whose units are to the right and left of us, German or Hungarian?’’ ’
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Operation Fruhlingserwachen followed in early February as Hitler tried to pre-empt a major Soviet offensive. He sent Second Panzer the 297th Infantry and 117th Jager Divisions plus 14th SS Division, Galician #1, as reinforcements. De Angelis’ mission was to attack first, again in the direction of Kaposvar, and draw Red Army reserves away from the Sixth SS Panzer Army. As earlier, his target was the 57th Army, now augmented by the 1st Bulgarian Army. Group Konrad (reinforced LXVIII Corps) struggled forward against a stout defense. The 71st Infantry Division with the Hungarian Bakony Regiment also made progress in very poor terrain. An assault by Sturmgeschutze of Reichsfuhrer SS accomplished little due to a lack of ammunition and no promised Luftwaffe CAS. Second Panzer’s contribution to the entire operation was a small salient 10km across its base and not even that distance in depth. Kaposvar once again proved too distant an objective. Soviet artillery especially brutalized de Angelis’ men. Although they lost the town of Nagykanizsa on 29 March, the Germans kept the oil region to the west for a few more days.
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By mid–April the Second Panzer, plus Sixth SS Panzer and Sixth Armies, all occupied positions in the western Alps. The Reichs Schutzstellung along the Austro-Hungarian border was formidable in name only. A Second Panzer Army officer, the commander, 7th Company, Grenadier Regiment 523 (297th Infantry Division) had this to say about the last days of the war:

Together with our comrades from Regiment 524 we closed on the Hungarian-Yugoslav border and we crossed the Mur River bridge into the southern Steiermark . . . As we reached our Regiment 522 again, the 7th Company had fifty–three men. In the afternoon we slept for a few hours in a meadow because we marched all night. In the morning twilight we stood before a turnpike: the German border. On the one side: the lost war. On the other side: a still peace, then we were in our homeland again!

On 7 April, thirty replacements arrived in our 7th Company, although they wore flight suits. All the men were over 40, they struck us as sorry. Everyone of them had to begin an infantry education ‘on the fly:’ assault carbines, hand grenades and machine guns. These were ground crewmen from the Agram (Zagreb) airfield – they had hardly fired a shot in anger during the entire war.

We are supposed to occupy the East Wall, so-called Reich Defense Position. We all had one crazy wish: That the Soviets wouldn’t attack! A withdrawal from this position over the open area to the west was not possible so long as it was light. We were in combat on the 9th. By the 11th only three of our former flier comrades were still with us. Our 1st Platoon has almost entirely vanished. On the 12th, we had to abandon our position. Of those who retreated from Albania, only a few remain; we receive men from the rear services as replacements. Because of numerous casualties we are completely despondent . . .

On 16 April, Captain Thiel, our battalion commander, was severely wounded and died during evacuation. Now First Lieutenant Konhauser leads both battalions. We remain in the area between Stridovar and Schutzendorf. On the 22nd, Major Wegener took over our position. Tomorrow night we’ll march west. We saw our division rear services for the first time since Good Friday ... In the evening [of the 25th] we marched to Radkersburg. We occupied positions near Schloss Mureck; it would be our last shots of the Second World War, as we shot from the castle windows over the Mur behind us.
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On 5 May, de Angelis met with Field Marshal Kesselring in Graz. All both men wanted to do was surrender to the Western Allies. The Soviets did not press too hard; the Second Panzer Army slipped west toward the Americans advancing through Austria.
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Chapter 4

Third Panzer Army

Third Panzer Army began Operation Barbarossa as the mirror image ofSecond Panzer. Under the equally skilled but less flamboyant Colonel General Herman ‘Papa’ Hoth, Third Panzer ran parallel to Guderian to the north of the old Post Road route, taking part in the Minsk and Smolensk encirclement battles. In the late summer it contributed some units to Army Group North’s drive on Leningrad, and during Operation Typhoon, formed the far left wing in the Viazma and Moscow battles.

From late 1941 through mid-1944, it fought swarms of partisans while slowly giving ground and eventually retraced its steps taken during Barbarossa. When the Red Army set out to destroy Army Group Center in June 1944, it chased Third Panzer back to the Baltic coast, and to positions centered on the port of Memel. That fall and winter, Third Panzer withdrew through East Prussia, eventually holding the lower Oder River Line north of Berlin for the final defense of Germany. By the end of the war it was streaming westward, and its units surrendered to both the Soviets and the Western Allies.