Talk:III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps

Commanders April 1945

I have removed the entry:

• SS-Brigadeführer Joachim Ziegler (5 Mar 1945 - 8 May 1945)

from the list and put in Felix Steiner because two sources I have claim that it was Felix Steiner's's Corps during the battle of Berlin. See

• Beevor, Antony. Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5 Page 241,267-268
• Ziemke, Earl F. Battle For Berlin: End Of The Third Reich, NY:Ballantine Books, London:Macdomald & Co, 1969. Page 87

The problem I have with this article is that it said Joachim Ziegler was in command of the Corps but Ziemke is he says "Steiner's III SS Panzer Corps" and Beevor on Page 241 says Steiner's III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps and that Joachim Ziegler commanded the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland (which was moved to Seelow) and the Wikipedia Nordland article confirms this. (Just for the record, the Nederland Division which had been attached to III Panzer Corps moved south of Frankfurt an der Oder and placed under the command of V SS Mountain Corps).

However neither mention when Steiner was appointed to the position. To complicate the issue Beevor explains on page 89 that Himmler "set his mind on establishing the so-called Eleventh SS Panzer Army. But it only had three under strength panzer divisions making it at best a corps. But "panzer army" observed Eismann "has a better ring to it". Steiner was named its commander and because it was an army an Obergruppenführer which suited Himmler politicly. But after that he does not use this formation name again.

Also Ziemke (87-88) states that "Heinrici had given Steiner's III SS Panzer Corps headquarters, which so far had no troops of its own, the task of scraping up enough to set up a screening line on III Panzer Army's south flank along the Finow Canal. In late afternoon [22 April] the order went out to Steiner in the late afternoon, Hitler elevated Stiener's command to an Armeeabteilung (an 'army detachment' - more than a corps but not quite an army) and gave him the IV SS Police Division, V Jager Division and the XXV Panzer Grenadier Division, all north of the Finow Canal, and the LVI Panzer Corps, ... east of Berlin."

The German article de:Felix Steiner calls this "Armeegruppe Steiner".

In fact during the battle of Berlin whatever Steiner commanded it was not much more than a scratch set up any way for example on the 25th Steiner was meant to attack towards Berlin! (from Oranienburg) with 25th Panzer Grenadier Division, the 2nd Naval Division and the 7th Panzer Division. (Ziemke 95). He also had under his command other rag tag units including a phantom Luftwaffe Division (ziemke 87).

Just to add yet more to the confusion there was also the XI SS Panzer Corps which was part of the German Ninth Army that retreated from the Seelow Heights and to fight and be destroyed in the Battle of Halbe and it was nothing to do with the Eleventh Panzer Army!

Now it is quite possible given the state of Germany in April 1945 that people had more than one position at the same time so Steiner could have been and Army and a Corps commander, or Ziegler a Corps and Divisional commander, but the sources I have quoted seem to imply that the III Corps was Steiner's at the time. But I think we need a source that gives a definitive list of who was in command of the III SS Corps, before reinstating Ziegler --Philip Baird Shearer 19:49, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

From the edit history:

• 0:53, 6 February 2012‎ Philip Baird Shear (Undid revision 306006410 by 91.45.93.190 (talk))
• 00:53, 6 February 2012‎ Philip Baird Shearer (Undid revision 306006143 by 91.45.93.190

The first one reverted a change in commander which totally ignored the above explanation I gave back in 2007. The second one reverts the substitution of a German name for a rank when there is a perfectly good English language equivalent. -- PBS (talk) 00:56, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Suspect that sources like this may be inspiring the IP editors.

Tessin's work shows the following for commanders of III-SS Corps:

• • 2. Kommandierender General:
  • SS-OberGrf. u. Gen. d. W-SS Steiner, Felix 01.05.1943
  • SS-OberGrf. u. Gen. d. W-SS Keppler, Georg 29.10.1944 mstFb
  • SS-OberGrf. u. Gen. d. W-SS Kleinheisterkamp, Matthias 04.02.1945 mFb
  • Gen.Lt. (Heer) Unrein, Martin 11.02.1945 mFb
  • SS-OberGrf. u. Gen. d. W-SS Steiner, Felix 00.03.1945

These names are shown by Tessin as commanders for the 11th (so-called SS) Army:

• • SS-OberGrf. u. Gen. d. W-SS Steiner, Felix 28.01.1945
  • Gen. d. Artillerie (Heer) Lucht, Walther (Heer) 00.03.1945

So Steiner may have actually held another command during February 1945 but finally returned to command of III SS Corps. It is also possible that Ziegler was an acting commander of the corps while Steiner was in charge of the informally organized Armeegruppe/Kampfgruppe Steiner. W. B. Wilson (talk) 06:25, 6 February 2012 (UTC)