This month sees the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk, so I have been reading a little, and thought I'd share some info distilled from the internet:
Order of Battle Kursk: Part 1 The German Forces
The Protagonists
Order of Battle Kursk: Part 1 The German Forces
The Protagonists
The Germans' goal during
Citadel was to pinch off a large salient in the Eastern Front that extended 70
miles toward the west.
Field Marshal Günther von
Kluge's Army Group Center would attack from the north flank of the bulge, with
Colonel General Walther Model's Ninth Army leading the effort, General Hans
Zorn's XLVI Panzer Corps on the right flank and Maj. Gen. Josef Harpe's XLI
Panzer Corps on the left.
General Joachim Lemelsen's
XLVII Panzer Corps planned to drive toward Kursk and meet up with Field Marshal
Erich von Manstein's Army Group South, Col. Gen. Hermann Hoth's Fourth
Panzer Army and the Kempf Army, commanded by General Werner Kempf.
Opposing the German forces were
the Soviet Central Front, led by General Konstantin K. Rokossovsky, and the
Voronezh Front, led by General Nikolai F. Vatutin.
The Central Front, with the
right wing strengthened by Lt. Gen. Nikolai P. Pukhov's Thirteenth Army and Lt.
Gen. I.V. Galinin's Seventeenth Army, was to defend the northern sector.
To the south, the Voronezh Front faced the
German Army Group South with three armies and two in reserve. The Sixth Guards
Army, led by Lt. Gen. Mikhail N. Chistyakov, and the Seventh Guards Army, led
by Lt. Gen. M. S. Shumilov, held the center and left wing.
East of Kursk, Col. Gen. Ivan
S. Konev's Steppe Military District (renamed Steppe Front on July 10, 1943) was
to hold German breakthroughs, then mount the counteroffensive.
"ß " is the German letter for the double "s "sound : "ss"; not pronounced as a "B"
I.e. It was General Walter Weiß (Weiss: (White); not Weib (which is Wife)
Part 1
German Commanders
German Commanders
Army Group Centre
(Günther von Kluge)
§
2nd Panzer Army (Erich-Heinrich Clößner)
§
9th Army (Walther Model)
§
2nd Army (Walter Weiß)
§
4 Army Group Reserve
Army Group South
(Erich von Manstein)
§
4th Panzer Army (Hermann Hoth)
§
Army Detachment Kempf (Werner Kempf)
§
Army Group Reserve
Luftwaffe
- Luftflotte 4 (4th Air Fleet: Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen)
- VIII Fliegerkorps (8th Air Corps)
- Luftflotte 6 (6th Air Fleet: Robert Ritter von Greim)
- 1. Flieger Division (1st Air Division)
ARMY GROUP CENTRE
(GÜNTHER VON KLUGE)
2nd Panzer Army
(Erich-Heinrich
Clößner)
XXXV Corps
(Lothar Rendulic)
34th Infantry Division
208th Infantry Division
25th Panzergrenadier Division
LV Corps
(Erich Jaschke)
110th Infantry Division
9th Army (Walther Model)
XX Corps
(Rudolf Freiherr von Roman)
45th Infantry Division
7th Infantry Division
102nd Infantry Division
258th
Infantry Division
XLI Panzer Corps (Josef Harpe)
18th Panzer Division
86th Infantry Division
292nd Infantry Division
2nd Panzer Division
9th Panzer Division
20th Panzer Division
6th Infantry Division
Army Reserve
4th Panzer Division
10th Panzergrenadier Division
12th Panzer Division
2nd Army (Walter Weiß)
68th Infantry Division
75th
Infantry Division
88th
Infantry Division
XIII Corps
(Erich Straube)
82nd Infantry Division
327th Infantry Division
340th Infantry Division
Army Group
Reserve
5th Panzer Division
5th Panzer Division
8th Panzer Division
ARMY
GROUP SOUTH
(ERICH
VON MANSTEIN)
4th Panzer
Army
(Hermann
Hoth)
II Corps
(Eugen Ott)
57th Infantry Division
255th Infantry Division
332nd Infantry Division
XLVIII
Panzer Corps (Otto von Knobelsdorff)
3rd Panzer
Division
11th Panzer
Division
Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland
167th Infantry Division
II SS Panzer Corps (Paul Hausser)
1st SS Panzergrenadier Division
Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
2nd SS Panzergrenadier Division Das Reich
3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division
Totenkopf
Army Detachment Kempf (Werner Kempf)
III Panzer Corps (Hermann Breith)
6th Panzer Division
7th Panzer Division
168th Infantry Division
XI Army Corps (Erhard Raus)
106th Infantry Division
320th Infantry Division
XLII Corps (Franz Mattenklott)
39th Infantry Division
161st Infantry Division
282nd Infantry Division
Army Group Reserve
XXIV Panzer Corps (Walter Nehring)
5th SS Panzergrenadier Division Wiking
17th Panzer Division
Luftwaffe
Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, Commander in
chief
Otto Deßloch, Chief
of staff - Air support for Army Group South
VIII Fliegerkorps
(8th Air Corps)
Robert Ritter von
Greim as commander in chief and Friedrich Kless as chief of staff
Air support for Army Group Center
1. Flieger Division
(1st Air Division)
Assigned units on 5 Jul 1943:
- Luftflotte 4 with:
- I. Fliegerkorps,
- IV. Fliegerkorps,
- VIII. Fliegerkorps,
- Comandamentul Aviatiei de Luptã (Romanian Combat Aviation Command),
- 102. Repülődandár (Hungarian 102d Air Brigade),
- Seefliegerführer Schwarzes Meer.
Assigned units on 5 Jul 1943:
Stab/FAGr. 4, 2.(F)/11, 2.(F)/22, 2.(F)/100, 4.(F)/122,
1.(F)/Nacht, 4.(F)/Nacht, Westa 76, Stab/NAGr. 1 (with 1.(H)/41, 2./NAGr. 16?), Stab/NAGr. 6 (with 5.(H)/32, 2.(F)/33), Stab/NAGr. 9 (with 1.(H)/21, 7.(H)/32), Stab/NAGr. 14 (with 5.(H)/11, 5.(H)/41), II.,III./JG 3, Stab, I.,II.,III./JG 52, Stab, I.,II.,III./St.G. 2, Pz.Jäg.St./St.G. 2, Stab, I.,II.,III./St.G. 77, Stab, I.,II./Schl.G. 1, Führer d. Panzerjägerstaffeln (5 Hs 129B-2 Staffeln), Störkampfgruppe d. Lfl. 4, Stab, I.,II.,III./KG 27, 14.(Eis.)/KG 27, Stab, II.,III./KG 55, 14.(Eis.)/KG 55, I./KG 100, plus a large number of liaison, transport and med-evac units along with Romanian and Hungarian air units