Luftwaffe support

The Luftwaffe built up a major force of tank-hunting aircraft to provide close air support to the assault troops. These assets included 37mm cannon-armed Junkers Ju 87G Stukas and 30mm cannon-armed Henschel Hs 129s. Manstein had more than 1000 Luftwaffe combat aircraft to support his offensive, and a string of radar stations were positioned around the southern flank of the salient to give prior warning of Russian air activity.

The surrender of 230,000 German troops in Tunisia in May to British and American forces stiffened Hitler's resolve to launch Operation Citadel. In his mind there was no time to spare before Anglo-American forces made landings on mainland Europe.

During the final days of March 1943, SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser was able finally to pull his weary divisions out of the line to be rested and rebuilt. The Leibstandarte, Das Reich and Totenkopf Divisions were pulled back to billets in Kharkov and neighbouring towns, which only a few months before had been battlegrounds. A major reorganization of the corps was ordered by the Führer, who wanted to build up his beloved Waffen-SS so he would not have to rely on the army and its generals, who in his mind only seemed to want to retreat.

The birth of II SS Panzer Corps

At the end of March, the Führer informed the Leibstandarte Division's commander, SS-Obergruppenführer Josef "Sepp" Dietrich, that his unit would be the core of a new corps, to be known as I SS Panzer Corps Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. Scores of staff officer from Dietrich's division would form the new corps staff, while hundreds of officers and noncommissioned officers were to be drafted to form a training cadre to establish the new Hitler Youth SS panzergrenadier division. A number of artillery, assault gun and anti-tank battalions were also transferred from the Leibstandarte to the new division, to provide the core of its specialist regiments.

As a result of these developments, Hausser's formation was renamed II SS Panzer Corps, even though it was the first such headquarters to be set up by the Waffen-SS.

New recruits and supplies

As trainloads of Leibstandarte veterans headed westwards, those who remained behind were ordered to prepare their units for action in a few weeks' time. Thousands of replacement soldiers were now arriving on a daily basis. These were mostly a mix of raw conscripts and drafted Luftwaffe ground personnel. Gone were the days when the Waffen-SS could pick and choose who served in its ranks. When Dietrich greeted the first batch of ex-Luftwaffe men in Kharkov, he asked for volunteers for the panzergrenadiers. There were few takers - most of the new Waffen-SS men wanted to serve in maintenance and repair teams. In future the replacements were not to be given a choice regarding which units they would serve in. Most of these recruits were directed to the Leibstandarte Division because of the heavy casualties it had suffered during the previous two months.

A constant stream of trains arrived at Kharkov with new tanks, artillery, vehicles and other equipment. Waffen-SS repair teams worked overtime to get the scores of tanks damaged in action back to fighting condition. No one trusted them to be returned in time for the coming offensive if they were shipped back to workshops in Germany.

prev | next