Waffen-SS: The 6th Panzer Army, 1944

Background

The élite Waffen-SS panzer divisions were rebuilt at the end of 1944 in preparation for Hitler's new offensive in the West. Under the command of "Sepp" Dietrich, the Sixth Panzer Army was intended to deliver victory against the Western Allies. And as new tanks, halftracks and artillery were delivered to Dietrich's formations, morale among the SS divisions soared.

Formation of the Sixth Panzer Army

Hitler was already thinking about how he could regain the initiative in the war even before the last remnants of his battered armies had retreated across the German and Dutch borders in September 1944. The 20 July Bomb Plot had destroyed for good Hitler's trust in the army's generals. He wanted his favourite Waffen-SS general, "Sepp" Dietrich, to command the most powerful armoured force Nazi Germany had ever put in the field - the Sixth Panzer Army. Although nominally an army formation - rebuilt from the remnants of XII Corps that had been badly mauled in Russia during the summer - almost all of Dietrich's key staff officers were old hands from either his Leibstandarte or I SS Panzer Corps days.

To fill out his new army, Dietrich was given the two premier Waffen-SS corps headquarters, I SS and II SS Panzer Corps. I SS Panzer Corps boasted the Leibstandarte and Hitlerjugend Divisions, under the command of SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Priess, who had previously commanded the Totenkopf Panzer Division in Russia.

prev | next