Panzer Division "Feldherrnhalle 2" at Neutra March 1945

[Charlie645]

I am searching for any information on the role of Panzer Division "Feldherrnhalle 2", apparently consisting of the re-consituted remnants of the 13 Panzer Division, in the desperate defensive fighting around Neutra (Nitra) Hungary during the Soviet Offensive out of the Gran bridgehead which started on 25 March 1945, and continued towards Sered, Thaya, and finally Budweis.The history of the Schwere Panzer Abteilung 503 mentions some cooperation with this unit within the Panzer Korps Feldherrnhalle. Panzer Division Feldherrnhalle 2 was apparently the last command of Generalmajor Franz Bäke.

I realize that solid information from that late period of the war is very difficult to find. I am able to read German. Any information on this rather obscure topic would be most welcome!

[Nicole S.]

Myself is interested in the actions of Panzerkorps Feldherrnhalle, too, especially in April and May 1945. The reports in the History of Schwere Panzerabteilung 503 I am familar with, but about the rest of the units belonging to the Korps I have still not found really much. So any input is much apreciated.

I already started a thread on this on AHF:

Fights in southern Sudetengau 1945??

Horrido!

Nicole

[Charlie645]

Hi Nicole,

I have found only two books that offer any detailed information about the Panzerkorps Feldherrnhalle in April and May of 1945. The first is Alfonso Escuadra Sanchez's book, "Feldherrnhalle: Forgotten Elite" published by Shelf Books in the Unitek Kingdom back in 1996. This book is very hard to find and is expensive. If you have some specific questions I may be able to help. The second book is by Dieter Hoffman, "Die Magdeburger Division" which covers the 13th Panzer Division, renamed Feldherrnhalle 2, at the very end of the war. It wa published by Mittler in 2001 and is still easy to find. Again, if you have some specific questions I will try to help.

Basically the Panzerkorps Feldherrnhalle consisted of 2 quickly rebuilt divisions that had been recently destroyed, plus the 503 Tiger abteiling. In all it amounted to little more than 1 reinforced panzer division and, with the exception of the 503rd, was able to offer very limited resistance to Red Army's offensive across the Gran river and into Czechoslavakia.

Charlie

[Martin Block]

What follows is part of the research I recently did for a friend of mine who's team is preparing a book or rather a series of books covering German armored formations in Czech lands during the final days of WW2. I won't further comment on author and publisher because final arrangements are still being made at the time being. If you are able to read German more Information about the formation of Pz.Korps Feldherrnhalle can also be found on the 'Panzer-Archiv' site following this thread: http://forum.panzer-archiv.de/viewtopic ... c&start=15

The actual organisational structure of Pz.Korps Feldherrnhalle during the final months of the war is somewhat difficult to establish. Although strength reports dated 8./9.4.1945 for both divisions do exist, the related order of battle charts are missing which makes it very difficult to establish the true distribution of armored vehicles within the subunits. Such battle charts would also have been very helpful in making a more accurate assessment about types of SPW and armored cars used.

In terms of armored fighting vehicles the following shipments to Pz.Korps Feldherrnhalle left the ordnance depots in Germany between 8.3. and 1.4.1945:

a.) Pz.Div. Feldherrnhalle (renamed to Pz.Div. Feldherrnhalle 1 on 23.3.1945)
5 Pzkpfw. IV to I./Pz.Rgt. FHH (renamed from Pz.Abt. 208)
19 Panther to I./Pz.Rgt. FHH
2 Bergepanther to I./Pz.Rgt. FHH
4 Art.Beob.Wg. IV to Pz.Art.Rgt. FHH
21 Jagdpz. 38 to Pz.Jg.Abt. FHH
2 Bergepz. 38 to Pz.Jg.Abt. FHH
97 m.SPW (apparently including vehicles for Korps.Pz.Aufkl.Abt. FHH, see remarks further down below)
With the renaming ordered on 23.3.1945 the designations of combat units changed to FHH 1, supply and administration units received the number 160.

b.) 13. Pz.Div. (renamed to Pz.Div. Feldherrnhalle 2 on 23.3.1945)
21 Panther to I./Pz.Rgt. 4 (renamed from II./Pz.Rgt. 4)
20 Pzkpfw. IV to I./Pz.Rgt. 4
1 Bergepanther to I./Pz.Rgt. 4
1 Bergepanzer IV to I./Pz.Rgt. 4 or Pz.Jg.Abt. 13
20 Jagdpanzer 38 to Pz.Jg.Abt. 13
4 Art.Beob.Wg. IV to Pz.Art.Rgt. 13
44 m.SPW (distributed among II.(SPW)/Pz.Rgt. 4, 3./Pz.Jg.Abt. 13 and 3./Pz.Pi.Btl. 13?)
With the renaming ordered on 23.3.1945 the designations of combat units changed to FHH 2, supply and administration units kept the number 13.

c.) Korpstruppen
5 Tiger II to s.Pz.Abt. Feldherrnhalle (ex 503)
12 s.Pz.Späh-Wg. to Korps-Pz.A.A. FHH (Sd.Kfz. 234/1 and 234/4)
11 le.SPW to Korps-Pz.A.A. FHH

Before describing the status of the 2 Panzer divisions in early April 1945 it is necessary to pay some attention to the formation of the Korps-Pz.Aufkl.Abt. FHH.
During October 1944 Pz.Aufkl.Abt. FHH (less its 2. Kp.) had been sent to Milowitz for refit and thus escaped the destruction of its parent division in Budapest. When the order to raise a new Pz.Korps FHH was given on 28.2.1945 both new divisions at first were authorized to receive a full Pz.Aufkl.Abteilung while at corps level only a Pz.Aufkl.Kompanie was planned. This order was changed on 20.3.1945. Now both divisions were to receive only a single Aufkl.Kp. (Volkswagen) each, while the corps received a Korps-Pz.Aufkl.Abt. which was to be formed using the former Pz.Aufkl.Abt. FHH still back in Milowitz. During Dec. 1944/Jan. 1945 the unit had already received 3 Sd.Kfz. 234/1 and 39 le.SPW (22x 250/1, 1x 250/3, 16x 250/9). As already listed above 12 Sd.Kfz. 234/1 and 234/4 as well as 11 le.SPW followed during March 1945. The unit left Milowitz on 29.3.1945 still missing all its authorized 57 m.SPW. These appear to have been included in the 97 shipped directly to Pz.Div. FHH 1 under H.Gr. Süd and most likely Korps-Pz.Aufkl.Abt. FHH was supposed to pick them up there upon arrival. However, it seems that Pz.Korps FHH made some changes to this arrangements as will be explained further down below.

The exact description of the organisational structure of the units under Pz.Korps FHH is somewhat difficult, because from the last known status report dated 8./9.4.1945 only the text part ‘personelle und materielle Lage’ has survived, while the important ‘Kriegsgliederung’ is missing. Additional information was drawn from a weapon status report dated 27.3.1945 and the ‘Panzerlage’ overviews 5./10.4.1945 as compiled by the OKH/Generalquartiermeister:

a.) Pz.Div. Feldherrnhalle 1 (8.4.1945)
The I./Pz.Rgt. FHH 1 (renamed from Pz.Abt. 208 on 14.3.1945) was authorized to have its 1. and 2. Kp. equipped with 10 Panthers each and its 3. and 4. Kp. with 10 Pzkpfw. IV each. The former Pz.Abt. 208 had originally been equipped with 31 Pzkpfw. IV and 14 Pz. IV/70(A) in December 1944 but by the time it was renamed it had only about 12 Pzkpfw. IV and 3 Pz. IV/70(A) left. The status report dated 8.4.1945 shows 15 Panther, 14 Pzkpfw. IV and 2 Pz. IV/70(A) on hand. The Pz.Werkstatt-Kp. had 3 Bergepanther in its inventory. A single Bergepz. III is also listed with the division but the subunit is still uncertain.
The II.(SPW)/Pz.Rgt. FHH 1 was still forming back in Germany. As it turned out it was never to join the Pz.Div. FHH 1 but in mid April 1945 received orders to join the new Pz.Div. ‘Clausewitz’.
Pz.Gren.Rgt. FHH 1 (former Gren.Rgt. FHH) was authorized 2 motorized battalions with 5 Panzergrenadier companies each plus a 16.(s.I.G.) Kp. and a 17.(Pi.) Kp.. No AFVs were authorized for the regiment.
Although no longer authorized to have an armored recce element of its own, it appears that the division might have partially ignored this order because the 8.4.1945 report mentioned a Aufkl.Kp. with 15 SPW available. A possible explanation would be that it had been formed using some of the m.SPW shipped to the division during March but originally assigned for the Korps-Pz.Aufkl.Abt. FHH after its arrival. Korps-Pz.Aufkl.Abt. FHH had left Milowitz already on 29.3.1945 and should have arrived in the meantime. The exact distribution of the 5 le.SPW and 83 m.SPW within the division remains still unclear due to the missing ‘Kriegsgliederung’ for April 1945.
Aufkl.Kp. FHH 1 (equipped with ’Volkswagen’) was still forming in Milowitz. It left there only much later on 28.4.1945.
Pz.Jg.Abt. FHH 1 was in rather bad shape and had already lost almost 75% of the 21 Jagdpz. 38 that had been allocated in mid March. It was down to only 6 Jagdpz. 38.
In addition to that the report does list ’7 Stu.Kan.’ armed AFVs with the unit. This could be an indication for the presence of 7 Sd.Kfz. 251/22 of which 9 were authorized for the 3./Pz.Jg.-Abt. FHH 1.
Pz.Art.Rgt. FHH 1 had 2 battalions of towed artillery guns. The I./Pz.Art.Rgt. FHH 2 had been formed by simply renaming the II./Art.Rgt.(mot) 818, a GHQ unit. There were plans to re-organize it into a mechanized battalion with 1 Hummel and 2 Wespe batteries but on 9.3.1945 the Gen.Insp.d.Pz.Tr. ordered this would be delayed until further notice. On 9.4.1945 only towed artillery guns were present.
Pz.Pi.Btl. FHH 1 was authorized to have 13 m.SPW in its 3. Kp. (6x 251/1, 1x 251/3, 6x 251/16). In contrast to that the status report dated 8.4.1945 does list 6 Pi-SPW, 3 Fla-SPW and 1 Funk-SPW.
Div.Stab and Pz.Nachr.Kp. FHH 1 were authorized to have a total of 5 Sd.Kfz. 251/3 and 4 more were supposed to be with the artillery regiment. If and how any actually were with those units could not be established.

b.) 13. Pz.Div./Pz.Div. Feldherrnhalle 2 (9.4.1945)
The I./Pz.Rgt. FHH 2 was authorized to have its 1. and 2. Kp. equipped with 10 Panthers each and its 3. and 4. Kp. with 10 Pzkpfw. IV each. The status report dated 9.4.1945 shows 16 Panther, 10 Pzkpfw. IV and 1 Flakpz. IV /3,7 cm) on hand. The Pz.Werkstatt-Kp. had 2 Bergepanther in its inventory. A single Bergepz. IV is also listed with the division but the subunit is still uncertain.
Strangely a single StuG III also appears in the report, but it is impossible to tell if it was with I./Pz.Rgt. FHH 2 or perhaps with the Pz.Jg.Abt. FHH 2.
Note: Since it is not known that any of the Flakpanzers of II./Pz.Rgt. 4 escaped destruction in Budapest and none were allocated in 1945, it could well be that actually the famous 3,7 cm Flak mounted on a Panther chassis was reported in the Flakpz. IV column because naturally in the prefabricated status report form there was was no column provided for something like a self-made, improvised "Flakpz. V" (speculation on my part only!).
The II.(SPW)/Pz.Rgt. FHH 2 was authorized to have 3 fully armored Panzergrenadier companies and a ‘Kanonenzug’ equipped with the Sd.Kfz. 251/22. In theory a total of 47 m.SPW should have been available: 24x 251/1, 8x 251/3, 9x 251/21, 6x 251/22. The actual number of available m.SPW and their exact types are not known. Since some 30+ m.SPW of the 13. Pz.Div. had escaped encirclement in Budapest in late December 1944 the actual variety of m.SPW in the battalion may have looked somewhat different. In total the division reported 9 le.SPW and 66 m.SPW on hand but other subunits like the Pz.Jg.Abt., the Pi.Btl. and others were also authorized to have a number of SPW (see below).
Pz.Gren.Rgt. FHH 3 (former Pz.Gren.Rgt. 66) was authorized 2 motorized battalions with 5 Panzergrenadier companies each plus a 16.(s.I.G.) Kp. and a 17.(Pi.) Kp.. No AFVs were authorized for the regiment.
Although no longer authorized to have an armored recce element of its own, it appears that like its sister division the Pz.Div. FHH 2 might have partially ignored this order because the 9.4.1945 report included 4 unspecified s.Pz.Späh-Wg. that should not have been there, plus another 7 reported in the process of delivery. So indications are that at least elements of the Stabskp./Korps-Pz.Aufkl.-Abt. FHH were under the control of the division in early April 1945.
Aufkl.Kp. FHH 2 (equipped with ’Volkswagen’) was still forming in Milowitz. It left there only much later on 28.4.1945.
Pz.Jg.Abt. FHH 2 had still 19 out of 21 Jagdpz. 38 allocated in mid March available. The 3. Kp. was authorized to have 9 Sd.Kfz. 251/22 but so far it could not be certainly verified if these vehicles were among the 44 m.SPW delivered to the division.
Pz.Art.Rgt. FHH 2 had 2 battalions of towed artillery guns. The I./Pz.Art.Rgt. FHH 2 had been formed by simply renaming the I./Art.Rgt.(mot) 77, a GHQ unit. There were plans to re-organize it into a mechanized battalion with 1 Hummel and 2 Wespe batteries but on 9.3.1945 the Gen.Insp.d.Pz.Tr. ordered this would be delayed until further notice. On 9.4.1945 only the solitary ‘Hummel’ (and possibly 1 Mun-Hummel) that had escaped encirclement in Budapest was present.
Pz.Pi.Btl. FHH 2 was authorized to have 13 m.SPW in its 3. Kp. (6x 251/1, 1x 251/3, 6x 251/16). How many of these actually were in the inventory by 9.4.1945 could not be established from available documents.
Div.Stab and Pz.Nachr.Kp. FHH 2 were authorized to have a total of 5 Sd.Kfz. 251/3 and 4 more were supposed to be with the artillery regiment. If and how any actually were with those units could not be established.

c.) Korpstruppen
Including the 5 replacement Tiger II that arrived on 11.3.1945 the s.Pz.Abt. FHH (renamed from s.Pz.Abt. 503 already in December 1944) had 26 Tiger II available on 15.3.1945. In addition to that 7 Flakpz. IV (‘Möbelwagen’ and ‘Wirbelwind’) and up to 11 m.SPW (Sd.Kfz. 251/1, 251/3, 251/7 and 251/8) were on hand on that day. The number of available Bergepanther is unknown, but on 15.2.1945 the unit had reported 5 of them on hand. No reliable report exists for 8./9.4.1945 but by 15.4.1945 the number of tanks already had been been reduced to 13 Tiger II.

No status report for the Korps-Pz.Aufkl.Abt. FHH is available for April 1945. Documents show that the unit left Milowitz on 29.3.1945 with 52 s.Pz.Späh-Wg. and le.SPW in order to join Pz.Korps FHH. There it was supposed to pick up another 11 le.SPW and 54 m.SPW that had already been sent directly to the corps formation area. But as can be derived from the divisional status reports as described above, indications are that at least during early April 1945 elements of the Stabskp. and of the m.SPW equipped 3. and/or 4. Kp. were split up among the two divisions of the corps.
The other 2 companies, the le.SPW equipped 1. Kp. (authorized 16x Sd.Kfz. 250/9 and 9x Sd.Kfz. 250/5) and 2. Kp. (authorized 23x 250/1, 2x 250/3, 3x 250/7, 2x 250/8) appear to have been under corps control from the beginning. If and when all companies of Korps-Pz.Aufkl.Abt. FHH became united again remains unclear because of the lack of surviving documents from late April 1945.

Korps-Füsilier-Rgt. FHH 3 (former Gren.Rgt. 1245) was authorized 2 motorized battalions each with 3 Füsilier companies on bycicles and 2 motorized companies plus a 16.(s.I.G.) Kp. and a 17.(Pi.) Kp.. No AFVs were authorized for the regiment.
Korps-Pz.Nachr.Abt. 44, Korps-Pz.Feldersatz-Rgt. FHH and corps supply elements are not known to have fielded any AFVs.

The last available data for the AFV status of Pz.Korps FHH comes from a ‘Panzerlage’ compilation covering all German armored formations on the Eastern Front as of 15.4.1945. The compilation does cover only tanks, assault guns and tank destroyers. Light armored vehicles are not included.
Pz.Div. FHH 1 reported having 14 Pzkpfw. IV, 2 Pz. IV/70(A), 15 Panther, 6 Jagdpz. 38 and 3 Bergpanther on hand.
13.Pz.Div. (FHH 2) reported having 4 Pzkpfw. IV, 6 Panther, 14 Jagdpz. 38, 3 Bergpanther and 5 - 7,5 cm Pak (unspecified if towed or self-propelled Sd.Kfz. 251/22 or a mix of both) on hand.
s.Pz.Abt. FHH reported 13 Tiger II on hand, no info about remaining Flakpz. IV and Bergepanther given.

The formation of Pz.Korps FHH was hampered from the beginning by the fact that units were immediately thrown into combat. The corps never reached full authorized strenght and never acted as a fully coherent combat formation. Elements were still forming back in Germany and elsewhere while the divisions of the corps were already engaged in battle. Some of the new subunits were never completed or never joined up with the corps.
From its formation area near Nitra (Neutra), Komjatice and Neuhäusel (Nove Zanky) the corps retreated northwest through the Male Karpaty Mountains to the area of Lundenburg and then continued wnw towards the area of Jamnitz, Slabings and Neubistritz. During The final days of the war the corps moved further to the west through the Budweis area into the direction of Wallern. Elements also moved southwest towards Deutsch Beneschau.

All what has been written above is based on information drawn from original German war time documents obtained from the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv in Freiburg, Germany and the NARA Washington, USA

Martin Block
Germany, May 2009

[Charlie645]

Thank you very much once again, Martin. I seem to have a penchant for becoming fascinated by a topic that is in the stage of being researched for a book that has not yet been published! I do read German and have time for research, but being a continent and an ocean away from BA-MA is quite an obstacle. And while Hoffman does present some of the same information in his divisional history on pages 290-303, you have, as always, come up with far more fascinating detail.

Thank you!
Charlie

[Nicole S.]

Martin, excellent.

Dear Charlie, I am mostly interested in the last days, when they were in the area of Trebon and Budweis
I already had the possibility to talk with one veteran who was in the group of Diest-Körber when they got P.O.W. (but he did not went into captivity and mananged himself to get to Northern Germany, lucky man he is during his whole life, was with Panzezregiment 6 at Tula in the Winter of 1941!).

Horrido!

Nicole

[Jan]

Hi
Its great work Martin, its great work. Exelent.
Jan

[Stefano]

Thanks Martin for your excellent contribution, as always.

I would like to add that in fact on 1st March 1945 (according to its Meldung to Gen.Insp. der Pz.Truppe) Panzer-Abteilung 208 reported 12 combat-ready tanks and 5 undergoing short-term maintenance, but only 2 tanks were operational due to fuel shortage; from other documents it is known that these were 14 Pz.Kpfwg. IV L/48 and 3 Pz.Kpfwg. IV/70 (A).
On that day the Abteilung was subordinated to a not-better-identified Regimentsgruppe Gradl; I suspect this may be Oberstleutnant Hans Gradl (Ritterkreuzträger as Major and commander of I. Abt./Pz.Rgt. 39 in 1941), who apparently was commander of Panzer-Regiment 4 of 13. Panzer-Division in March 1945 – can anyone confirm this?

After the delivery of 19 Panther and 5 Pz.Kpfwg. IV the Abteilung was reported at full strength with 40 tanks: 19 Panther and 21 Pz.Kpfwg. IV (of which 3 Pz.Kpfwg. IV/70 (A)).
This I suppose corresponded to 10 tanks per Kompanie (3 x Zug + 1 command tank; probably following K.St.N. 1177a (fG) of 1.11.1944).
Contrary to the theory, I./Pz.Rgt “F” had Panthers in the 1. and 4. Kompanie and Pz.Kpfwg. IV in the 2. and 3. Kp.

Great news about the forthcoming books on Panzer units in the Czech areas in the last phase of the war, I look forward to seeing them.
By the way, I am completing a book on the Panzer-Sicherungs-Kompanien and Panzer-Abteilung 208 (later I./Pz.Rgt. Feldherrnhalle) which I hope will still be finished this year.
If there is little info on Pz.Div. “F” 2 (ex-13. Pz.Div.) in the last week of the war, there is even less on Pz.Div. “F” 1, which left Pz.Korps “F” after mid-April to be engaged around Brno and then Olomouc, so any additional info on the events of Pz.Div. “F” 1 in that phase is very welcome.

Stefano
http://www.panzer-ozak.it

[Jan-Hendrik]

Hi Stefano,

Acccording to Scherzer OTL Gradl was Kdr. od PR 4 from July 1944 till April 1944, while the part on PR 4 in Strauß' book on 2.PzDiv. states that he was Kdr. from September 1944 till February 1944.

Topic on Gradl at AHF



Jan-Hendrik

[Nicole S.]

Hm, when Gradl should have taken over the Regiment not before Septmeber, whom did he succeeded? Dr.Bäke was already appointed as Kdr. of Panzerbrige 106 in Summer 1944.

Horrido!

Nicole

[Jan-Hendrik]

According to Scherzer Oberst von Hake was Kdr. till end of June 1944.

Strauß has Oberstleutnant Bothe after von Hake in July and Dr.Bäke in August/September 1944, which is in my point of view not correct.



Jan-Hendrik

[Stefano]

Thanks Jan-Hendrik
also for pointing to the thread on Gradl which I started but I did not check recently.
Stefano