11th SS Panzer Army

The 11th SS Panzer Army ("SS-Panzer-Armeeoberkommando 11") was not much more than a paper army formed between November 1944 and February 1945 by "Reichsführer-SS" Heinrich Himmler while he was commander of Army Group Vistula.

The military historian Antony Beevor wrote that when the 11th SS Panzer Army was created the available units at best could constitute a corps, "'But panzer army' observed Eismann 'has a better ring to it'". It also allowed Himmler to promote SS officers to senior staff and field commands within the formation. "Obergruppenführer" Felix Steiner, probably the best SS officer available, was named its commander. [Beevor p.88] The Army was officially listed as the 11th Army but it was also known as "SS Panzer-Armeeoberkommando 11."Tessin p.194] and is often referred to in English as the "11th SS Panzer Army".

After taking part in Operation Solstice (a counter-attack) east of the Oder River during February 1945 the 11th was assigned to OB West, reorganized (and given the command of new units) for combat against the Western Allies in March 1945. After defending the Weser River and the Harz Mountains, the 11th surrendered to the Western Allies on 21 April.

Commanders

* Felix Steiner 28 January – ...

Order of Battle

February 1945

By 5 February the 11th, subordinated to Army Group Vistula, had the following units assigned to it

*Tettau Corps group:
**Köslin,
**Bärwalde.
*X SS Army Corps:
**5th Jäger-Division,
**Division Nr 402.

*Munzel Corps group:
**Führer-Grenadier-Division,
**Führer-Begleit-Division.

*III SS Panzer Corps:
**281st Infanterie-Division,
**23rd SS-Panzergrenadier-Division,
**Division Voigt,
**11th SS-Panzergrenadier-Division,
**27th SS-Grenadier-Division.

*XXXIX Panzer Corps
**4th SS-Panzergrenadier-Division,
**10th SS-Panzer-Division,
**28th SS-Grenadier-Division,
**Panzer-Division Holstein.

*HQ, Wehrkreis II as corps-level field command (stellv. II):
**Swinemünde Defensive Region,
**Division Deneke,
**9th Fallschirm-Jäger-Division.

*Direct army command
**163rd Infanterie-Division.

March, 1945

By 1 March the Eleventh, subordinated to Army Group Vistula had no units assigned to it.

April 1945

By 12 April the Eleventh was directly subordinated to OB West and had the following units assigned to it.

*LXVII Army Corps:
** KG Fellner,
**Division Ettner,
**Division Heidenreich,
**Division Grosskreuz.

*Stellv. IX:
**26th Volksgrenadier-Division,
**326th Volksgrenadier-Division.

*LXVI Army Corps:
**277th Volksgrenadier-Division,
**Panzer (Brigade) Westfalen,
**9th Panzer-Division,
**116th Panzer-Division.

ee also

* German 11th Army the official German Army name for the army. The 11th Army also existed before this last reincarnation as an army that fought on the Eastern Front earlier in the war.
* Army Detachment Steiner fought in the Battle of Berlin, and because Steiner commanded that paper army it can easily be confused with the 11th SS Panzer Army.

References

* Tessin, Georg. "Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS 1939 - 1945" Volume 3
* Beevor, Antony. "Berlin: The Downfall 1945", Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5

Footnotes