German Army Detachment Kempf

German Army Detachment Kempf (ARMEE-ABTEILUNG "KEMPF") was a Wehrmacht formation on the Eastern Front during WWII. Part of Army Group South, Detachment Kempf saw action during Operation Citadel ("Zitadelle"), the German attempt to cut off the Kursk salient and crush the large part of the Russian army. Otherwise known as the Battle of Kursk (5 July - 23 July 1943), this action amounted to the largest set-piece battle in WWII [http://www.geocities.com/armysappersforward/kursk.htm] . Kempf Army was involved on the southern flank of the gigantic salient around Kursk, where its units formed the eastern half of a two-pronged armored attack. Beginning on the night of 4/5 July 1943, III Panzerkorps, Kempf Army's primary attack formation, spearheaded the thrust east of Belgorod, with XI Armeekorps and XLII Armeekorps guarding its flanks. Originally, Kempf Army had orders to push east and block Soviet reinforcements from reaching vital areas of the German attack at the south end of the Kursk salient, but late on 8 July Field Marshal von Manstein redirected Detachment Kempf northward in order to assist another unit [http://www.geocities.com/armysappersforward/kursk.htm] . By the middle of July it had become clear to German military commanders on the Eastern Front that Operation Citadel would not succeed. Although Army Detachment Kempf's central armored corps, III Panzerkorps, was experiencing comparative successes, the overall situation on both the southern and northern faces of the salient was one of stalemate. For a force such as the Wehrmacht, which excelled in Blitzkrieg-style attacks that relied on speed rather than numerical superiority, this was not a tenable situation. However, to the Soviets, who enjoyed numerical and material superiority, this was ideal. Days after the German armored thrusts into the southern flank of the Kursk salient ground to a halt before fierce resistance, the Red Army launched a massive counteroffensive. Reinforced Soviet forces succeeded in pushing the Germans back to and beyond their starting points for Operation Citadel. Army Detachment Kempf retreated with the rest of Army Group South.

Army Detachment Kempf Order of Battle for Operation Citadel [http://www.geocities.com/armysappersforward/kursk.htm] ~ III Panzer Corps ~ 6th, 7th, & 19th Panzer Divisions, 168th Infantry Division ~ XI Army Corps ~ 106th, 198th, 320th Infantry Divisions ~ XLII Army Corps ~ 39th, 161st, 282nd Infantry Divisions