Feldherrnhalle: Forgotten Elite - The Panzerkorps Feldherrnhalle and Antecedent Formations, Eastern and Other Fronts, 1942-43 (Stahlhelm) Book

The formations which bore the title Feldherrnhalle present a paradox: élite in status and combat achievements, yet utterly obscure compared with their peers in the Waffen-SS, Luftwaffe or Army such as Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Hermann Göring or Großdeutschland. Partly this seems to be because association with the ?brown? SA is less glamorous than with the ?black? SS Knights - although the SA?s main contribution as sponsor was practical rather than political later in the war, imparting pre-military training of a particularly high quality; more likely the ?unlucky? combat history of the Feldherrnhalle is to blame, divisions bearing this name being encircled and annihilated not once but twice, first in Byelorussia in the summer of 1944, then in Budapest in early 1945. On each occasion the survivors, men on leave or convalescing, elements left out of battle and training replacement depot units provided a cadre for fresh drafts, the continuity being much more of name than of substance. In time, a constellation of such units arose, resulting in a very complicated genealogy. Perhaps the Feldherrnhalle was simply too diffuse, lacking association with a celebrated personality such as ?Sepp? Dietrich or Felix Steiner, although studded with highly decorated individuals. The title celebrates the Munich monument which was the scene of the bloody crushing of the 1923 November Putsch, an event which through commemoration of the martyrs in NSDAP ritual, bestowed an aura of élite status on the several military and paramilitary formations so denoted, first and foremost the motorised SA-Guard Regiment drawn up from contingents from every German region, which, although not itself a combat formation, fed constituent elements into the 120th Motorised Infantry Regiment of the 60th Motorised Infantry Division, and the 271st Infantry Regiment of the Berlin-Brandenburg 93rd Infantry Division. When the 60th Motorised Infantry Division was left at Stalingrad, immediate steps were taken to form a ?new? division, as in the case of all the Stalingrad losses: unusually, the new division did not bear the title of the old but that of Feldherrnhalle, being built up from elements bearing this name drawn from both the 60th and 93rd Infantry Divisions. This ?new? Feldherrnhalle Panzergrenadier Division took the field late in 1943, distinguishing itself at Vityebsk and at Narva (the ?Battle of the European SS?) before being annihilated during the collapse of Army Group Centre (in the summer of 1944). A veritable constellation of Feldherrnhalle formations arose late in 1944, not only a reformed Panzer-Grenadier Division (actually only of Brigade strength), which was sent to Hungary but also two new-model Panzer Brigades, the 106th which fought until the end of the War against the Americans in the West and the 110th, rapidly absorbed into the 13th Panzer Division, which thereby became the 13th Feldherrnhalle Panzer Division, fighting and eventually being destroyed alongside the Feldherrnhalle Panzer-Grenadier Division in the cauldron of Budapest that winter. Above all, a decision had been reached as early as the summer to organise a Panzer Korps Feldherrnhalle, an organic formation consisting of the Panzer Divisions, along the lines pursued by the Großdeutschland and Hermann Göring divisions. This larger formation did not take shape until after the fall of Budapest, arising out of the staff of the IV Pz Korps; the two divisions had to be reformed yet again, as the Panzer Division Feldherrnhalle 1 (ex-PzGrD FHH) and 2 (ex-13 PzD) respectively. The Korps fought in the Hungarian-Slovakian-Austrian border region until the final capitulation swept it into history.Read More