XII Army Corps (Wehrmacht) (original) (raw)

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XII Army Corps
XII. Armeekorps
Active October 1936 – July 1944
Country Nazi Germany
Branch Army
Size Corps
Engagements World War IIBattle of France Invasion of Poland Operation Barbarossa Operation Bagration

Military unit

XII Army Corps (German: XII. Armeekorps) was a corps in the German Army during World War II. It was formed in the Wehrkreis XII recruitment and training district in Wiesbaden in October 1936 and was mobilized before the outbreak of war at the end of August 1939.

At the start of World War II the corps were part of the 1st Army and based in the Saar region. In 1939 it fought with the 4th Army in Poland. In June 1940 they broke through the Maginot line to the Moselle near Nancy.

In Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 the corps were attached to Panzer Group 2 for the attack on the stronghold of Brest-Litovsk. After advancing further into Russia they were held up by Soviet counter-attacks.

Following Operation Bagration, the huge Soviet counter-attack in 1944, XII Corps were forced to retreat in bad condition and in July 1944 were finally destroyed in a pocket east of Minsk. General Müller was taken prisoner.

The corps was reformed in April 1945 to defend the middle Rhine and Thuringia under General Herbert Osterkamp.

After reformation