German Army Detachment Kempf was an army-sized formation of the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

on the Eastern Front during World War II. As part of

Army Group South Army Group South (german: Heeresgruppe Süd) was the name of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland Army Group Sou ...

, Detachment Kempf saw action during

Operation Citadel Operation Citadel (german: Unternehmen Zitadelle) was a German offensive operation in July 1943 against Soviet forces in the Kursk salient, proposed by Generalfeldmarschall Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein during the Second World War on ...

, the German attempt to cut off the Kursk salient and destroy a large part of the Soviet army.

Operational history

The detachment was formed on 1 February 1943 as ''Armee-Abteilung Lanz'', led by

Hubert Lanz Karl Hubert Lanz (22 May 1896 – 15 August 1982) was a German general during the Second World War, in which he led units in the Eastern Front and in the Balkans. After the war, he was tried for war crimes and convicted in the Southeast Case, sp ...

. On 21 February 1943 Lanz was replaced by

Werner Kempf Werner Kempf (9 March 1886 – 6 January 1964) was a general in the German Army rising to corps-level command during World War II. Kempf is best known for commanding the Army Detachment Kempf during the Battle of Kursk. Career Kempf joined the ...

and the detachment was renamed to reflect this change. In February–March that year, The detachment fought in the

Third Battle of Kharkov The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by Army Group South of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Red Army, around the city of Kharkov between 19 February and 15 March 1943. Known to ...

. The detachment took part in the

Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. ...

. Beginning on the night of 4/5 July 1943,

III Panzer Corps III Army Corps was a corps level formation of the German Army during World War II. III Army Corps The III Corps was formed in October 1934 as III. Armeekorps. The corps took part in Fall Weiss, the 1939 invasion of Poland as a part of Army Gr ...

, Kempf Army's primary attack formation, spearheaded the thrust east of Belgorod. After the failure of the operation, Army Detachment Kempf retreated with the rest of

. Kempf was relieved of command on 17 August 1943. He was replaced by

Otto Wöhler Otto Wöhler (12 July 1894 – 5 February 1987) was a German general in the Wehrmacht and a war criminal during World War II. He rose to a corps and army level commander. Wöhler was implicated in the Einsatzgruppe activities while serving as Ch ...

on August 16 and the detachment was designated as the 8th Army. The order of battle for Operation Citadel was:''Mine Operations During the Battle of Kursk''
/ref> *III Panzer Corps: 6th,

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

, & 19th Panzer Divisions, 168th Infantry Division *XI Army Corps: 106th, 198th, 320th Infantry Divisions *XLII Army Corps: 39th, 161st, 282nd Infantry Divisions

Commander

References

{{Subject bar, portal1=Military of Germany, portal2=World War II Military units and formations of the German Army in World War II Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943