The 3rd Panzer Army (german: 3. Panzerarmee) was a German

armoured Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or f ...

formation during World War II, formed from the 3rd Panzer Group on 1 January 1942.

3rd Panzer Group

The 3rd Panzer Group (german: Panzergruppe 3) was formed on 16 November 1940. It was a constituent part of

Army Group Centre Army Group Centre (german: Heeresgruppe Mitte) was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army fo ...

and participated in

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

and fought in the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive e ...

in late 1941 and early 1942. Later it served in

Operation Typhoon The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place between September 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive ...

, where it was placed under operational control of the Ninth Army. ''Panzergruppe 3'' was retitled the 3rd Panzer Army on 1 January 1942.

Orders of battle

At the start of

the Group consisted of the XXXIX and LVII Army Corps (mot.). Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-244-2321-34, Ostfront-Süd, Panzer V (Panther)

2 October 1941

Part of Army Group Centre. * Commander:

Colonel General Colonel general is a three- or four-star military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a ra ...

Hermann Hoth Hermann Hoth (12 April 1885 – 25 January 1971) was a German army commander, war criminal, and author. He served as a high-ranking panzer commander in the Wehrmacht during World War II, playing a prominent role in the Battle of France and on t ...

* Chief of Staff:

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Walther von Hünersdorff * XLI Motorized Corps under General of Panzer Troops

Georg-Hans Reinhardt Georg-Hans Reinhardt (1 March 1887 – 23 November 1963) was a German general and war criminal during World War II. He commanded the 3rd Panzer Army from 1941 to 1944, and Army Group Centre in 1944 and 1945, reaching the rank of colonel gener ...

** 1.Panzer-Division under

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Friedrich Kirchner ** 36.Infanterie-Division (Mot.) under Lieutenant General Otto-Ernst Ottenbacher * LVI Motorized Corps under General of Panzer Troops

Ferdinand Schaal Ferdinand Friedrich Schaal (7 February 1889 – 9 October 1962) was a German general during World War II. He commanded the 10th Panzer Division in the 1939 Invasion of Poland and directed the successful Siege of Calais in 1940. Schaal was ...

** 6.Panzer-Division under

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Franz Landgraf ** 7.Panzer-Division under Major General Hans Freiherr von Funck ** 14.Infanterie-Division (Mot.) under Major General Friedrich Fürst *

VI Corps 6 Corps, 6th Corps, Sixth Corps, or VI Corps may refer to: France * VI Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry formation of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars * VI Corps (Grande Armée), a formation of the Imperial French army dur ...

under

General of Engineers A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

Otto-Wilhelm Förster ** 6.Infanterie-Division under Lieutenant General Helge Auleb ** 26.Infanterie-Division under Major General Walter Weiß ** 110.Infanterie-Division under Lieutenant General Ernst Seifert 3rd Panzer Army was formed by redesignating 3rd Panzer Group on 1 January 1942. In March 1944, the 3rd Panzer Army took part in the forced assembly and deportation of Russian civilians in the Borisov area. The civilians were deported to Germany for use as forced labor. During

Operation Bagration Operation Bagration (; russian: Операция Багратио́н, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (russian: Белорусская наступательная оп� ...

in July 1944, 3rd Panzer Army became part of the encirclement at Tekino, the Duna and Vitebsk, where it was largely destroyed. Surviving units retreated through

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

before reforming a line near Courland, fighting and being defeated during the Battle of Memel in late 1944. In February 1945 the 3rd Panzer Army was one of the armies that made up the new Army Group Vistula. On 10 March 1945, General Hasso-Eccard von Manteuffel was made the commander of the 3rd Panzer Army, which was assigned to defend the banks of the

Oder River The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows t ...

, north of the

Seelow Heights The Seelow Heights are situated around the town of Seelow, about east of Berlin, and overlook the Oderbruch, the western flood plain of the River Oder, which is a further to the east. They are sometimes known as the "Gates to Berlin", because t ...

, thus hampering Soviet access to

Western Pomerania Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania (german: Vorpommern), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania forming the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, Weste ...

and Berlin. They then faced an overwhelming Soviet attack launched by General Rokossovsky's

2nd Belorussian Front The 2nd Belorussian Front ( Russian: Второй Белорусский фронт, alternative spellings are 2nd Byelorussian Front) was a military formation, of Army group size, of the Soviet Army during the Second World War. Soviet army g ...

during the

Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula–O ...

. On 25 April the Soviets broke through 3rd Panzer Army's line around the bridgehead south of Stettin and crossed the

Randow Randow (Polish ''Rędowa''Lech Leciejewicz: Słowianie zachodni : z dziejów tworzenia się średniowiecznej Europy. Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1989, p. 58. ) is a river in the Uckermark region of Brandenburg and the Vorpommer ...

Swamp. Following the defeat at Stettin, 3rd Panzer Army was forced to retreat into the region of Mecklenburg – the headquarters of 3rd Panzer Army. Manteuffel made negotiations with British generals including Field Marshall

Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and th ...

Hagenow Hagenow () is a German town in the southwest of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in the district of Ludwigslust-Parchim, 30 kilometers south of Schwerin. Its population is approximately 11,300 inhabitants (2013). Hagenow is part of the Hamburg Met ...

on 3 May 1945 so that he with 300,000 German soldiers would surrender to the British rather than Soviet forces.

Commanders

Notes

References

* Wilhelm Tieke, ''Das Ende zwischen Oder und Elbe'', Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 1995 * D. F. Ustinow et al. ''Geschichte des Zweiten Welt Krieges 1939–1945'', Berlin: Militärverlag der DDR, 1982

External links

12th Army Group situation maps
{{Subject bar , portal1=Military of Germany , portal2=World War II P3 Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945