Operation Watutin- XLVI & III Pz Corps.....

[Wolfkin]

Hey guys!

I am reading about Operation Watutin right now and I wonder if anyone can help me with some extra info. So far, I have established that this operation involved two Panzer Corps, the XLVI and III Panzer Corps. XLVI Panzer Corps is often written as XXXXVI Panzer Corps, I have no idea why, is not the proper Roman Numeral for 46 written as XLVI?

The operation lasted from January 22nd until Febraury 1st, 1944. The XLVI Panzer Corps had at this time:

-1st SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte"
-4th Gebirgs Division
-254th Infanterie Division
-101st Jaeger Division

Heavy Panzer Regiment Bake is mentioned quite frequently and it sounds as if they belonged to XLVI Panzer Corps, is this correct? I always thought that they belonged to the III Panzer Corps but I could be wrong. I am wondering about the composition of the III Panzer Corps in this action. Can anyone help out with the composition of III Panzer Corps, what Corps Heavy Panzer Regiment was subordinated to and any other info that might be useful?

Thanks very much in advance!!!

Cheers,

Wolfkin

[GaryD]

I see that no one ever replied to this post - not a big surprise since I've never heard of this operation either. It seems to have been overshadowed by the Korsun Pocket battle to the south. But now I'm reading Niklas Zetterling's book on the Korsun Pocket and it's mentioned numerous times there. It seems to have been directed against the 1st Tank Army and was fairly successful, however it's not mentioned in Katukov's memoirs at all - a surprise since it's a pretty good book. The 1st GTA's unit history (They Opened the Hatches in Berlin) does spend a few pages on it. Does anyone have more details?

[Art]

Moskalenko has
http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/mos ... -2/07.html
Also some maps:
http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/mos ... -2/s08.jpg
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/ ... tsa_44.JPG

[GaryD]

Yes, Moskalenko's books are very good. One thing though, that map only goes to January 12th, but according to Zetterling Operation Watutin began on January 24th. Is that correct?

[Qvist]

XLVI Panzer Corps is often written as XXXXVI Panzer Corps, I have no idea why, is not the proper Roman Numeral for 46 written as XLVI?

I've never seen the XL variant used in any German source, but in principle I think 40 can be written either way - XL (ie, 50 minus 10) or XXXX (ie, 10 four times).

cheers

[Art]

One thing though, that map only goes to January 12th, but according to Zetterling Operation Watutin began on January 24th. Is that correct?

Although the map from Moskalenko is entitled "Zhitomir-Berdichev operation 24.12.43-12.1.44" it also shows German counterattacks in the area Oratov-Lipovets that happened in late January (i.e. operation Watutin).