Concept
XXXXVIII Panzer Corps (also: XXXXVIII Army Corp or XXXXVIII. Armeekorps), was a corps-level formation of the German Army which saw extensive action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II. The corps was originally formed on 15 December 1940 in Germany. At the dawn of Operation Barbarossa, on 22 June 1941, it was redesignated as the XXXXVIII Panzer Corps. The Corps was attached to Field Marshal Ewald von Kleist's Panzer Group 1, a part of Army Group South. The corps took part in the Battle of Brody early in the campaign, and later saw action at Berdichev and Kirovograd. As did all German Corps on the Eastern Front, the XXXXVIII Corps implemented the criminal Commissar Order. From late 1941 to May 1942, the corps took part in defensive operations in the Kursk area. Thereafter the corps joined the Fall Blau offensive towards Stalingrad under Army Group B. During the Battle of Stalingrad the 29th Motorized Infantry Division (transferred to the IV Army Corps), the 14th Panzer Division and the 24th Panzer Division (both transferred to the LI Army Corps) was trapped inside the Stalingrad pocket. The remaining major units, 22nd Panzer Division and 1st Armoured Division (Romania), were almost completely destroyed during Operation Uranus. However, it was quickly reformed and used by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Operation Winter Storm efforts to relieve General Friedrich Paulus' trapped Sixth Army still in Stalingrad. In February 1943, the XXXXVIII Panzer Corps took part in the battles around Kharkov, and in June it was committed to the southern flank of the Battle of Kursk as part of Hoth's Fourth Panzer Army. After the failure of Operation Citadel, the corps took part in the retreat from Ukraine. By February 1945, the corps found itself in Silesia, and it ended the war defending the Elbe River, where it surrendered in May 1945.