III Panzer Corps was formed in June 1942 from III Army Corps and attached to
Army Group A, the formation tasked with capturing the
Caucasus as a part of
Fall Blau. In mid-1943, following the loss of the 6th Army at the
Battle of Stalingrad, III Panzer Corps took part in the battles around Kharkov as part of
Army Group Don. During
Operation Citadel, the Corps was the striking force of
Army Detachment Kempf as they attempted to protect the right flank of the
4th Panzer Army. It also took part in
Operation Roland, and was involved in the retreat from
Belgorod to the
Dniepr. At the beginning of 1944, the Corps participated in the relief of the forces trapped in the
Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket. In March the Corps was encircled in the
Kamenets-Podolsky pocket, along with the rest of the
1st Panzer Army. III Corps drove the breakout and escape. Due to heavy losses, from November 1944 to January 1945, the corps was redesignated as
Gruppe Breith, after its commander
Hermann Breith. In late 1944, III Panzerkorps participated in
Operation Konrad, the failed attempts to relieve the German and Hungarian garrison at
Budapest. The corps then took part in
Operation Spring Awakening in
Hungary. After its failure, the corps retreated through Austria, surrendering to the U.S. Army on 8 May 1945. ==Noteworthy individuals==