The
Generalkommando der Grenztruppen Saarpfalz was created in October 1938 in
Kaiserslautern in
army sector XII under the command of
General der Pioniere Walter Kuntze as one of three such general commands. On August 26, 1939, the corps was mobilized and on September 17 of the same year renamed to 24th Army Corps. At the start of World War II it contained several regiments of border infantry in addition to the three Infantry-Divisions. The corps was assigned to the
1st Army of
Army Group C from the beginning of the
Phoney War until the end of the
Battle of France; and operated primarily defensively on the western border. In the final phase of the Battle of France, it participated in the breakthrough of the
Maginot Line. Afterwards it remained in France until November 1940, when it was transferred back to the homeland and converted into a motorized army corps.
1941 In May 1941, the corps was transferred to German-occupied Poland, where it was assigned to the
2nd Panzer Army of
Army Group Centre under
Colonel General Heinz Guderian. Here it took part in the
encirclement battles at
Białystok–Minsk,
Smolensk,
Kiev and
Bryansk and afterwards in the advance on
Tula. During the
Battle of Moscow in the winter of 1941/42 it had to withdraw back to
Bryansk.
1942 After being refreshed in May, it was assigned in June 1942 to the
4th Panzer Army of
Army Group South in order to take part in the German summer offensive
Case Blue. In July its name was changed to
XXIV. Panzerkorps. In August, during the advance on
Stalingrad and the
Battle of Kalach, the corps was temporarily assigned to the
6. Army, until the general command was transferred in order to reinforce the
Hungarian 2nd Army around the central
Don River in September. With that, divisions with relatively little combat experience were assigned to it. On October 3
Commanding General Willibald von Langermann und Erlencamp was killed by artillery fire during a trip to the front near Storoschewoje.
1943 In January 1943, during the Soviet
Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive, a pincer move as part of
Operation Little Saturn, the corps was effectively destroyed. The headquarters was overrun near Schilin, the staff driven off and the Commanding General,
Generalleutnant Martin Wandel, being killed. Generalleutnant
Arno Jahr, who temporarily assumed leadership of the corps, killed himself on 20 January near Podgornoje. On the following day his successor,
Karl Eibl, was killed in a friendly-fire accident with Italian troops, being mistaken for the enemy in the fog. In February the remaining troops of the corps were gathered in the area of
Starobilsk and assigned to
Armeeabteilung Lanz. On 9 February,
General der Panzertruppe Walther Nehring, who had fought in the
North African Campaign, took over leadership of the corps. It was then rebuilt through May '43 with the addition of fresh units. During
Operation Citadel in July 1943, the corps acted as the reserve for Army Group South under
Erich von Manstein. However, it was not put into action here but instead was transferred south to defend against the Soviet
Donbass Offensive. Directly afterwards it was deployed to defend against the
Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive Operation. There followed some defensive battles along the
Mius River in conjunction with the 4th Panzer Army, and the
retreat to the Dnieper as well as battles around
Kiev.
1944 Before the
Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive in January 1944, the corps had to withdraw to the
Vinnytsia area, after which it was transferred to the
1st Panzer Army in
Luzk, together with whom it had to fight out of the
Kamenets-Podolsky pocket in March. After that it fought in
Galicia and
Zakarpattia and around the bridgehead
Baranów Sandomierski.
1945 In the winter of 1944–45 the corps was re-formed into a
Panzerkorps neuer Art per a Führer-directive of September 13, 1944. In January 1945 the corps had to withdraw ahead of the
Vistula–Oder Offensive to
Glogau on the river
Oder. At the end of the war, the corps was assigned to the 1. Panzer Army near
České Budějovice in Czechoslovakia. == Commanding generals ==