The corps was originally formed on 15 December 1940 in Germany. At the dawn of
Operation Barbarossa, on 22 June 1941, 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 XLVIII Motorized Corps implemented the criminal
Commissar Order. From late 1941 to May 1942, the corps took part in defensive operations in the
Kursk area. It was renamed the XLVIII Panzer Corps in early summer 1942. 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 destroyed during
Operation Uranus. 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 XLVIII 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
4th Panzer Army (
Hermann Hoth ). 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. ==Commanders==