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Georg Keppler (7 May 1894 – 16 June 1966) was a high-ranking Waffen-SS commander during World War II. He commanded the SS Division Das Reich, SS Division Totenkopf, I SS Panzer Corps, III SS Panzer Corps and the XVIII SS Army Corps.
A historical article about the Allied offensive to capture Aachen, Germany, in October 1944, and the role of General Georg Keppler, commander of the I SS Panzer Corps. Learn how Keppler tried to stop the American advance with his limited forces and resources.
- The Plan to Secure The Daugava River
- An Innocuous Warning
- Blitzkrieg on The Eastern Front
- “We Advise You Not Engage in Combat Operations”
- Soviet encounters with The Luftwaffe
- The Fearsome Russian Heavy Tanks
- “Keep Going at All Costs”
- The Brandenburg Commandos
- Von Leeb Defies Orders
- Crossing at Jekabpils
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
To accomplish that mission, Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, the army group commander, had two infantry armies, the 16th and 18th, and Panzer Group 4, which would be his mailed fist. The approximately 700 kilometer thrust to the city would take von Leeb’s army group through country that was dotted with marshes and forests and was crisscrossed...
Facing von Leeb were the forces of Lt. Gen. Fedor Isadorovich Kuznetsov’s Baltic Special Military District, which would become the Northwest Front the day the war started. Maj. Gen. Petr Petrovich Sobennikov’s 8th Army, five infantry, two tank and one mechanized division plus two frontier regiments, was anchored on the Baltic coastline. On his left...
Across the border, the western sky suddenly lit up. The brilliant flashes were swiftly followed by the howl of shells overhead. Seconds later, massive explosions rocked pretargeted positions along the Russian lines. Operation Barbarossa and the race to Leningrad had begun. Both von Manstein and Reinhardt knew speed was essential in reaching the Dau...
The initial German bombardment and aerial attacks had made a shambles of the Soviet communications network. Morozov’s 11th Army had received no orders at all as Hoepner’s panzers continued to push deeper into Russian territory. Colonel Fedor Petrovich Ozerov, commanding the 5th Rifle Division in Maj. Gen. Mikhail Mikhailovich Ivanov’s 16th Rifle Co...
In Reinhardt’s sector the going was slower. Launching his attack from the Tilsit area in East Prussia, his four divisions hit a single Russian division, which fought a desperate delaying action at the frontier. The Russians eventually crumbled, opening the way to Taurage. Local counterattacks, however, made the initial advance of the Germans diffic...
Although the main tanks of the Soviet Army at the time were the T-26 and T-28, the Russians were also producing the heavier T-34s and the KV I and KV II. On June 23, Maj. Gen. Egor Nikolaevich Soliankin’s 2nd Tank Division, which had some KVs in its inventory, overran elements of the 6th Panzer Division near Skaudvile, about 20 kilometers west of R...
While Reinhardt was slugging it out with the Soviet armor, von Manstein kept moving forward. His corps had hit a relatively weak part of the Russian line, and after the first lively encounter with Red Army frontier forces his armored units were able to break uncoordinated enemy counterattacks and continue their advance. By June 24 the LVI Motorized...
With the spearhead of the 8th Panzer Division was a special unit commanded by 1st Lt. Hans-Wolfram Knaak. In the early hours of June 26, the 26-year-old Knaak detached his men from the spearhead and sped toward Daugavpils in two captured Soviet trucks. Knaak and his troops were members of the Lehr (Training) Regiment “Brandenburg”—commandos trained...
As the German armor crossed at Daugavpils, the foot units of von Wrede’s division followed in its wake. Although the 290th could not possibly hope to keep up with the panzers, its advance served to widen the hole punched through the Russian lines and guaranteed relative safety for von Manstein’s supply lines. Hearing of von Manstein’s success, Hitl...
On June 27 the XLI Corps moved forward again. With a battle group under the command of Brig. Gen. Walter Krüger, the 1st Panzer smashed the remnants of the 12th Mechanized Corps, which were desperately trying to form a line on the Musa River. At the same time, Stavka Chairman Marshal Semen Konstantinovich Timoshenko ordered Kuznetsov to pull his re...
This article describes the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and the role of Panzer Group 4 in capturing Leningrad. It mentions General Georg von Küchler, the commander of 18th Army, but does not provide any information about Georg Keppler, the query.
Georg Keppler (May 7, 1894 – June 16, 1966) was an SS-Obergruppenführer (equiv. to a US Lieutenant General), a Heer and Polizei officer who served in both World War I and World War II. During World War II, Keppler commanded the 2. SS-Division Das Reich, 3. SS-Division Totenkopf, I...
Georg Keppler was a German officer who served in the Polizei and the SS-VT before World War II. He led several SS units, including Das Reich and 1.SS Panzer Korps, and was awarded the Iron Cross and the Knights Cross for his actions.
Sep 26, 2006 · The corps which controlled the sector roughly coterminous to that of the V Corps was the I SS Panzer Corps under General der Waffen-SS Georg Keppler. Of four divisions nominally under General...
The two Soviet divisions encountered light resistance until 48 hours into the offensive when they ran headlong into stubborn opposition from Colonel Heinz Harmel’s Deutschland Regiment of Maj. Gen. Georg Keppler’s Das Reich Division, which held a 30-kilometer front east of the Donets River.
