Kampfgruppe
In military history, the German term Kampfgruppe can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II, and, to a lesser extent, the German Empire in World War I.
It also referred to bomber groups in Luftwaffe usage, which themselves consisted of three or four Staffeln, and usually existed within Kampfgeschwader bomber wings of three or four Kampfgruppen per wing.
Nature
The Kampfgruppe was an ad hoc combined arms formation, usually employing a combination of tanks, infantry, and artillery elements, generally organised for a particular task or operation.A Kampfgruppe could range in size from a company to a corps, but the most common was an Abteilung -sized formation. Kampfgruppen were generally referred to by either their commanding officer's name or the parent division.
World War I
The Stormtroopers were specialist military troops which were formed in the last years of World War I as the German army developed new methods of attacking enemy trenches, called "infiltration tactics". Men trained in these methods were known in German as Sturmmann, formed into companies of Sturmtruppen. Other armies have also used the term "assault troops", "shock troops" or fire teams for specialist soldiers who perform the infiltration tasks of stormtroopers.Early World War II
With respect to their ad hoc nature and objective-oriented strategy, Finnish ski troops employed during the Soviet-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940 could, in principle, be considered an equivalent to Kampfgruppen. However, given the poor equipment of the Finnish forces, the combined-arms aspect of the Kampfgruppen could not have been applied. In the Continuation War, battlegroups were commonly used by Finns and were bigger, having infantry, artillery, and anti-tank units. In many cases, there were several units of different regiments, brigades, and divisions in the same battlegroup. For instance in June 1944, Battlegroup Ehrnrooth consisted of I/7th Regiment, III/7th Regiment, III/6th Regiment, fortification battalion 4, II/field artillery Regiment 19, light field artillery battalion 24, heavy artillery battalion 20, and heavy artillery battalion 27. For few days, regiment commander had more firepower under his command than any ordinary infantry division commander. Finnish battlegroups were relatively short-period ad hoc, but very common phenomena, especially in 1941 and 1944. Field artillery and anti-aircraft artillery units created their own artillery battlegroups.Late World War II
Hundreds of Kampfgruppen are documented to have taken part in operations ranging from a few days to over a year during the war. They left a significant impact in the popular culture and the picture of the Second World War. Famous examples include:- Kampfgruppe Peiper was a mechanised brigade-sized formation formed under the command of SS-Standartenführer Joachim Peiper, which took part in the 1944 Battle of the Bulge. KG Peiper was to be the striking arm of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler.
- Kampfgruppe Das Reich was a regiment-sized formation formed from the remaining combat-ready elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, which was encircled in the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket in early 1944.
- Kampfgruppe 1001 Nacht was a German Kampfgruppe formed on the Oder front during the final German offensive of the Second World War. The formation is most notable for its unusual title, referring to the medieval Persian book of 1,001 Nights, a collection of tales and fables.
- During the Allied invasion of France, Major Hans von Luck took command of the 125th Panzergrenadier Regiment of the 21st Panzer Division, stationed near Caen, France.
Panzerkampfgruppe (late war)
Flak-Kampftrupps (late war)
Flak-Kampftrupps were mixed units which combined two or more heavy Flak pieces and light autocannons.Other services
While the original concept of Kampfgruppe is usually reserved to the land warfare, some German tacticians and strategists applied it also for naval warfare. The most obvious change was the design and the type of units involved. One example is German Kampfgruppe 5 employed during Operation Weserübung. This unit consisted of the heavy cruiser Blücher, the heavy cruiser Lützow, the light cruiser Emden, three torpedo boats, and eight minesweepers carrying 2,000 troops to Oslo.During the Second World War, the Kampfgeschwader bomber units of Luftwaffe consisted of several Kampfgruppen, which, in terms of size, were somewhere between squadrons and groups of Anglo-American air forces.