SS Corps – (Korps)
Commanded by either an SS-Obergruppenführer or SS-Gruppenführer, the Corps was the next level up in organisational terms and consisted of a number of divisions, the minimum of which was two but could rise to three or even four. The Corps was a fully-functional field force in its own right with a full-time staff comprising complements of headquarters staff, transport, logistics, and military police, medical and signalling units of different strengths. Component divisions would then be placed under Corps command but did not ‘belong’ to that Corps, as it were, for any more than the specific campaign the Corps was involved in, or even for no longer than a single operation. The Wehrmacht’s ability to swiftly regroup formations under differing Corps commands during often complex phases of battle was one of the reasons that the German forces held out for so long towards the end of the war. During the latter defensive stages of the Russian campaign, formations would often rapidly switch Corps control to face and close off Russian offensive threats, and its true to say that few armies have ever mastered this incredibly difficult art. During the war a total of 18 Waffen-SS corps were formed including Felix Steiner’s famous III Germanic SS-Panzer Corps and the I SS and II SS-Panzer Corps of Kharkov, Normandy and Ardennes fame.
SS Army Group – (Armeegruppe)
Commanded by either an SS-Obergruppenführer or SS-Oberstgruppenführer – only Sepp Dietrich ever achieved this latter rank, (see Appendix C, Waffen-SS Ranks). These were the largest formations ever fielded by the Waffen-SS during the war, including Dietrich’s Sixth SS Panzer Army and Steiner’s Eleventh SS Panzer Army. This grouping would normally consist of several corps-sized units, but was extremely unwieldy to handle even for the well trained Wehrmacht General Staff corps. During the early stages of the war the separate Waffen-SS formations were distributed between the different Wehrmacht Army Groups, such as Army Group A, B or C for the invasion of Soviet Russia, and it was only when to all intents and purposes the war was lost that Waffen-SS formations were brought together in this way (in an interesting volte face often with Army formations integral to them).
APPENDIX C
Waffen-SS and Comparable Ranks
SS-Schütze Private (this was the basic private rank; any speciality would be reflected in the title, e.g. Panzerschütze – tank trooper)
SS-Oberschütze Senior Private (attained after six months’ service – this may seem strange to have ‘grades’ of Private but in the modern British Army there are no less than 4 Private grades and it can take two years or more to move from Class 4 at the bottom to 1, with soldiers gaining greater qualifications in the process as well as higher pay)
SS-Sturmmann Lance corporal (first NCO rank)
SS-Rottenführer Corporal
SS-Unterscharführer Lance Sergeant (this rank, above full Corporal but below Sergeant, is only used in the British Army in the Brigade of Guards – the Household Cavalry use slightly different rankings)
SS-Junker Officer candidate (acting rank only, substantive rank of SS-Unterscharführer, non-university graduates hold this rank in the British Army while training at RMA Sandhurst)
SS-Scharführer Sergeant
SS-Standartenjunker Officer candidate (acting rank only, substantive rank of SS-Scharführer, this was a step up from SS-Junker)
SS-Oberscharführer Colour/staff Sergeant
SS-Hauptscharführer Warrant Officer Class 2
SS-Standartenoberjunker Officer candidate (acting rank only, substantive rank of SS-Hauptscharführer, yet another step in the process of becoming a fully-fledged officer in the Waffen-SS)
SS-Sturmscharführer Warrant Officer Class 1 (could only be achieved after fifteen years’ service)
SS-Untersturmführer Second Lieutenant
SS-Obersturmführer Lieutenant
SS-Hauptsturmführer Captain
SS-Sturmbannführer Major
SS-Obersturmbannführer Lieutenant-Colonel
SS-Standartenführer Colonel
SS-Oberführer Brigadier equivalent
SS-Brigadeführer Major-General
SS-Gruppenführer Lieutenant-General
SS-Obergruppenführer General
SS-Oberstgruppenführer Colonel-General (only Sepp Dietrich ever attained this rank)
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