Army Detachment Kempf

Army Detachment Kempf was a short-lived campaign formation of the Wehrmacht on the southern face of the Kursk salient in 1943, commanded by General der Panzertruppe Werner Kempf and operating on the axis of the 4th Panzer Army. When Operation Citadel opened on 5 July the detachment advanced northwards along the northern bank of the Seversky Donets, screening the right flank of the panzer army and attempting to envelop the Soviet forces defending the southern shoulder of the salient. Progress against the defences of the Voronezh Front was slow and costly. The detachment advanced only a limited distance, losing much of its equipment to Soviet infantry and tank action, before it was pulled back to the original line and shortly afterwards disbanded altogether, its formations returning to their parent units. It should therefore be understood as an ad hoc grouping rather than a formation with a permanent order of battle. The locations attached to this entry are indicative of headquarters areas only, derived from dated situation maps, and are not intended to represent tactical positions of individual formations at specific times. Its nominal strength on 5 July is commonly given as several divisions drawn mainly from army units, but the composition changed repeatedly during the short period of its existence, and contemporary orders of battle differ in detail.