Kampfgruppe

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The Kampfgruppe was a common combat formation used by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War. The Kampfgruppe, abbreviated KG, does not have an equivalent allied combat formation to be compared with, the closest being a US Army Task force. A KG could range in size from a corps to a company sized unit. Most common was an Abteilung sized formation. The kampfgruppe was an ad-hoc combined arms formation (i.e. Panzers, Infantry, Anti-Tank weapons and Artillery components.) generally organised for a particular task or operation. KG's were generally referred to by either their commanding officer or the formation's parent division.

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 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler.

Kampfgruppe Das Reich was a Regiment sized formation formed from the remaining combat-ready elements of the 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich which was encircled in the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket in early 1944.

Hundreds of Kampfgruppen are documented to have taken part in operations ranging from a few days to over a year during the war. The Kampfgruppe concept was adopted by the allies after the war, also being used to great effect by the Israeli Army during the Arab Israeli Wars. The Modern US Combined Arms Task Force is a logical progression of the Kampfgruppe principal.

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