The 16th Infantry Division was used to form 16th Panzer Division during the second half of 1940. The panzer division suffered badly at Stalingrad and was re-constituted around surviving veterans. The new division went to Italy in May 1943 and returned to the Eastern Front in late 1943. The division fought briefly with Army Group Center before being deployed with Army Group South.
The 16. Pz.Div. assembled for Operation Wanda during the first days of February 1944. It was, together with 1. Pz.Div., the strongest of the German divisions that took part in the Korsun battle. Unlike most Panzer divisions, its Panther regiment had three battalions, one with Panther tanks, one with Pz IV’s and one with StuG III assault guns. Its authorized manpower strength was 15,790 and it reported a shortage of 2,144 on 1 February. It had been engaged in heavy combat during January, but casualties of 305 killed in action, 751 wounded and 58 missing can not be regarded as remarkably high for a month.103
On 1 February, the division had 38 Panthers, 24 Pz IV, 2 Pz III and 18 StuG III combat ready, while 15 Panthers, 30 Pz IV, 10 Pz III and 12 StuG III were in workshops and expected to be repaired within three weeks.104
On 2 February, the division reported that it had the following number of tanks operationaclass="underline" 40 Panthers (including two command Panthers), 26 Pz IV, 18 StuG III, 2 Pz III (both were command tanks). In addition the s.Pz.Abt. 506 was attached with 8 operational Tiger I’s.105
The division had 267 SPW combat ready, which was quite good for a panzer division at the time. It had 30 artillery pieces, seven 15 cm infantry howitzers, eight 8.8 cm Flak guns and 9 heavy antitank guns operational on 1 February.106
On 3 February, the divisional artillery regiment had 8 10.5 cm howitzers, 4 15 cm howitzers, 4 10 cm guns, 4 Wespe and 4 Hummel available.107 Also, the attached III./Art.Rgt. 34 had 8 10.5 cm howitzers.108
The division did not suffer unduly during the relief attempt of Gruppe Stemmerman. Its casualties 1–20 February 1944 amounted to 90 killed in action, 380 wounded and 50 missing.109
2 February:110 40 Panther, 26 Pz IV, 18 StuG III, 2 Bef.Pz. III
5 February (early):111 16 Panther, 21 Pz IV, ? StuG III, 2 Bef.Pz. III
5 February (late):112 16 Panther, 27 Pz IV, ? StuG III, 2 Bef.Pz. III
6 February:113 18 Panther, 17 Pz IV, 14 StuG, 2 Bef.Pz. III
7 February:114 12 Panther, 17 Pz IV, 8 StuG III, 2 Bef.Pz. III
8 February:115 11 Panther, 6 Pz IV, 8 StuG III, 2 Bef.Pz. III
9 February (early):116 11 Panther, 6 Pz IV, 8 StuG III, 2 Bef.Pz. III
9 February:117 16 Panther, 16 Pz IV, 10 StuG III, 2 Bef.Pz. III
10 February:118 16 Panther, 15 Pz IV, 10 StuG III, ? Bef.Pz. III
15 February:119 4 Pz IV
17 February:120 2 Panther, 7 Pz IV, 1 StuG III
After the operation the division initially reported that it had lost four Panthers (one of them command version), three Pz IV, two StuG III and one command tank. It also lost four SPW and one Grille (SP 15 cm s.I.G.).121 On 22 February it had five Panthers and two Pz IV operational,122 but it also had 49 Panthers, 52 Pz IV and 22 StuG III in workshops.123 Of the tanks lost three were blown up by the Germans, while four were destroyed by Soviet fire, as were the two assault guns.124
However, as the Germans retreated, it became clear that many more tanks, often without any major damage, had to be blown up as they could not be towed away in time. Thus the overall tank losses increased to 32.125
The 16th Panzer Division had scored an impressive claim of destroyed enemy tanks during its actions at Korsun and the Balabanova pocket. It reported 559 enemy tanks and assault guns destroyed or captured in the period. Of these over 250 had been destroyed by the Panther battalion. As always claims should be regarded with caution, but at least it can be concluded that the 16th Panzer Division had been engaged in major tank battles.126
After the Korsun battle the combat strength of the division was quite low, although it still retained a high manpower strength. This is shown by the manpower situation of some of its components:127
It seems reasonable to assume that the very great difference between combat strength (which did not include men who were sick, suffered from trench foot, were so exhausted that they could not fight, etc.) and ration strength (which included all men not evacuated) was caused by the hardships endured during the battle.128
The 17th Panzer Division was formed from the Bavarian 27th Infantry Division during the autumn 1940. The division had been fighting on Eastern Front since the summer of 1941.
On 29 January the 17. Pz.Div. began assembling in the VII. A.K. area.129 The 17. Pz.Div. was rather weak. It had only one tank battalion. On 29 January it reported 11 Pz IV lg. and 1 Pz III lg.130 operational. Two days later it had 13 Pz IV lg and no Pz III operational, while it had eleven Pz IV lg and five Pz III lg in workshops expected to be repaired within three weeks.131 On 2 February, it had 15 Pz IV tanks operational.132
Nominally, its two infantry regiments consisted of two battalions each. One infantry battalion was considered abgekämpft, two schwach and one mittelstark. However, for the fighting during Operation Wanda, the infantry was amalgamated into two battalions, I./Pz. gren.Rgt. 40 and II./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 63, that were combined into Kampfgruppe Fink. The recon battalion was rated durchschnittlich and the engineer battalion schwach.133
On 1 February the division had 28 artillery pieces combat ready and 8 in repair. It had 5 15 cm infantry howitzers combat ready and six in repair, while its number of 8.8 cm Flak guns were two combat ready and two in repair.134
On 3 February, the divisional artillery regiment had 10 10.5 cm howitzers, 6 15 cm howitzers, 3 10 cm guns, 6 Wespe and 4 Hummel available.135 Also, the attached Art.Rgt. 34 (minus III. Abt.) had 15 10.5 cm howitzers, 3 15 cm howitzers and 1 7.62 cm gun.136
The authorized manpower strength of the division was 14,474, but it was short of 4,376 officers and men. Casualties during January amounted to 188 killed in action, 559 wounded and 304 missing.137 Thus, the division had had to operate with a considerable shortage for a long time.
2 February:138 15 Pz IV, 1 Pz III
5 February:139 5 Pz IV, 1 Pz III
6 February (early):140 5 Pz IV, 1 Pz III
7 February (early):141 5 Pz IV, 1 Pz III
8 February:142 3 Pz IV, 1 Pz III
9 February (early):143 3 Pz IV, 1 Pz III
10 February:144 1 Pz III, 4 Pz IV
12 February:145 1 Pz IV
13 February (early):146 1 Pz IV