Editing Helmuth Weidling (section)

===Corps commander===
On 15 October 1943, Weidling became the commander of the [[XLI Panzer Corps]], a position he held until 10 April 1945 with a short break in his command from 19 June 1944 to 1 July 1944. During this break, Generalleutnant [[Edmund Hoffmeister]] took over during the first stages of Soviet [[Operation Bagration]]. Hoffmeister was in command when most of the [[9th Army (Wehrmacht)|German 9th Army]], along with the XLI Panzer Corps, was encircled during the [[Bobruysk Offensive]].{{cn|date=July 2018}}

While Weidling was in command, XLI Panzer Corps was responsible for an atrocity committed by the Wehrmacht in the Soviet Union during the war. Up to 50,000 civilians were deliberately infected with typhus, and placed in a "typhus camp" in the area of [[Parichi]], Belorussia, in the path of oncoming Red Army forces, in the hopes that would cause a massive outbreak of typhus among the Red Army soldiers. That was noted by the commander of the 65th Soviet Army, General [[Pavel Batov]], months later when it found itself facing the same corps in the Battle of Berlin.{{sfn|Jones|2015|p=unspecified}}

The XLI Panzer Corps was rebuilt as part of the [[4th Army (Wehrmacht)|German 4th Army]]. The 4th Army, under the command of General [[Friedrich Hoßbach]], was given the task of holding the borders of [[East Prussia]]. On 10 April 1945, Weidling was relieved of his command. He was thereafter appointed as commander of the [[LVI Panzer Corps]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2020|p=81}}

The LVI Panzer Corps was part of [[Gotthard Heinrici]]'s [[Army Group Vistula]]. As commander of that corps, Weidling began his involvement with the [[Battle of Berlin]].{{cn|date=July 2018}} 

On 16 April 1945, Weidling prepared to take part in the [[Battle of the Seelow Heights]], which was part of the broader [[Battle of the Oder-Neisse]]. Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps was in the centre, flanked by the CI Army Corps to his left and the XI [[Waffen-SS|SS]] Panzer Corps to his right. All three corps were part of General [[Theodor Busse]]'s [[9th Army (Wehrmacht)|9th Army]], which was defending the heights above the [[Oder|River Oder]]. While all three corps were in generally good defensive positions, they were conspicuously short of tanks. Weidling's commander, Heinrici, recognised the shortage earlier in the day, as Hitler had ordered the transfer of three panzer divisions from Army Group Vistula to the command of recently promoted Field Marshal [[Ferdinand Schörner]].{{sfn|Beevor|2002|p=225}} 

During the middle of the Battle of Berlin, the leader of the [[Hitler Youth]], [[Artur Axmann]], visited Weidling's headquarters and told him that the youngsters of the Hitler Youth were ready to fight and were even now manning the roads in the 56th rear. Weidling argued it was futile for the teenage boys to be thrown into the battle. He told Axmann that it was "the sacrifice of children for an already doomed cause".{{sfn|Beevor|2002|p=225}} Axmann did not withdraw them from the battle.{{sfn|Beevor|2002|p=225}}

By 19 April, with Schörner's [[Army Group Centre]] collapsing, Weidling's corps was forced to retreat west into Berlin. The German forces's retreat from Seelow Heights during the 19th and 20th left no front line remaining.{{sfn|Beevor|2002|pp=244–246, 256}}