In early February 1943, the corps, under the command of SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser, was attached to Army Group South in Ukraine and participated in the Third Battle of Kharkov.

In July 1943, the corps took part in the failed Operation Citadel, spearheading the 4th Panzer Army's attack in the southern sector.

[1] Only one division, the Leibstandarte ended up being transferred along with the corps personnel, taking part in operations to disarm Italian troops.

Between 20 September and 20 of November 1943 the corps conducted operations against Yugoslav Partisans in order to establish a connection with Army Group F in the Balkans and to secure communications east and northwards from Trieste and Rijeka.

This encirclement was the largest catastrophe facing the Wehrmacht since the Battle of Stalingrad, which would precipitate the collapse of the entire southern sector of the Eastern Front.

[4] Faced with a prospect of a new Stalingrad before the Allied invasion of France would even begin, Adolf Hitler was forced to yield to Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's demands for powerful reinforcements that would de-blockade the 1st Panzer Army.

In mid-June 1944, the corps was ordered back west to take part in the Battle of Normandy, arriving to the invasion front in late June 1944.

On 17 September 1944, the Allies launched Operation Market Garden, an airborne offensive aimed at capturing the Rhine bridge at Arnhem.