Simultaneously, three companies of Hetzer panzerjäger from the 560th SS Tank Destroyer Battalion, which had been used for training purposes, were sent to join Army Group Vistula on the Oder front.
General Theodor Busse, Ninth Army's commander, decided to form these troops into a Kampfgruppe which could be used as a mobile reserve.
Suleika was commanded by Sturmbannführer Wost and later by Haupsturmführer Markowz with a staff, a supply company, three Jagdpanzer-Kompanien with 14 Hetzer each and a fourth with Sturmgeschütze and back up recovery tanks.
On 27 March, the Kampfgruppe was ordered into action near the town of Genschmar, in an attempt to reduce the Red Army's bridgehead over the Oder, which it failed to do.
On 16 April, the battle of Seelow Heights began as the Red Army attacked the German defensive lines on the Oder.