III Corps (Bundeswehr)

III Corps was a corps of the German Army (Bundeswehr Heer) active from 1957 to 1994.

The preparation of the staff of the corps took place from 16 March 1957 at Gneisenau-Kaserne, Koblenz; the corps was officially formed on 6 April 1957. Initially, the 2nd Panzergrenadier Division and 5th Panzer Division moved in 1957 from the II Corps to III Corps. The corps was integrated into defence planning from mid-1957, as part of NATO's Central Army Group, commanded by the commander of the U.S. Seventh Army. The area of operations was the FRG-DDR and German-Czechoslovak border in Hesse and Franconia. On 1 December 1958 the 7th Panzer Division was transferred from the III Corps to the I Corps. Among the first corps troops were Ordnance regiment 504 (formed May 16, 1957 in Diez, transferred January 1958 in Koblenz), and Corps Artillery Command 403 (based until 1 July 1957 at Munsterlager, from August 1957 in Koblenz). Under corps command were a rocket artillery battalion, a supply battalion, and a geophysical measurement train.

Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz was the first commander of the corps, as a Lieutenant General. In 1994 the corps headquarters was disbanded and re-designated the headquarters of the German Army Forces Command.

Initially from 1959 the corps' troops under Heeresstruktur II consisted of :
 * 2nd Panzergrenadier Division (Marburg)
 * Panzergrenadierbrigade 4 (Göttingen)
 * Panzergrenadierbrigade 5 (Kassel)
 * Panzerbrigade 6 (Marburg)
 * 5th Panzer Division (Koblenz)
 * Panzergrenadierbrigade 13 (Wetzlar)
 * Panzerbrigade 14 (Koblenz)
 * Panzerbrigade 15 (Koblenz)
 * 7th Panzergrenadier (later Panzer) Division (Unna)
 * Panzergrenadierbrigade 19 (Ahlen)
 * Panzerbrigade 21 (Augustdorf)
 * Corps Troops

At the end of the Cold War in 1989, the corps commanded the 2nd Panzergrenadier, 5th Panzer, and 12th Panzer Divisions.