The front line divisions of the Waffen-SS that had suffered through the
Russian winter of 1941–1942 and the Soviet counter-offensive were
withdrawn to France to recover and be reformed as Panzergrenadier divisions.^[50] Thanks to the efforts of Himmler and Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser, the new commander of the SS Panzer Corps, the three SS Panzergrenadier divisions Leibstandarte, Das Reich, and Totenkopf
were to be formed with a full regiment of tanks rather than only a
battalion. This meant that the SS Panzergrenadier divisions were
full-strength Panzer divisions in all but name. They each received nine Tiger tanks, which were formed into the heavy panzer companies.