When Mickl took command, the 11th Panzer Division had not yet finished rebuilding after suffering serious losses during the attempted relief of Stalingrad in December 1942 and during the Third Battle of Kharkov in February and March 1943. The 11th Panzer Division formed part of "General der Panzertruppe" Otto von Knobelsdorff's XLVIII Panzer Corps under the operation control of "Generaloberst" Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army, which was itself a component of "Generalfeldmarschall" Erich von Manstein's Army Group South. Prior to the launching of Operation Citadel targeting the Soviet salient at Kursk, the XLVIII Panzer Corps was quartered southwest of a line between Bohodukhov and Akhtyrka.