 Skorzeny later credited this use of mobile artillery with gaining enough time to sufficiently fortify the bridgehead.The initial troops began to arrive early in February from the Courland Pocket, they included the 4th Panzer Division, the 32nd and 227th Infantry divisions, elements of the XVI SS Corps, and other SS units.The first encounter battles were between the screening German infantry, and the 2nd Guards Tank Army on 28 January, which "was pouring now like a torrent north of [the] Netze River towards Küstrin", when elements of the 9th Guards Tank Corps probed the positions of "Kampfgruppe Voigt" ("Generalmajor" Adolf Voigt) east of Pyritz and 18 km east of Schwedt.