12th Army (Wehrmacht)

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The 12th Army / Army High Command 12 (AOK 12) was a major unit of the Army of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War . She held the high command of changing army corps as well as numerous special troops.

history

1. Formation

The 12th Army was deployed on August 18, 1939. At the beginning of the attack on Poland , it was renamed Army Group South .

On October 13, 1939, the 14th Army was renamed the 12th Army. This then took part in the western campaign and the Balkan campaign. Since June 1941, the 12th Army was also in command of the Southeast. Commander in chief was General Field Marshal Wilhelm List until October 28, 1941 . On 1 January 1943, the former 12th army which was Army Group E converted.

Outline June 1940 ( Red Case )

Structure April 1941 ( company Marita )

2. Formation

On April 10, 1945, a new 12th Army, also called the Wenck Army after its Commander-in-Chief Walther Wenck , was set up. It was the army with the youngest soldiers in the Wehrmacht and, as a relief organization, was one of Hitler's last hopes in the fight against Soviet and American troops, especially in the Battle of Berlin . However, it was rather weakly armed and could no longer penetrate directly to Berlin, but was about 23 April 60 km southwest of Berlin and held a line of defense that ran from Ferch in the north to Niemegk in the south, against those from the east and south-east advancing units of the Red Army .

Outline April 1945

Between April 13th and 17th, the XXXXVIII. Panzer Corps on the Halle - Saale line south of Merseburg , an attack against the bridgeheads of the 9th US Army at Schönebeck and Barby on April 14th and 15th failed. On April 17, the connection with Leipzig was lost and the withdrawal to the Mulde section between Wurzen and Grimma on Dessau was necessary. Leipzig was evacuated on April 19th, the Mulde bridgehead around Eilenburg was abandoned on April 20th. The last western Elbe bridgehead near Coswig was cleared on April 26th. On May 1, Magdeburg fell into Allied hands and on May 3, the new line between Zorien - northern edge of Fiener Bruch - Großwusterwitz (15 kilometers southwest of Brandenburg an der Havel ) was acquired. After the 12th Army had established the connection to the 9th Army (around 20,000 soldiers left) in the Treuenbrietzen area on May 1, 1945 , they retreated westwards towards Tangermünde . There they could only cross the Elbe Bridge Tangermünde , which was badly damaged by an explosion on April 12, 1945 , via a narrow wooden walkway that had been built on the ruins of the bridge. On May 6, many soldiers and refugees were taken into US captivity there . General Maximilian von Edelsheim went into captivity in Stendal .

Commander in chief

Known soldiers

See also

literature

  • Günther W. Gellermann: The Wenck Army. Hitler's last hope. Formation, deployment and end of the 12th German Army in spring 1945 , Bernard U. Graefe Verlag, ISBN 3-7637-5870-4 .
  • Antony Beevor: Berlin 1945 - Das Ende , Goldmann, ISBN 3-442-15313-1 .
  • Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 3: The Land Forces 6-14 . 2nd Edition. Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1974, ISBN 3-7648-0942-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Schramm: OKW war diary volume 1, war organization p. 1122
  2. ^ Schramm: OKW war diary volume 1, war organization p. 1134
  3. ^ Hitler's briefing on April 23, 25 and 27, 1945 . Der Spiegel , issue 3/1966, January 10, 1966.
  4. ^ End of the war in Leipzig . Spiegel Online , April 24, 2015, (multimedia format).
  5. ↑ http://www.cicero.de/salon/ich-war-dabei-aber-ganz-anders/38152