21st Army Group
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21st Army Group |
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 Shoulder badge |
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| active | July 1943 to August 1945 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
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| Type | Army Group |
| Second World War | Western front |
| commander | |
| Important commanders |
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The 21st Army Group ( German 21st Army Group ) was a major unit of the time of the Second World War under British command, which consisted mainly of British and Canadian units. She fought on the western front . The high command was formed in England in July 1943 for the planned Operation Overlord , the invasion of the continent, and from January 1944 was under the command of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). The 21st Army Group operated after landing in Normandy (from June 6, 1944) in northern France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Then it was rededicated ( "redesignated") for the British Army of the Rhine (British Army of the Rhine = BAOR).
Normandy
The 21st Army Group controlled all Allied ground forces ( 1st US Army and British 2nd Army ) in the first phase of Operation Overlord . On August 1, 1944, the reorganization of the Allied forces came into force, according to which all American ground forces were under the command of the 12th Army Group , while the 21st Army Group comprised the British 2nd and Canadian 1st Armies . Bernard Montgomery retained overall command of the ground forces until August 31, 1944, after which Dwight D. Eisenhower became supreme commander of the inter-allied forces.
On August 29, 1944, most of the Germans withdrew behind the Seine without their heavy equipment . The port cities were formally declared "fortresses" - an idea by Hitler from the spring of 1944 and also used for propaganda purposes. They offered limited resistance to the Canadian 1st Army. Paris had capitulated on the 25th; Dietrich von Choltitz ignored an order to hold out (" Trümmerfeldbefehl ") from Adolf Hitler .
One of the tasks of the 21st Army Group was to conquer the ports on the Channel coast and to eliminate the launch sites for the V1 and V2 missiles . The advance was so rapid - 250 km in four days - that Antwerp could be undefended on September 4, 1944 and occupied with intact port facilities . The advance through northern France and Belgium was a rapid advance that prompted Montgomery to plan the subsequent conquest of the Ruhr area. This was not supported by Eisenhower, who envisaged an even advance of the entire front from the North Sea to Switzerland.
Operation Market Garden
Parts of the 21st Army Group reached the Dutch border in mid-September. They interrupted their advance because of a lack of supplies and because the Wehrmacht had blown numerous dikes and flooded areas. Because the Allies had previously bombed French and Belgian railway lines and because the Germans threatened the port of Antwerp from the northern side of the Scheldt estuary ( Walcheren peninsula ) , they were not yet able to use it for their own supplies; this rolled mainly on trucks eastwards ( Red Ball Express ). In order to clear the port, Canadian forces fought the costly battle of the Scheldt estuary between October 2 and November 8, 1944 .
After this rapid advance, there were high hopes that the war would end before the end of 1944. This required being able to cross the Rhine - the last great natural barrier. Operation Market Garden aimed to conquer important bridges for it. Parachutists and airborne troops were deployed and they were hoping to be able to come to their aid with armored forces, which were to advance quickly to Arnhem via Eindhoven and Nijmegen . This should open the way to the Ruhr area and the North German lowlands .
Commander in chief
- June 1943 - December 1943: General Sir Bernard Paget
- January 1944 - August 1945: General Sir Bernard Montgomery
literature
- Defeat in the West. Milton Shulman, first published 1947.
- The Struggle for Europe. Chester Wilmot.
Web links
- Losses of the 21st Army Group (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chester Wilmot: The Struggle for Europe. Book guild Gutenberg, Atrium-Verlag, Zurich 1955, p. 496.
- ^ Liddell Hart Center for Military Archives
- ↑ Stephen Hart: Montgomery and "colossal cracks": the 21st Army Group in northwest Europe. P. 8.