Fourth Army (United Kingdom)

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The Fourth Army ( German  4th Army ) was a field army of the British Army that fought in the First World War. During the Second World War , a fictitious 4th Army was set up as part of Operation Fortitude in order to deceive the Wehrmacht leadership. Above all, a complex radio communication between the fictitious units and their command posts and the home of the (fictitious) soldiers involved was demonstrated. In Operation Fortitude, it corresponded to the likewise fictitious First United States Army Group (1st US Army Group).

First World War

Henry Rawlinson, at 4th Army HQ at Querrieu Chateau, July 1916
4th Army's plan of attack for the first day of the Summer Battle, July 1, 1916

1916

The 4th Army was on February 5, 1916 during the First World War as part of the British Expeditionary Force set up. General Sir Henry Rawlinson , appointed Commander in Chief, took over the previous section of 3rd Army , in the area east of Albert to the Somme . The place Maricourt formed the dividing line to the southern attacking French 6th Army .

The 4th Army carried out the main attack against the German 2nd Army from July 1, 1916 in the Battle of the Somme from the area east of Albert and north of the Somme . After the Lochnagar crater was blown up, 14 divisions were attacked over a width of 26 kilometers. The focus was initially on the X. Corps, which rushed between Thiepval and La Boisselle.

Structure on July 1, 1916

VIII. Corps (Lieutenant General Aylmer Hunter-Weston ) (subordinated to the Reserve Army from July 4th)

  • 48th (South Midland) Division (Major General Robert Fanshawe)
  • 31st Division (Major General Robert Wanless O'Gowan)
  • 4th Division (Major General William Lambton)
  • 29th Division (Major General Henry de Beauvoir de Lisle )

X. Corps (Lieutenant General Thomas Morland ) (subordinated to the Reserve Army from July 4th)

  • 36th (Ulster) Division (Major General Oliver Steward Nugent)
  • 32nd Division (Major General Reginald WR Barnes)
  • 49th (West Riding) Division (Major General Edward M. Perceval)

III. Corps (Lieutenant General Sir William Pulteney )

XIII. Corps (Lieutenant General Walter Congreve )

  • 9th (Scottish) Division (Major General William T. Furse)
  • 18th (Eastern) Division (Major General Ivor Maxse )
  • 30th Division (Major General Stanley FC)
  • 35th Division (Major General Herman Landon)

XV. Corps (Lieutenant General Henry Horne )

  • 7th Division (Major General HE Watts)
  • 17th (Northern) Division (Major General Thomas D. Pilcher)
  • 33rd Division (Major General Reginald J. Pinney)
  • 38th (Welsh) Division (Major General Ivor Philipps, later Charles Blackader)

1917

In November 1917, the army was following the transfer of the former 2nd Army to Italy in the 2nd Army renamed. After their return from Italy in March 1918, they became the 4th Army again .

1918

Somme area, August 1918

The army led the main attack during the Battle of Amiens (August 1918) together with the French 1st Army and broke through the German Siegfried position during the Hundred Days Offensive in September and October .

During the Battle of Amiens (from August 8, 1918), the 4th Army achieved the first operational breakthrough on the German front, with General Rawlinson reporting to the following corps groups:

III. Corps (Lieutenant General Richard Butler )

  • 12th (Eastern) Division (Major General Higginson)
  • 18th (Eastern) Division (Major General Richard Philipps Lee)
  • 47th (2nd London) Division (Major General Gorringe)
  • 58th (2 / 1st London) Division (Major General Frank W. Ramsay)

Cavalry Corps (General Charles Kavanagh )

  • 1st Cavalry Division (Major General RL Mullens)
  • 2nd Cavalry Division (Major General TT Pitman)
  • 3rd Cavalry Division (Major General AEW Harmon)

Australian Corps (Lieutenant General John Monash )

  • 17th (Northern) Division (Major General Philip Rynd Robertson)
  • 1st Australian Division (Major General Thomas W. Glasgow)
  • 2nd Australian Division (Major General Charles Rosenthal)
  • 3rd Australian Division (Major General John Gellibrand)
  • 4th Australian Division (Major General Ewan Sinclair Maclogan)
  • 5th Australian Division (Major General John T. Hobbs )

Canadian Corps (Lieutenant General Arthur Currie )

  • 32nd Division (Major General Reginald WR Barnes)
  • Canadian 1st Division (Major General AC Macdonell)
  • Canadian 2nd Division (Major General Henry E. Burstall)
  • Canadian 3rd Division (Major General LJ Lipsett)
  • Canadian 4th Division (Major General David Watson)

From September 1918, larger units of the American Expeditionary Force were integrated into the 4th Army during the Hundred Days Offensive :

II U.S. Corps (General George W. Read)

  • 27th Infantry Division (Major General John F. O'Ryan)
  • 30th Infantry Division (Major General Edward M. Lewis)

After the crossing on the Canal du Nord , the subordinate Australian corps attacked successfully on September 29, 1918 with the support of the 27th and 30th US divisions exactly at the interface of the German 18th and 2nd armies between Cambrai and Saint-Quentin . This approach was supported in the south by the French 1st Army and in the north by the British 46th (North Midland) Division.

On the day of the armistice (November 11, 1918) the 4th Army was in the area on both sides of Sivry in the following structure:

XIII. Corps (Lieutenant General Thomas Morland)

  • 25th Division (Major General James RE Charles)
  • 50th Northumbrian Division (Major General Henry C. Jackson)
  • 66th East Lancashire Division (Major General Hugh Keppel Bethell)
  • 18th Eastern Division (Major General Richard Phillips Lee)

IX. Corps (Lieutenant General Walter Pipon Braithwaite )

  • 1st Division (Major General Edward Peter Strickland)
  • 6th Division (Major General Thomas Owen Marden)
  • 32nd Division (Major General Lambert)
  • 46th North Midland Division (Major General Gerald Farrell Boyd)

Australian Corps (Lieutenant General John Monasch)

  • 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Australian Division

II. US Corps (Major General Read)

  • 27th and 30th division

Second World War

The German leadership was before the Allied invasion of Normandy believe (June 1944), is that the headquarters of a fictitious British 4th Army in Edinburgh Castle was an invasion and over Norway should be prepared. Due to the largely successful deception maneuver, German troops were tied up there for a very long time.

The fictional composition was as follows.

  • HQ in Edinburgh
  • British II Corps (fictional - HQ Stirling )
    • 55th (West Lancashire) Division (Northern Ireland)
    • 58th Division (fictional, Aberlour )
    • 113th Independent Infantry Brigade (barracks on Orkney and the Shetland Islands)
  • British VII Corps (fictional - HQ Dundee )
    • 52nd (Lowland) Division (Dundee)
    • 55th Infantry Division (fictional, Iceland )
    • Three US ranger battalions (fictional, Iceland)

literature

  • Roger Hesketh: Fortitude. The D-Day Deception Campaign. Overlook Press, Woodstock NY 2000, ISBN 1-58567-075-8 .
  • Jock Haswell: The Intelligence and Deception of the D-Day Landings. Batsford, London 1979, ISBN 0-7134-2122-3 ( D-Day. Intelligence and Deception. Times Books, 1979, ISBN 0-8129-0877-5 ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Evolution of Divisions and Separate Brigades, US Army Center for Military History