8 e armée (France)

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The 8 e armée ( huitième armée , German  8th Army ) was an army of the French army that was used in both world wars.

First World War

1. Formation

The 8 e armée (1st formation) emerged during the early phase of the First World War on November 16, 1914 from the Détachement d'armée de Belgique (DAB) (1st formation) and existed in this form until April 4, 1915, when it was renamed back to Détachement d'armée de Belgique (2nd formation). For most of its existence it was under the command of General Victor d'Urbal , it was only in the course of its renaming that General Gabriel Henri Putz took command on April 2, 1915 .

The Détachement d'armée de Belgique was formed in the course of the First Battle of Flanders on October 22, 1914 under the command of General d'Urbal and at that time comprised an Army Corps (IX), the Groupement Bidon with two territorial divisions and the II Cavalry Corps under General Antoine de Mitry . It was reinforced in the course of the battle by three additional army corps (XVI., XXXII. And XX.) And the 1st cavalry corps of General Louis Conneau . The headquarters were in Roesbrugge-Haringe . In the fierce battles of the Battle of Flanders, the DAB cooperated with the Belgian Army and the British Expeditionary Corps in repelling the German attacks between Mesen and Diksmuide in Belgian Flanders.

After the name was changed to 8 e armée and the fighting subsided, the army was reduced to three army corps by the turn of the year. In April 1915 it was renamed Détachement d'armée de Belgique , which existed until May 22, 1915 and was used alongside the British units in the Second Battle of Flanders . On the latter date the transformation to XXXVI took place. Army corps that remained deployed in Flanders.

2. Formation

The 8 e armée (2nd formation) emerged on January 2, 1917 from the Détachement d'armée de Lorraine (DAL) , which had been fighting in Lorraine since March 1915 . Its first and only commander-in-chief was General Augustin Gérard . Generals Humbert , Gérard and Deprez had previously led the DAL . The headquarters were located in Saint-Nicolas-de-Port , when it was renamed 8 e armée , it was relocated to Tantonville and in May 1917 to Flavigny-sur-Moselle . Your neighbors were the 2nd Army on the left and the 7th Army on the right . In January 1918, the 1st Army was inserted on the left of the 8th Army , which was reversed in March 1918. From mid-July to the end of August, the army was reinforced by a total of five US American divisions, which were preparing for their deployment as part of the First United States Army on this relatively quiet section of the front . The latter was pushed into the front left of the 8th Army on August 30th. The 1st Rifle Division of the Polish Blue Army was also temporarily deployed in the area of ​​the 8th Army.

After the armistice of Compiègne , the army occupied the then Bavarian Palatinate and continued to exist until October 1919. The headquarters were in Landau in the Palatinate . Then it was merged with the 10 e armée to form the Armée française du Rhin .

Second World War

During the mobilization for the Second World War , an 8 e armée was again set up on September 2, 1939 . It was under the command of General Marcel Garchery and defended the Rhine border in Upper Alsace as part of the French 3rd Army Group under General Antoine Besson . At the beginning of the German campaign in the west on May 10, 1940, two army corps (VII. And XIII.), A fortress corps and a tank brigade were under her control. On May 21, General Émile Laure was given command. General Laure and most of his troops were captured before the June 22nd armistice .

literature

  • Les Armées françaises dans la Grande guerre ( AFGG ) , Tome X / Vol. 1: Ordre de bataille des grandes unités. , Paris 1923, pp. 415-463, digitized on Gallica .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. GARCHERY Jeanny, Jules, Marcel to alsace-histoire.org , accessed on June 9, 2015.
  2. 8e Armée - Order of Battle / Ordre de bataille, 10/05/1940 on france1940.free.fr , accessed on June 10, 2015.