Army Group G
The Army Group G was a major unit of the Army of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War . In 1944/45 it served as the command authority for the southern part of the German Western Front . The 1st Army and the 19th Army were subordinate to it , but at times also the 7th Army , the 24th Army and the 5th Panzer Army .
Career
The later Army Group was set up in southern France under the name Army Group G in accordance with the Fuehrer's order of April 26, 1944 . First Commander-in-Chief was Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz , subordinated to the 1st Army on the Atlantic coast and the 19th Army on the French Mediterranean coast. After the successful landings of the Allies in Normandy on June 6 and in southern France on August 15, 1944, the Army Group fought its way back to Lorraine , Alsace and the Siegfried Line in late summer and early autumn . On September 9, 1944, the name was changed to Army Group G . In November 1944 she fought with only 700,000 soldiers against the 3rd US Army of General Patton , which she inflicted heavy losses.
In January 1945 parts of Army Group G were involved in Operation Nordwind , the last German offensive on the Western Front. In March she was expelled from the left bank of the Rhine as part of the US-French Operation Undertone and had to withdraw to southern Germany. By the end of the war, the remnants of the army group were pushed back to the northern Alps or the Ore Mountains and the Bohemian Forest ( 7th Army ).
On April 29, 1945, the Commander-in-Chief in the southern area, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring , ordered the dissolution of the Army Group Command, as it no longer had any command options. After Hitler's suicide, however, the command was re-established on May 3rd and charged with carrying out the surrender in southern Germany and western Austria. On May 5, 1945 the surrender of Army Group G was signed in the Thorak building in Baldham (about 10 km from the eastern city limits of Munich ). Other sources give the place of surrender as the hair a few kilometers away near Munich , which is also mentioned in the surrender document. The surrender took effect a day later.
Commander in chief
- May 9, 1944 Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz
- September 21, 1944 General of the Panzer Troop Hermann Balck
- December 22, 1944 General of the Infantry Hans von Obstfelder (in charge of the deputy leadership)
- December 24, 1944 Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz
- January 29, 1945 Colonel Group Leader and Colonel General of the Waffen SS Paul Hausser
- April 4, 1945 General of the Infantry Friedrich Schulz
Structure of the Army Group
- Army group troops
- Army Group News Regiment 609
- Subordinate major associations
| date | Subordinate major associations |
|---|---|
| May 1944 | 1st Army , 19th Army |
| August 1944 | 19th Army |
| September 1944 | 1st Army, 19th Army, 5th Panzer Army |
| January 1945 | 1st Army |
| February 1945 | 1st Army, 19th Army |
| April 1945 | 1st Army, 7th Army , 19th Army, 24th Army |
See also
Web links
- The German Army Groups Part 2, Second World War on the website of the Federal Archives
- High command of Army Group G on archivesportaleurope.net