Eighth Army (United Kingdom)

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Eighth Army

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active September 9, 1941 to July 1945
Country United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Armed forces United Kingdom Armed Forces
Armed forces British ArmyUnited Kingdom (flag of the British Army) British Army
Type army
Second World War Africa campaign
Italian campaign
Commander in chief
list of Commander in chief

The Eighth Army ( German  8th Army ) was a major unit of the British Army in World War II . It was used by the Allies in the campaigns in North Africa and Italy . In addition to associations from Great Britain and the Commonwealth ( Australia , New Zealand , Canada , South Africa , British India , Palestine ), it also included troops from the armies in exile of the states occupied by Germany ( France , Poland and Greece).

history

North africa

Combat area in North Africa 1941/42

The 8th Army was set up in Egypt from September 1941 and was under the British Middle East Command in Cairo . Its first in command was Lieutenant General Alan Cunningham . The line-up was a reaction to the threat to Egypt from the German Africa Corps under Erwin Rommel , which had been besieging Tobruk since August 1941 . The army was next to the battle-tested XIII. Corps ( Western Desert Force ) the newly established XXX. Corps subordinated.

The 8th Army was first used in Operation Crusader in November 1941 in the following structure:

XXX. Corps (Lieutenant General Charles Norrie )

XIII. Corps (Lieutenant General Reade Godwin-Austen )

Tobruk Garrison

After the First Battle of El Alamein in July 1942, the army was reinforced by the X. Corps . The new commander, Bernard Montgomery, began the British counterattack in October with the Second Battle of El Alamein , which, in conjunction with the US-American Operation Torch, led to the defeat of the Africa Corps in the Tunisia campaign in early 1943.

Italy

The 8th Army carried out the invasion of Sicily ( Operation Husky ) together with the 7th US Army from July 9, 1943 , the British were assigned the landing on the east coast of the island. The landing took place at Syracuse , Augusta and Catania . The intended advance of the British along the east coast to Messina stalled, while the 7th US Army achieved quick successes on the west coast. After the British advance stalled in front of the hills south of Mount Etna , the Americans supported them with smaller amphibious landings on the north coast of Sicily. The German troops were unable to prevent the loss of Sicily and withdrew to the Italian mainland by mid-August in the company training course via Messina .

Landings in Italy in September 1943

XIII. Corps (Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey )

  • 5th Division (Major-General Horatio Pettus Mackintosh Berney-Ficklin; from August 3, 1943 Major-General Gerard Bucknall)
  • 50th Division (Major-General Sidney Kirkman)
  • Reserve: 78th Division (Major-General Vivian Evelegh)

XXX. Corps (Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese )

In September 1943, followed by the 8th Army in Operation Baytown the landings on the Italian mainland at Reggio Calabria and Taranto . The 8th Army then formed the right wing of the Allied front on the Italian peninsula, while the left wing was formed by the 5th US Army . The British Field Marshal Harold Alexander , who commanded the superior 15th Army Group, was given the command in Italy . The leadership of the 8th Army was transferred to Lieutenant General Oliver Leese in December 1943 after Montgomery's departure .

At the beginning of 1944, most of the troops were temporarily relocated to the west of the peninsula to support the 5th Army near Monte Cassino . In the decisive final offensive ( Operation Diadem ) of the Battle of Monte Cassino on May 11, 1944, the 8th Army intervened after massive artillery fire with 1,060 cannons. The Liri Valley formed the army border with the southern attacking 5th US Army. The XIII. Corps under General Kirkman (British 4th, 78th and Indian 8th Divisions) managed to bypass the mountain from the south and thereby break into the German Gustav Line , which the German defenders could no longer hold. While the majority of the units on the left and right began to bypass the mountain, the assigned Polish 2nd Corps under Lieutenant General Anders was able to take Monte Cassino in a frontal attack on May 17th. In the Lirital, after the tactical breakthrough of the British 78th Division, which led to the capture of the town of Pignataro on May 15 and of Piumarola on May 17, the Canadian 1st Corps (General Burns ) followed up on Pontecorvo.

After overcoming the Goth line at Florence and Rimini in August and September 1944, the 8th Army, under the new Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant General Richard McCreery, continued on its way to the Po Valley in the spring of 1945 .

V. Corps (Lieutenant General Charles Keightley )

XIII. Corps (Lieutenant General Sidney Kirkman )

X. Corps (Lieutenant General John Hawkesworth )

Polish II Corps (General Władysław Anders )

Reserve: Canadian I. Corps (Lieutenant General ELM Burns )

At the end of April 1945 the Po was crossed . Venice was liberated on April 30th and Trieste on May 2nd . After the end of the war, the army was disbanded and sub-units were used to occupy Austria .

Commander in chief

Web links

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