Army Group A

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The Army Group A was a major unit of the Army of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War . She was high command of changing armies and numerous special troops.

history

First formation

Army Group A was created in October 1939 by renaming the previously the invasion of Poland used Army Group South and took the lead of the set on the Western Front 12th and 16th Army against Belgium and Luxembourg , later the north ajar 4th Army . From May 10, 1940, it was used in the focus of the first phase of the western campaign (" Fall Gelb ") to advance with the bulk of the armored and motorized forces of the army through the Ardennes , across the Meuse to the Somme estuary and thus the to cut off and destroy allied forces in northern France and Belgium (" sickle cut plan "). From June 5, 1940, the Army Group attacked Reims in the Battle of France ("Fall Rot") from positions north of the Aisne , broke through the positions of the remaining French forces and pushed deep to the south and south-east, causing the French forces cut in the Maginot line and taken in the back. After the end of the French campaign, the Army Group provided Commander-in-Chief West from October 1940 . In April 1941, Army Group Command moved Army Group A to Poland, where it was renamed Army Group South on June 22nd when the German attack on the Soviet Union began .

Second formation

Army Group A was new in July 1942 by the division of the fighting in southern Russia and Ukraine Army Group South in the Army Groups A and B . They attacked with the 1st Panzer Army and the 17th Army from the area of ​​the lower Don on the Caucasus and the oil region of Baku on the Caspian Sea (" Operation Edelweiss "). This attack came to a halt in October / November 1942 due to a lack of strength and the stiffening Soviet resistance on the northern slope of the Caucasus and in front of Grozny . Despite the looming disaster of the 6th Army near Stalingrad , the Army Group was left in its positions until December 1942. It was not until the beginning of 1943 that the 1st Panzer Army was handed over to Army Group South (formerly Army Group Don ). The 17th Army remaining with Army Group A withdrew to the Kuban bridgehead in January 1943 , while the Crimean commander defended the peninsula. In September 1943, the 17th Army was withdrawn to the Crimea. In October 1943, Army Group South transferred the (newly established) 6th Army to the Army Group, which initially defended the Nogai Steppe between the Dnieper and the Sea of ​​Azov on both sides of Melitopol, but had to retreat behind the lower reaches of the Dnieper in October 1943. The 17th Army was thus isolated in the Crimea, where it was almost completely destroyed in May 1944. In March 1944, the Army Group was also subordinated to the 8th Army in North Bessarabia , which had been broken up by Army Group South. On April 1, 1944, Army Group A was renamed Army Group South Ukraine .

In September 1944, Army Group A was re-established by renaming Army Group Northern Ukraine (formerly Army Group South). She defended southern Poland and Slovakia with the 9th Army (from Army Group Center ) and the 4th Panzer Army behind the Vistula , the 17th Army between the Vistula and Beskydy and the 1st Panzer Army in Slovakia. At the beginning of January 1945, during the Vistula-Oder operation , the Army Group was almost completely destroyed by the offensive of the 1st Ukrainian Front from the Vistula bridgehead at Baranów Sandomierski . The last renaming took place on January 25, 1945, this time to Army Group Center .

Commander in chief

date Commander in chief
October 26, 1939 to June 22, 1941 Field Marshal General Gerd von Rundstedt
July 10 to September 9, 1942 Field Marshal General Wilhelm List
September 10, 1942 to November 22, 1942 directly to the OSH under the direction of Hitler subordinate
November 23, 1942 to March 30, 1944 Field Marshal General Ewald von Kleist
April 1 to September 24, 1944 Colonel General Ferdinand Schörner
September 24, 1944 to January 17, 1945 Colonel General Josef Harpe
January 17-25, 1945 Colonel General Ferdinand Schörner

Subordinate major associations

date Subordinate major associations
November 1939 16th Army , 12th Army
May 1940 16th Army, 12th Army, 4th Army , 2nd Army , von Kleist Panzer Group
June 1940 16th Army, 12th Army, 2nd Army, Guderian Panzer Group
July 1940 6th Army , 16th Army, 9th Army
August 1940 9th Army, 16th Army
September 1940 9th Army, 16th Army, commander of German troops in Holland
November 1940 9th Army, 16th Army
May 1941 6th Army, 17th Army
August 1942 1st Panzer Army , Ruoff Army Group, 11th Army
September 1942 1st Panzer Army, Ruoff Army Group, Commander of the Crimea
January 1943 1st Panzer Army, 17th Army, Commander of the Crimea
February 1943 17th Army, Commander of the Crimea
March 1943 17th Army, Commander of the Crimea, Commander of the Kerch Strait
October 1943 6th Army, 17th Army
January 1944 3rd Romanian Army , 17th Army, commander of German troops in Transnistria
March 1944 6th Army, 3rd Romanian Army, 17th Army
October 1944 4th Panzer Army , 17th Army, Heinrici Army Group
November 1944 4th Panzer Army, 17th Army, 1st Panzer Army
December 1944 9th Army, 4th Panzer Army, 17th Army, 1st Panzer Army
January 1945 9th Army, 4th Panzer Army, 17th Army, Heinrici Army Group

See also

literature

Web links