Army Group B

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Army Group B 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. A total of three offices were named High Command Army Group B and were deployed in four campaigns / theaters of war. The subordinate armies or other formations changed more frequently. Army Group itself was in the western campaign and the war against the Soviet Union the Army High Command assumed in Italy and later at the West Front of the Commander in Chief South and West and thus indirectly the High Command of the Wehrmacht .

Career

1939-1941

The first Army Group B was created on October 12, 1939 by renaming the Army Group North, which had moved from Poland to West Germany . In the first part ( yellow case ) of the western campaign undertaken with three army groups, Army Group B formed the northern wing and advanced through the Netherlands and Belgium to the French English Channel coast . In the subsequent case of Rot , Army Group B advanced on the western wing from the Channel coast and the Somme southwards to Paris and the southern Atlantic coast . On August 16, 1940, Army Group B was relocated to East Prussia and the Generalgouvernement and renamed Army Group Center at the beginning of the war against the Soviet Union .

Eastern Front 1942/43

A new Army Group B was created on July 9, 1942 on the Soviet front, when Army Group South was divided into Army Groups A and B to carry out the planned summer offensive ( Blue case ) . The Army Group Command South remained in existence and was renamed Army Group Command B, while a new Army Group A was established in the south. The operational targets of Army Group B were the Volga and Stalingrad . During Operation Uranus , the front of Army Group B was breached by the Red Army on November 21, 1942, north and south of Stalingrad . The 6th Army , as well as parts of the 4th Panzer Army and the Romanian 4th Army were enclosed in Stalingrad. The standing at Stalingrad Associations of Army Group were now hastily from the high command of the 11th Army established Army Group Don ( Manstein assumed). The Red Army made further breakthroughs in the area of ​​Army Group B, including on December 18 during the Middle Don Operation and on January 14, 1943 during Operation Ostrogoschsk-Rossosh . On February 9, 1943, the Army Group Command, which after the subordinate Italian and Hungarian armies only led the 2nd Army and the Lanz Army Detachment , was removed from the command structure of the Eastern Front and relocated back home. The 2nd Army was assigned to Army Group Center, and Army Division Lanz to Army Group Don.

Western Europe 1943–1945

With Army Group Command B and the Rommel Working Staff , an active Army Group B was again set up in Munich on July 19, 1943 . It was formed shortly after the Allies landed in Sicily . After the loss of Sicily was in support of the Italian defense against the expected invasion of Italy to northern Italy laid. In addition, there were plans for the disarmament or capture of the Italian troops and the occupation of important points in the event of an Italian exit from the war, known as the fall axis . After the Armistice of Cassibile with General Dwight D. Eisenhower became known on September 8, Army Group B carried out these measures in its area. On November 26, 1943, Army Group Command B was disbanded and partly used to expand the Staff Commander in Chief Southwest .

On the same day a new Army Group Command B was set up with the task of improving the security of the North Sea and English Channel coasts outside the Reich area. It worked briefly in Denmark and from January 1944 in the area between the Netherlands and Brittany. The units stationed there were also subordinated to him as Army Group B in May 1944. From the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 to the establishment of Army Group H in the Netherlands on November 11, 1944, Army Group B formed the north wing of the western front , later the central section. Army Group B carried out the Ardennes offensive in December 1944 / January 1945 . It went down in the Ruhr basin in April 1945 .

Commander in chief

Chiefs of the General Staff

Structure of the Army Group

Army Group Troops:

  • Army Group News Regiment 537 (1st line-up)
  • Army Group Intelligence Regiment 605 (2nd lineup)
date Subordinate major associations
1. Lineup (1939)
November 1939 4th Army , 6th Army , 18th Army
May 1940 6th Army, 18th Army
June 1940 9th Army , 6th Army, 4th Army, Kleist Panzer Group
July 1940 7th Army , 4th Army
August 1940 7th Army, 4th Army, 6th Army
September 1940 18th Army, 4th Army, 6th Army
January 1941 18th Army, 4th Army, 17th Army , Panzer Group 2 , military commander in the Generalgouvernement
May 1941 9th Army, 4th Army
Further see Army Group Center
2. Setup (1942)
August 1942 2nd Army , 2nd Hungarian Army , 8th Italian Army , XXIX. Army Corps, 6th Army, 4th Panzer Army
September 1942 2nd Army, 2nd Hungarian Army, 8th Italian Army, 6th Army, 4th Panzer Army
October 1942 2nd Army, 2nd Hungarian Army, 8th Italian Army, 3rd Romanian Army , 6th Army, 4th Armored Army, 4th Romanian Army
December 1942 2nd Army, 2nd Hungarian Army, 8th Italian Army
January 1943 2nd Army, 2nd Hungarian Army, 8th Italian Army, Fretter-Pico Army Division
February 1943 2nd Army, Lanz Army Division , 8th Italian Army, 2nd Hungarian Army
March 1943 z.Vfg. OKW in Germany
September 1943 LI. Mountain Army Corps , II. SS Panzer Corps , LXXXVII. Army Corps
December 1943 z. Vfg. ​​OKW in Denmark
May 1944 7th Army, 15th Army , Wehrmacht Commander Netherlands
June 1944 7th Army, 15th Army, Wehrmacht Commander Netherlands, Panzer Group West
August 1944 1st Army , 5th Panzer Army , 7th Army, 15th Army, Wehrmacht Commander Netherlands
September 1944 7th Army, 1st Parachute Army , 15th Army
November 1944 7th Army, 5th Panzer Army, Student Army Group
December 1944 7th Army, 5th Panzer Army
January 1945 7th Army, 5th Panzer Army, 6th Panzer Army, 15th Army
February 1945 7th Army, 5th Panzer Army, 15th Army
April 1945 15th Army, 5th Panzer Army, Lüttwitz Army Department

Known members of Army Group B

See also

Web links