German Crown Prince Army Group
The Army Group of the German Crown Prince was a large organization and the associated command authority of the German Army during the First World War (1914-1918). It comprised several armies .
Establishment, command area
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The Army Group of the German Crown Prince was reorganized on November 26, 1916 as part of the reorganization of the Western Front and the subordination of the armies, which had previously been led directly by the Supreme Army Command , under Army Group Command and included the central section of the Western Front, beginning at the interface with the Army Group of Crown Prince Rupprecht in the front arch Noyon to the east of Verdun . In the south it bordered from March 1, 1917 to the Army Group Duke Albrecht , from February 1918 to the Army Group Gallwitz . Formally, the eldest son of Emperor Wilhelm II , Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, was their commander-in-chief. De facto, however, the Crown Prince was instructed by the Emperor to follow the advice of his Chief of Staff.
structure
The Army Group comprised the following units (from north to south):
Opponents and fights
The opponent of the "Army Group of the German Crown Prince" was the French army. In the spring of 1917 she had to face heavy defensive battles ( Battle of the Aisne ). As a consequence, the Crown Prince and Schulenburg demanded peace negotiations. The mutinies that broke out after the battle in the French army were not recognized on the German side.
After the collapse of Russia , the Supreme Army Command made one last attempt in the spring of 1918 to force a war decision in favor of Germany ( German Spring Offensive 1918 ). The first German offensive was supposed to tear open the seam between the French and the English armies, then push the English army to the northwest and encompass and destroy it by means of a second offensive near Ypres . Schulenburg, who found this approach too ambitious, instead proposed an offensive with a limited target west of Verdun. After the failure of the spring offensive against the English expeditionary army, this offensive was carried out as a diversionary attack for a decisive battle ( Hagen attack ) that was later to be sought in Flanders and led to a surprising breakthrough at the front. However, this partial success did not have any far-reaching consequences either. From July 18, 1918, the Army Group was engaged in heavy defensive battles and had to withdraw gradually until the surrender on November 11, 1918.
literature
- Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen : The Bavaria Book of the World War . Chr.Belser Verlagbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1930.
- Erich Ludendorff : My memories of the war . Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1922.
Web links
- The German Army Groups Part 1, First World War on the website of the Federal Archives
Individual evidence
- ^ Crown Prince Wilhelm: "My memories from Germany's heroic struggle" Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1923, page 4