Army Group Vistula

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Briefing of the situation at the headquarters of Army Group Vistula, behind Hitler from left: Wilhelm Berlin , Robert Ritter von Greim , Franz Reuss , Job Odebrecht and Theodor Busse (March 1945), photo from the Federal Archives

The Army Group Vistula was a major unit of the Army of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War . She was the high command of changing armies and numerous special troops from January 24, 1945 until the end of the war .

history

The Army Group Vistula was set up on January 24, 1945 from the staff of the Commander in Chief Upper Rhine under Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler . The parts of Army Group Center ( 2nd Army ) and Army Group A ( 9th Army ) that had retreated to the west under the attacks of the Vistula-Oder operation and the newly established 11th Army / 11th Army were subordinate to it . SS Panzer Army. The Army Group was unable to hold the front section assigned to it from Glogau to Elbing because of the Soviet superiority. In February the attempt of the 11th SS Panzer Army to relieve the enclosed fortress Küstrin with the company Sonnenwende failed . The 2nd Army was then cut off from the Army Group during the Battle of East Pomerania in the Danzig area and placed directly under the OKH . On March 21, Colonel General Gotthard Heinrici, known as a defensive tactician, took command and reorganized the Army Group. He succeeded in stopping the Red Army in front of the Küstrin fortress in the formation of a western bridgehead in the Oderbruch until the army group was evacuated.

The Army Group was already decisively weakened during the major Soviet offensive on the Oder and Neisse rivers that began on April 16 . In the battle for the Seelower heights , their positions were broken until April 18 and the Army Group was split into two parts: The 9th Army had to retreat south and was completely wiped out in the battle for Berlin and in the Halbe pocket. In contrast, the 3rd Panzer Army and the newly assigned 21st Army evaded to Mecklenburg . Here Heinrici defied Hitler's order to carry out a suicidal relief attack on Berlin and was therefore relieved on April 28. Colonel-General Kurt Student was supposed to be his successor, but did not take over the command because of the chaotic situation. Most of the Army Group managed to move west by May 3rd and go into western captivity there.

Commander in chief

structure

Army group troops
  • Army Group News Regiment 500
Subordinate major associations
date Subordinate major associations
February 1945 2nd Army , 11th Army , 9th Army
March 1945 2nd Army, 3rd Panzer Army , 9th Army, z.Vfg. 11th Army
April 1945 3rd Panzer Army, 9th Army, 21st Army , Güstrow Infantry Division

Web links