4th Army (Germany)

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Insignia of 4th Army
Insignia of 4th Army

The 4th Army (German: 4. Armee Oberkommando) was a field army that fought in World War II.

Contents

[edit] Service history

[edit] Invasion of Poland

The 4th Army was activated on December 1, 1938 with Field Marshal Günther von Kluge in command. It first went into action during the Polish Campaign of September 1939 as part of Army Group North, which was under Field Marshal Feodor von Bock. The 4th Army contained the II Corps and III Corps, each with two infantry divisions, the XIX Corps with two motorized and one panzer divisions, the I Frontier Guard Corps with one infantry division, and two infantry divisions in reserve. It was tasked with capturing the Polish Corridor and thus re-linking mainland Germany with East Prussia. Under the brilliant Kluge, the Fourth Army completed its task without much difficulty. Part of the Fourth Army attacked south into Pomorze and joined other German forces at Warsaw.

[edit] Invasion of France

During the attack on the Low Countries and France, the 4th Army, as part of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt's Army Group A, went into Belgium from the Rhineland. Along with other German armies, the 4th Army penetrated the Dyle Line and completed the trapping of the Allied forces in France. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who was under Kluge, contributed immensely to his victories. Kluge, who had been general of artillery, was promoted to field marshal along with many others on July 19, 1940.

[edit] Invasion of the Soviet Union

The 4th Army took part in Operation Barbarossa in 1941 as part of von Bock's Army Group Center. Its initial aim was to trap as many Soviet troops as possible around Minsk. The 4th Army performed well and took part in the capture of Smolensk. However, the poor road network contributed to the stalling of the army group and the 4th Army. On December 19, 1941, Kluge resigned along with von Bock and Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch. Kluge was replaced by General Ludwig Kübler.

After the launching of Operation Blue, the 4th Army and the entire Army Group Center did not see much action, as troops were concentrated to the south. However, from 1943 on, as Army Group Center was in full retreat, the Fourth Army also had to move its troops backwards. The Red Army's campaign of autumn 1943, Operation Suvorov (also known as the "battle of the highways") saw the 4th Army pushed back towards Orsha and Vitebsk.

[edit] Operation Bagration

1944 saw the 4th Army still holding defensive positions east of Orsha and Mogilev in the Belorussian SSR. The first Soviet summer offensive of that year, Operation Bagration, proved disastrous for the Wehrmacht, and especially so for the Fourth Army. Commencing on June 22, an overwhelming Soviet assault saw nearly the entire army trapped in a pocket east of Minsk and destroyed during the first week of July. Very few units were able to escape westwards; those that did so were involved in desperate attempts to stabilise the German lines for the remainder of the summer, after which the Fourth Army required complete rebuilding.

[edit] East Prussia

German prisoners from Fourth Army are marched through the streets of Moscow.
German prisoners from Fourth Army are marched through the streets of Moscow.

During late 1944-5 the 4th Army, now under the command of Friedrich Hoßbach, was tasked with holding the borders of East Prussia. The Soviet East Prussian Offensive, commencing on January 13, saw the 4th Army driven steadily backwards towards the Baltic coast over a period of two weeks and threatened with encirclement. Hoßbach and Army Group Centre's commander, Georg-Hans Reinhardt, attempted to break out of East Prussia (defying their orders, for which they were relieved of command) by attacking towards Elbing; but the attack was driven back, and the 4th Army was again encircled in what became known as the Heiligenbeil pocket.

The army held its positions along the coast of the Vistula lagoon until overwhelmed by Soviet attacks in late March. The few remaining forces in the area were incorporated in the East Prussian Army Group commanded by Dietrich von Saucken, which surrendered to the Soviets at the end of the war in May.

[edit] Commanders