Army Group G

The German Army Group G (Heeresgruppe G) fought on the Western Front of World War II and was a component of OB West.[1]

When the Allied invasion of Southern France (Operation Dragoon) took place, Army Group G had eleven divisions with which to hold France south of the Loire.[2] After the successful Allied invasion of Southern France, on the 17/18 of August the German Armed Forces High Command (OKW) ordered Army Group G, with the exception of the fortress ports, to abandon southern France. The German LXIV Corps, which had been in charge of troops in the south west since First Army had been withdrawn a few weeks earlier to hold the line on the River Seine southeast of Paris, formed three march groups and withdrew eastward toward Dijon. At the same time the German Nineteenth Army, retreated northward through the Rhône valley toward the Plateau de Langres where it was joined by the German Fifth Panzer Army which was assigned to Army Group G so that a counter-attack could delivered against the United States Third Army.[3] The retreat did not go according to plan, as the Nineteenth Army retreated many personnel of Army Group G were taken prisoner by the Sixth United States Army Group.[4] By the time the retreat was over General Johannes Blaskowitz had lost about half his force and was relieved on 21 September by General Hermann Balck.[5] By mid September the Fifth were in position on the left wing of the German line north of the Swiss border. From there the Fifth Panzer with elements of the First attacked the United States Third Army, while the much reduced German Nineteenth Army opposed the French First Army and the U.S. Seventh Army under General Alexander M. Patch.[6]

Army Group G fought in the Vosges Mountains during November 1944 and retreated through Lorraine and north Alsace during December.[7] In late November 1944, Army Group G temporarily lost responsibility for the German troops in the Colmar Pocket and on the Rhine River south of the Bienwald to the short-lived Army Group Oberrhein. At least one of its divisions, the 21st Panzer Division, fought on the southern flank of the Battle of the Bulge[8] In January 1945 it was a large component in Operation Nordwind, the last big German counter attack on the Western Front.[7] With the failure of Nordwind and the ejection of the Germans from the Colmar Pocket, Army Group Oberrhein was dissolved and Army Group G reassumed responsibility for the defense of southwestern Germany.

Unable to halt the offensive by Allied troops that cleared the Rhineland-Palatinate and subsequently assaulted over the Rhine River, Army Group G's troops nevertheless managed a spirited defense at the cities of Heilbronn, Crailsheim, Nuremberg and Munich during April 1945.

Army Group G surrendered to U.S. forces at Haar, in Bavaria, in Germany on May 5, 1945.[9]

Contents

Commanders

8 May 1944 Johannes Blaskowitz
21 September 1944 Hermann Balck
24 December 1944 Johannes Blaskowitz
29 January 1945 Paul Hausser
2 April 1945 Friedrich Schulz

Order of battle

Army Group Headquarters troops
Army group signals regiment 609
Subordinated units
1944
May 1944 First Army , Nineteenth Army
August 1944 Nineteenth Army
September 1944 Nineteenth Army, First Army, Fifth Panzer Army
1945
January 1945 First Army
February 1945 First Army, Nineteenth Army
April 1945 First Army, Nineteenth Army

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ Cole (references) End Notes
  2. ^ Pogue (references) CHAPTER XII The Campaign in Southern France p.227
  3. ^ Pogue (references) p.228
  4. ^ Fact File : Antwerp Captured, BBC, June 2003
  5. ^ Pogue (references) p.229
  6. ^ Pogue (references) p.230
  7. ^ a b 100th Infantry Division Association References
  8. ^ Cole (references) CHAPTER III:Troops and Terrain
  9. ^ World Almanac of World War II, editor: Peter Young; St. Martin's Press