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Army Group South
Name of three distinct German Army groups in the Eastern Front of World War II
Name of three distinct German Army groups in the Eastern Front of World War II
| Field | Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| unit_name | Army Group South | ||
| native_name | |||
| image | Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B24543, Hauptquartier Heeresgruppe Süd, Lagebesprechung.jpg | ||
| image_size | 280 | ||
| caption | Briefing at the headquarters of Army Group South at Poltava on 1 June 1942 | ||
| dates | 1 September – 26 October 1939 | ||
| 22 June 1941 – 9 July 1942 | |||
| 9 February 1943 – 4 April 1944 | |||
| 23 September 1944 – 1 April 1945 | |||
| country | Nazi Germany | ||
| branch | [[File:Heer - decal for helmet 1942.svg | 16px]] Heer ([[File:Balkenkreuz.svg | 16px]] Wehrmacht) |
| size | On 1 July 1942: | ||
| 1,210,861 in total | |||
| battles | World War II | ||
| notable_commanders | Gerd von Rundstedt, Fedor von Bock, Walter von Reichenau, |
22 June 1941 – 9 July 1942 9 February 1943 – 4 April 1944 23 September 1944 – 1 April 1945 1,210,861 in total
- Invasion of Poland
- Operation Barbarossa
- Battle of Brody
- Operation München
- Battle of Uman
- Battle of Kiev
- First Battle of Kharkov
- Crimean Campaign
- Battle of Rostov
- Second Battle of Kharkov
- Operation Blue
- Battle of Voronezh
- Third Battle of Kharkov
- Battle of Kursk
- Operation Citadel
- Belgorod-Kharkov offensive
- Battle of the Dnieper
- Battle of Kiev
- Dnieper-Carpathian offensive
- Zhitomir-Berdichev offensive
- Kirovograd offensive
- Korsun-Cherkassy pocket
- Rovno-Lutsk offensive
- Kamenets-Podolsky pocket
- Uman–Botoșani offensive
- Battle of Debrecen
- Budapest offensive
- Siege of Budapest
- Operation Konrad
- Operation Spring Awakening
- Vienna offensive Erich von Manstein
Army Group South () was the name of one of three German Army Groups during World War II.
It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland, Army Group South was led by Gerd von Rundstedt and his chief of staff Erich von Manstein.
Two years later, Army Group South became one of three army groups into which Germany organised their forces for Operation Barbarossa. Army Group South's principal objective was to capture Soviet Ukraine and its capital Kiev.
In September 1944, Army Group South Ukraine was renamed Army Group South in Eastern Hungary. It fought in Western Hungary until March 1945 and retired to Austria at the end of the Second World War, where it was renamed Army Group Ostmark on 2 April 1945.
Operation Barbarossa
Ukraine was a major center of Soviet industry and mining and had the good farmland required for Hitler's plans for Lebensraum ('living space'). Army Group South was to advance up to the Volga River, engaging a part of the Red Army and thus clearing the way for the Army Group North and the Army Group Center on their approach to Leningrad and Moscow respectively.
To carry out these initial tasks its battle order included the First Panzer Group (Gen. Kleist) and the German Sixth (Gen. Reichenau), Seventeenth (Gen. Stülpnagel) and Eleventh Armies (Gen. Schobert), Luftlotte 1 (Keller) and the Romanian Third and Fourth Armies.
Case Blue
In preparation for Case Blue, the 1942 campaign in southern Russia and the Caucasus, Army Group South was split into two army groups: Army Group A and Army Group B. Army Group A was ordered south to capture the oil fields in the Caucasus.
In February 1943, Army Group Don and the existing Army Group B were combined and re-designated Army Group South. A new Army Group B became a major formation elsewhere. The German Sixth Army, which was destroyed in the Battle of Stalingrad, was re-constituted and later made part of Army Group South in March 1943.
By the end of December 1943, the strength of Army Group South had been reduced to 328,397 German soldiers, joined by another 109,816 allied soldiers and non-German volunteer troops.
On 4 April 1944, Army Group South was re-designated Army Group North Ukraine. Army Group North Ukraine existed from 4 April to 28 September.
In September 1944, Army Group South Ukraine was re-designated Army Group South. At the end of World War II in Europe, Army Group South was again renamed; as Army Group Ostmark, the remnants of Army Group South ended the war fighting in and around Austria and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Army Group Ostmark was one of the last major German military formations to surrender to the Allies.
Order of battle for Army Group South, October 1944
| Army Group | Army | Corps | Division | Remarks | South | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gen Friessner | ||||||
| German | ||||||
| Sixth Army | ||||||
| Gen Fretter-Pico | IV Panzer Corps | |||||
| LtGen Kleeman | 24th Panzer Division | |||||
| LXXII Army Corps | ||||||
| LtGen Schmidt | 76th Infantry Division | |||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| VII Army Corps | ||||||
| MajGen Vörös | Hungarian | |||||
| 8th Reserve Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 12th Reserve Division | ||||||
| III Panzer Corps | ||||||
| LtGen Breith | 1st Panzer Division | |||||
| 13th Panzer Division | ||||||
| 23rd Panzer Division | ||||||
| Feldherrnhalle | ||||||
| Panzergrenadier Division | ||||||
| 22nd SS Cavalry Division | ||||||
| Maria Theresa | ||||||
| 46th Infantry Division | ||||||
| 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion | ||||||
| German | ||||||
| Eighth Army | ||||||
| Gen Wöhler | German | |||||
| XVII Army Corps | ||||||
| LtGen Kreysing | German | |||||
| 8th 8th Jäger Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 27th Infantry Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 9th Frontier Brigade | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| IX Army Corps | ||||||
| BrigGen Kovács | German | |||||
| 3rd Mountain Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 2nd Replacement Division | ||||||
| German | ||||||
| XXIX Army Corps | ||||||
| LtGen Röpke | German | |||||
| 8th SS Cavalry Division | ||||||
| Florian Geyer | ||||||
| German | ||||||
| 4th Mountain Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| Second Army | ||||||
| LtGen von Dalnoki | ||||||
| (Attached to | ||||||
| German | ||||||
| Sixth Army) | Hungarian | |||||
| II Army Corps | ||||||
| MajGen Kiss | Hungarian | |||||
| 2nd Armored Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 25th Infantry Division | ||||||
| German | ||||||
| 15th Infantry Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| Group Finta | ||||||
| BrigGen Finta | Hungarian | |||||
| 7th Replacement Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 1st Replacement | ||||||
| Mountain Brigade | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 2nd Replacement | ||||||
| Mountain Brigade | ||||||
| Army Reserve | ||||||
| LtGen von Dalnoki | Hungarian | |||||
| 9th Replacement Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| Third Army | ||||||
| LtGen Heszlényi | Hungarian | |||||
| VIII Army Corps | ||||||
| MajGen Lengyel | Hungarian | |||||
| 23rd Reserve Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 5th Replacement Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 8th Replacement Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 1st Armored Division | ||||||
| German | ||||||
| LVII Panzer Corps | ||||||
| LtGen Kirchner | 4th SS | |||||
| Panzergrenadier Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 20th Infantry Division | ||||||
| Hungarian | ||||||
| 1st Cavalry Division | ||||||
| Army Reserve | ||||||
| LtGen Heszlényi | Hungarian | |||||
| Szent László | ||||||
| Infantry Division |
Commanders
References
References
- Liedtke, Gregory. Enduring the Whirlwind: The German Army and the Russo-German War 1941–1943. Wolverhampton Military Studies, 2016, p. 228.
- Robert Kirchubel. (2012). "Operation Barbarossa 1941 (1): Army Group South". Bloomsbury Publishing.
- (2015). "With Paulus at Stalingrad". Pen and Sword Books Ltd..
- Frieser, Karl-Heinz. (2007). "Die Ostfront 1943/44: Der Krieg im Osten und an den Nebenfronten". Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt.
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