The Red Army also pushed deep into Hungary (the Budapest Offensive) and eastern Czechoslovakia and temporarily halted at what is now the modern GermanyPoland border on the OderNeisse line. [49], As the 6th U.S. Army Group and the 3rd Army finished clearing southern Germany and approached Austria, it was clear to most observers, Allied and German alike, that the war was nearly over. The 9th Army's sector of the Ruhr Pocket, although only about 1/3 the size of the 1st Army's sector south of the river, contained the majority of the densely urbanized industrial area within the encirclement. Originally, Eisenhower had planned to draw all his forces up to the west bank of the Rhine, using the river as a natural barrier to help cover the inactive sections of his line. . 3rd Armoured Division was the corps' reserve formation. Most of these units were progressively dissolved, so that by February 1920 there were only regular battalions: In August 1920 Winston Churchill, as Secretary of State for War, told Parliament that the BAOR was made up of approximately 13,360 troops, consisting of staff, cavalry, Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, infantry, machine gun corps, tanks and the usual ancillary services. [6] The Army Department consisted of four components: the General Staff, the Adjutant General's department, which dealt with recruiting, and also had the Provost Marshal (Army), a brigadier, reporting to him, though the RMP headquarters was at Roussillon Barracks, Chichester;[7] the Military Secretary's department, and the Quartermaster General's department. IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO STAY ANONYMOUS OR KEEP ALL CONTENTS PRIVATE PLEASE STATE THIS CLEARLY ON SUBMISSION: All rights reserved. Patton also appreciated the opportunity he now had to beat Montgomery across the river and win for the 3rd Army the coveted distinction of making the first assault crossing of the Rhine in modern history. This was the first major . In a double envelopment, the French captured Stuttgart on 21 April, and by the next day, both the French and the VI Corps had elements on the Danube. Drawing on the experience gained during the campaign in Normandy and the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, the Western Allies demonstrated in western Germany and Austria their capability of absorbing the lessons of the past. [35], In addition to the poor roads, the 30th Division's breakout attempts were also hampered by the German 116th Panzer Division. Eisenhower sent Bradley his final word on the matter: the 9th Army was to stay putthere would be no effort to take Berlin. The . The XV Corps also captured Berchtesgaden, the town that would have been Hitler's command post in the National Redoubt. On roulement deployment from February 1989 to February 1991. Even Patton agreed with Churchill that he should order the attack on the city since Montgomery's troops could reach Berlin within three days. This was the first major step towards the army of today, with a brigade group comprising of armour, infantry, an engineer squadron and armoured reconnaissance regiment, opposed to divisions comprising of solely infantry of armour ( the first case of mixed brigades being used effectively was near Soltau, April 1945, by 4th Armoured Brigade, led by Brigadier Carver). 89) are: Area 1 The Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands; Area 2 Berlin. With the 79th Infantry Division meeting fierce resistance to the south, Simpson's only recourse was to commit some of his forces waiting on the west bank of the Rhine. 40th Army Engineer Support Group, Royal Engineers. Its new location was in the towns of Iserlohn and Soest, as the previous occupants (The Canadian Brigade) had moved to southern GermanyBy 1973, 1 (BR) Corps consisted of: 1st Division (Verden)7th Armoured Brigade (Soltau)11th Infantry Brigade (Minden)2nd Division (Lbbecke)4th Guards Infantry Brigade (Mnster)12th Mechanised Brigade (Osnabrck)4th Division (Herford)6th Armoured Brigade (Krbecke)20th Armoured Brigade (Detmold). To accomplish both objectives, Patch's 7th Army on Devers' left was to make a great arc, first driving northeastward alongside Bradley's flank, then turning south with the 3rd Army to take Nuremberg and Munich, ultimately continuing into Austria. Regimental headquarters are administrative and ceremonial in nature. Through a combination of flanking movements and night attacks, First Army troops were able to destroy or bypass the guns, moving finally into Leipzig, which formally surrendered on the morning of 20 April. Jonathan Biney - Logistics Supply Specialist (LSS) & Health - LinkedIn [46], As was the case throughout the campaign, the German ability to fight was sporadic and unpredictable during the drive to the ElbeMulde line. Both formations had areas of responsibility located around the German section of the River Rhine . Despite a wide armored thrust to envelop the enemy defenses, it took nine days of intense fighting to bring Heilbronn fully under American control. 1956 Saw more major changes to the BAOR. This change will be integrated within broader Defence, national and alliance efforts and enable the Field Army to operate and fight more effectively above and below the threshold of conflict. [44], In the center of the 12th U.S. Army Group, Hodges' 1st Army faced somewhat stiffer opposition, though it hardly slowed the pace. In the British Army, divisions and brigades are referred to as "formations." Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Nicholas Goodison interviewed by Cathy Courtney (section 1) Victory in Europe | National Army Museum It included the four military members of the Army Board, including the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir John Chapple in 1989, the Second Permanent Under Secretary, and the Assistant Chief of the General Staff, a major general. At the very beginning of 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, had 73 divisions under his command in North-western Europe of which 49 were infantry divisions, 20 armored divisions and four airborne divisions. 4th Petrol Depot, Royal Army Ordnance Corps. A battle group in the british army in the late cold war period was a task organised unit comprising of a mix of sub units commanded by either an armoured regiment or mechanised infantry battalion HQ. These commands consisted of units of all three services and were commanded by one or 2-star rank flag officers. [7] In 1967, the force was reduced in strength to 53,000 soldiers, compared with 80,000 ten years earlier. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) and the Royal Air Force Command constituted Great Britain's armed forces in Germany and were one of the main pillars of the NATO defence doctrine on West German soil. By 13 April, the 9th Army had cleared the northern part of the pocket, while elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps' 8th Infantry Division reached the southern bank of the Ruhr, splitting the southern section of the pocket in two. Thus, he decided to feint at Mainz while making his real effort at Nierstein and Oppenheim, 910mi (1416km) south of the city. This page is a list of British Armies in WWII. Ziethen's corps arrived late at Waterloo and linked up with Wellington's flank. Since the Allied armies on the Rhine were more than 300 miles (480km) from Berlin, with the Elbe River, 200 miles (320km) ahead, still to be crossed it seemed clear that the Soviets would capture Berlin long before the Western Allies could reach it. German military historian Rdiger Overmans (, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 21:59. The artillery fire had been so effective and so perfectly timed that the assault battalions merely motored their storm boats across the river and claimed the east bank against almost no resistance. There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Ziethen's I Army Corps was granted the honour of being the first major Allies force to enter Paris. Thus all three armies of the 12th U.S. Army Group were in a fairly even northsouth line, enabling them to advance abreast of each other to the Elbe. First, his headquarters received reports that Soviet forces held a bridgehead over the Oder River, 30 miles (48km) from Berlin. . 1stCorps District8th Corps District30th Corps DistrictBritish Troops Berlin, Click here for information from Mar 49 onwards 1st (BR) Corps6th Armoured Division7th Armoured Division11th Armoured Division2nd Infantry DivisionBritish Troops BerlinRhine Army TroopsHamburg DistrictHannover DistrictRhine District5 Army Group Royal Artillery (Anti-Aircraft). [37], Beginning the next day, 26 March, the armored divisions of all three corps turned these initial gains into a complete breakout, shattering all opposition and roaming at will throughout the enemy's rear areas. British 2nd. Once the bridgehead was secured the British 6th Airborne Division would be transferred to Second Army control, while the U.S. 17th Airborne Division would revert to 9th Army control. Panzer General.Best described as "thorough", these games are strictly off limits to anyone who couldn't tell you . NORTHAG wartime structure in 1989 - Wikipedia The executive committee of the Army Board was responsible for the 'detailed management of the Army.' For example, Patton potentially could have made his initial Rhine crossing north of Mainz and avoided the losses incurred crossing the Main.[who?] Simpson planned to commit the XIX Corps as soon as possible after the bridgehead had been secured, using the XIII Corps to hold the Rhine south of the crossing sites. The deployment and distribution of the divisions of the Wehrmacht and subordinate units of allies one day before the Allied air invasion near Arnhem on 17 September 1944 and the stabilization of the Western Front after the break-out of the Allied armies from Normandy.. divisions are listed in order of their original numbers (e.g., beginning with the former 1st Division and finishing with the former 62nd) . Although the Ruhr area still contained a significant number of Axis troops and enough industry to retain its importance as a major objective, Allied intelligence reported that much of the region's armament industry was moving southeast, deeper into Germany. German resistance everywhere was sporadic, and the hastily mounted counterattacks invariably burned out quickly, causing few casualties. These rapid advances on the Eastern Front destroyed additional veteran German combat units and severely limited German Fhrer Adolf Hitler's ability to reinforce his Rhine defenses. [34], Plunder began on the evening of 23 March with the assault elements of the British 2nd Army massed against three main crossing sites: Rees in the north, Xanten in the center, and Wesel in the south. The Battle Of The Rhine: The Last Major Battle Of WWII This force would block any German counterattack from the Ruhr. This secondary drive would also give Eisenhower a degree of flexibility in case the northern attack ran into difficulties. In addition, since Berlin and the rest of Germany had already been divided into occupation zones by representatives of the Allied governments at the Yalta Conference, Eisenhower saw no political advantage in a race for Berlin. It was fought in March and April 1945, after the Allied crossing of the Rhine River. Recce Intelligence Centre (Gtersloh), Intelligence Corps. Buschwhose main unit was the German 1st Parachute Army was to form the right-wing of the German defenses. However, the same flat east bank meant that the bridgehead would have to be rapidly and powerfully reinforced and expanded beyond the river since there was no high ground for a bridgehead defense. At the very beginning of 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, had 73 divisions under his command in North-western Europe of which 49 were infantry divisions, 20 armored divisions and four airborne divisions. The 9th Army's XVI Corps, which had taken up position north of the Ruhr area after crossing the Rhine, would be assisted in its southward drive by two divisions of the XIX Corps, the rest of which would continue to press eastward along with the XIII Corps. 20th Maritime Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport. After overcoming stiff initial resistance, XV Corps also advanced beyond the Rhine, opposed primarily by small German strongpoints sited in roadside villages. The enemy armored unit began making its presence felt almost immediately, and by the end of 26 March, the combination of the panzer division and the rough terrain had conspired to sharply limit the 30th Division's forward progress. Sixth United States Army Group - Wikipedia Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, urged Eisenhower to continue the advance toward Berlin by the 21st Army Group, under the command of Montgomery with the intention of capturing the city. At the same time, General Devers' 6th U.S. Army Group would move south through Bavaria and the Black Forest to Austria and the Alps, ending the threat of any Nazi last-ditch stand there. Although the defense of these sites was somewhat more determined than that XII Corps had faced, the difficulties of the Boppard and St. Goar crossings were compounded more by terrain than by German resistance. This increased the importance of the southern offensives across the Rhine. The British Army is the land warfare branch of the British Armed Forces. On 27 November 1989 Peter Inge became the commander of NATO's Northern Army Group and Commander-in-Chief, British Army of the Rhine in Germany with the local rank of general;[115] he succeeded General Brian Kenny. 9th Field Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (V). 62 BA/MA, RM 7/102, Hitler's order (signed by Keitel) of 21 March 1945 to the Wehrmacht leadership, 99f; RH 2/334, note from the Commander-in-Chief of the reserve army of 26 March 1945, concerning the transfer of the reserve training units behind the western and eastern fronts, Aktion Leuthen, 27. Includes 25 armored divisions and 5 airborne divisions. Another seven American divisions arrived during February,[19] along with the British 5th Infantry Division and I Canadian Corps, both of which had arrived from the fighting on the Italian front. [51], On the 21st Army Group's left, one corps of the Canadian First Army reached the North Sea near the Dutch-German border on 16 April, while another drove through the central Netherlands, trapping the German forces remaining in that country. I am interested in general European theatre, which will cover the Europe itself, Mediterranean and Middle East. ["On Heavy Artillery: American Experience in Four Wars"]. 36th District Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, HQ London District & 238 Signal Squadron, Royal Signals, Chelsea. PDF 21 Army Group History & Personnel - British Military History Up until now, if you have played a war game on the pc it's probably been a top-down hex game that's turn based, makes absolutely no use whatsoever of your machine's graphics and sound capabilities. An hour later, at 03:00, the 79th Infantry Division began its crossing upriver, achieving much the same results. [44], The 4 April pause in the 3rd Army advance allowed the other armies under Bradley's command to reach the Leine River, about 50mi (80km) east of Paderborn. 1, which began with "We come as a victorious army, not as oppressors." British 2nd. Army. Phantom Force Of Western Front Northern Advocate, 14 The Defence Operations Executive, led by the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments) and including the Assistant Chiefs of the Naval, General, and Air Staffs, supervised the Joint Operations Centre which in turn passed orders to the forces in Cyprus, Belize, the Falklands, and Hong Kong. [48], Advancing along this new axis the Seventh Army's left rapidly overran Bamberg, over 100mi (160km) east of the Rhine, on its way to Nuremberg, about 30mi (48km) to the south. ORBAT - 1980s British BG, Part 2 Task Organisation - Blogger PDF Fire and Fury Games - designers of wargame miniatures rules After driving east nearly 100 miles (160km), this corps was to meet elements of the 1st Army near Paderborn, completing the encirclement of the Ruhr. "The ETO", a term generally only used to refer to American forces in the Western European Theater, fielded 42,000 pieces of artillery; American forces comprised approximately 2/3 of all Allied forces during the campaign. Simpson subsequently turned his troops' attention to mopping up pockets of local resistance. 3.15 p.m.) LONDON, Mar. Brigade groups took over from divisions as the smallest operative units. The U.S. VII Corps, on the left, had the hardest going due to the German concentration north of the bridgehead, yet its armored columns managed to advance 12mi (19km) beyond their line of departure. Was Colonel in Quartermaster branch and talks of the logistic problems - stockpiling ammunition for the crossing of the Rhine, supplies stuck in sand before Alamein. All units within the service are either Regular (full-time) or Territorial Army (part-time), or a combination with sub-units of each type. This Photo Album In December 1989, Headquarters UK Land Forces at Wilton directed field forces through a three-star's command, Commander UK Field Army, Lieutenant General Sir David Ramsbotham. Detachments to 1st Armoured, 2nd Infantry, 3rd Armoured, 4th Armoured Divisions, 1st Artillery Brigade, and 1st Infantry Brigade. Following the reduction of the Ruhr, the 15th Army was to take over occupation duties in the region as the 9th,[39] 1st and 3rd Armies pushed farther into Germany. Forty-nine of these divisions were American, 12 British, eight French, three Canadian and one Polish. 13. Thus, as his forces had approached the east bank of the river, Montgomery proceeded with one of the most intensive buildups of material and manpower of the war. Here the Germans turned a thick defense belt of antiaircraft guns against the American ground troops with devastating effects. [25], When Allied soldiers arrived in a town, its leaders and remaining residents typically used white flags, bedsheets, and tablecloths to signal surrender. Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. [1][2] The most authoritative source for this type of information available is Ministry of Defence (Army Department), Master Order of Battle, (ASD 6500-25 Ministry of Defence, 1991)[3][4][5] and United Kingdom Land Forces, HQ UKLF, UKLF ORBAT Review Action Plan, HQ UKLF, 1990. 529 Air Support Specialist Team Corps of Royal Engineers. After General Omar Bradley warned, however, that capturing a city located in a region that the Soviets had already received at the Yalta Conference might cost 100,000 casualties,[56] by 15 April Eisenhower ordered all armies to halt when they reached the Elbe and Mulde Rivers, thus immobilizing these spearheads while the war continued for three more weeks. The Site is now approaching three years of age and much has happened in that time. Journal of the US Army War College. By the evening of 11 April, elements of the 9th Army's 2nd Armored Divisionseemingly intent on demonstrating how easily their army could take that coveted prizehad dashed 73mi (117km) to reach the Elbe southeast of Magdeburg, just 50mi (80km) short of the German capital. Similarly, the term Corps can be applied toa maneuver headquarters that controls multiple divisions (no such entity was active as of 2012) or a administrative headquarters for units in afunctional area, broadly similar to the US Army's Branches. Advancing from northern Italy, the British Eighth Army[l] pushed to the borders of Yugoslavia to defeat the remaining Wehrmacht elements there. While Montgomery was carefully and cautiously planning for the main thrust in the north, complete with massive artillery preparation and an airborne assault, American forces in the south were displaying the kind of basic aggressiveness that Eisenhower wanted to see. In a departure from standard airborne doctrine, which called for a jump deep behind enemy lines several hours prior to an amphibious assault, Varsity's drop zones were close behind the German front, within Allied artillery range. Heeresarzt 10-Day Casualty Reports per Theater of War, 1945 [BA/MA RH 2/1355, 2/2623, RW 6/557, 6/559]. On 4 April, the day it shifted to Bradley's control, the 9th Army began its attack south toward the Ruhr River. Holding the middle of the Allied line from the 9th Army's right flank to a point about 15 miles (24km) south of Mainz was the 12th Army Group under the command of Lieutenant General Omar Bradley. Once this was accomplished the remaining German forces could be defeated in detail. The Forces of Valor Update: Lucky Number Seven The inventory of the Army Air Corps in 1989 consisted of the following aircraft: Outline of the British Army at the end of the Cold War, Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. [59], In retrospect, very few questionable decisions were made concerning the execution of the campaign.[who?] The organisations within the British Army are divided into three types: Combat units:These units spearhead the Armys military capability. In the end, the campaign proceeded as Eisenhower had planned it. Recce Intelligence Centre (Laarbruch), Intelligence Corps, I (BR) Corps HQ Defence Company, Royal Pioneer Corps, Bielefeld, 6th Air Defence Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery (originally slated to form in 19903 with new HVM system), 43 Plant Squadron, Royal Engineers, Osnabrck, 65 Corps Support Squadron, Royal Engineers, Hameln, (20x M2 Amphibious Rigs). 71st Movement Control Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport, 602nd Transport Unit, Royal Corps of Transport, Antwerp, Belgium. At the top of the Army organisation is the Army Board of the Defence Council. Should the U.S. political leadership direct him to take Berlin, or if a situation arose in which it became militarily advisable to seize the German capital, Eisenhower would do so. At first, this was done informally with occupants evicted immediately and taking with them few personal possessions, but the process became standardized, with three hours' notice and OMGUS personnel providing receipts for buildings' contents. The battle to breach The Rhine: Rarely-seen photos show - Mail Online The Allied front along the Rhine stretched 450 miles (720km) from the river's mouth at the North Sea in the Netherlands to the Swiss border in the south. Upstream at Oppenheim, however, the effort did not proceed so casually. British Army of the Rhine (none conflict) | Cold War Warriors 1985 - 1995 When The Sunday Times was discussing the mechanics of "The Fall of Edward Heath", Mr. Harold Macmillan was supposed to have said it was very unwise of any Government to take on the Vatican, the National Union of Mineworkers or the Brigade of Guards. The Western Allies rapidly eroded any remaining ability to resist. Tactical commanders hastily enclosed huge open fields with barbed wire creating makeshift prisoner of war camps, where the inmates awaited the end of the war and their chance to return home. [43], On 4 April, as it paused to allow the rest of the 12th U.S. Army Group to catch up, the 3rd Army made two notable discoveries. On 29 March, the 1st Army turned toward Paderborn, about 80mi (130km) north of Giessen, its right flank covered by the 3rd Army, which had broken out of its own bridgeheads and was headed northeast toward Kassel. Five armies took part in the battle: the armies of Prince Rupert of the Rhine and the Marquis of Newcastle for the Royalists, and the Army of the Covenant, the Earl of Manchester's Eastern Association and Lord Fedinando Fairfax's Northern Association for the Allies. At Worms, about 25 miles (40km) south of Mainz, the 7th Army's XV Corps established a bridgehead, which it consolidated with the southern shoulder of the 3rd Army's bridgehead early the next day. - - - - - - - - - II Army Corps - GM Pirch-I: Strength: 33,000-36,000 men and 80-96 guns . Page last modified: The Rhineland Campaign, 1945 The Hard Winter On New Year's Day 1945, eight German divisions attacked south out of the Saar attempting to trap Eisenhower's thinned-out flank in Alsace. [49], Following the capture of Nuremberg, the 7th Army discovered little resistance as the XXI Corps' 12th Armored Division dashed 50mi (80km) to the Danube, crossing it on 22 April, followed several days later by the rest of the corps and the XV Corps as well. Thus, on 15 April when Eisenhower ordered Patton's entire 3rd Army to drive southeast down the Danube River valley to Linz, and south to Salzburg and central Austria, he also instructed the 6th U.S. Army Group to make a similar turn into southern Germany and western Austria. The Battle of Aachen: Breaking Down the Door to Europe in WWII Outline of the British Army at the end of the Cold War Alfred Price. British Army of the Rhine (Hansard, 19 July 1982) PDF The Original British Army of the Rhine - Orbat [35], To the north, the British crossings had also gone well, with the ground and airborne troops linking up by nightfall. Captain Murray S. Pulver, commander of Company B, 120th Infantry Regiment, was in his usual placethe thick of the fighting. The re-designation of Force Troops Command (FTC) to 6th (United Kingdom) Division (6 (UK) Div) will provide the Armys asymmetric edge , orchestrating Intelligence, Counter-Intelligence, Information Operations, Electronic Warfare, Cyber and unconventional warfare. "Now we will have roughly one-sixth of that number. Then, on the move to West Germany would join the 1st Artillery Brigade. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. While retaining its operational focus, the intention is to rebalance the Armys formations in order to meet the challenges of constant competition and maintain its high-end warfighting capability. My representation of this capability for my 1980s British Battle Group will include. Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Key to the effort was the logistical support that kept these forces fueled, and the determination to maintain the forward momentum at all costs. [35], To the south, the discovery of a defensive gap in front of the 30th Infantry Division fostered the hope that a full-scale breakout would be possible on 25 March. S. L. A. Marshall. The ensuing airdrops, which began on 29 April,[52] marked the beginning of what was to become a colossal effort to put war-torn Europe back together again.[53]. The Battle of Arnhem through the eyes of German commander Walter Harzer
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