Army Group A

Army Group A (Heeresgruppe A) was the name of several

Army Group A
German Army Groups during World War II. During the Battle of
France, the army group named Army Group A was composed of Heeresgruppe A
45½ divisions, including 7 armored panzer divisions. It was Country Nazi
responsible for breaking through the heavily-forested Ardennes Germany
region. The operation, which was part of Fall Gelb (Case Yellow),
was resoundingly successful for the Germans, as the army group Insignia
outflanked the best troops of France and its allies, eventually Identification
leading to France's surrender.[1] symbol

In 1942, Army Group South on the Eastern Front against the

Soviet Union was split into Army Group A and Army Group B, and Army Group A was responsible for
the invasion into the Caucasus. In 1945, months before the fall of Nazi Germany, Army Group A was
renamed Army Group Centre.

Contents
Western Front, 1940
Eastern Front, 1942
Eastern Front, 1944-1945
Commanders
Chiefs of Staff
References

Western Front, 1940

During the German invasion of the Low Countries and France Army Group A was under the command of
Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt and was responsible for the break-out through the Ardennes. It was
composed of 45½ divisions, including the 7 panzer divisions of Panzer Group Kleist.

Order of Battle

4th Army Generaloberst Günther von Kluge

V Army Corps (Wehrmacht) General Infantry Richard Ruoff
211th Infantry Division - Generalmajor Kurt Renner
251st Infantry Division - Generalmajor Hans Kratzert
263rd Infantry Division - Generalmajor Franz Karl
VIII Army Corps (Wehrmacht) General Infantry Walter Heitz
8th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) GenLt Rudolf Koch-Erpach
28th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) GenMaj Johann Sinnhuber
 II Army Corps (Wehrmacht) General Infantry Adolf Strauss
12th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) GenLt Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach
32nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) GenLt Franz Böhme
XV Army Corps (Wehrmacht) General Infantry Hermann Hoth
5th Panzer Division GenLt Joachim Lemelsen
7th Panzer Division GenMaj Erwin Rommel
62nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) GenMaj Walter Keiner
12th Army Generaloberst Wilhelm List
VI Army Corps (Wehrmacht) (Förster)
III Army Corps (Wehrmacht) (Haase)
XVII Army Corps (Wehrmacht) (Kienitz)
16th Army General Infantry Ernst Busch
VII Army Corps (Wehrmacht) (Schobert)
XIII Army Corps (Wehrmacht) (Vietingoff)
XXIII Army Corps (Wehrmacht) GenLt Albrecht Schubert
Panzer Group Kleist
XIX Army Corps (Wehrmacht) (Guderian)
2nd Panzer Division (Veiel)
1st Panzer Division (Kirchner)
10th Panzer Division (Schaal)
Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland
XLI Army Corps (Wehrmacht) (Reinhardt)
6th Panzer Division (Kempf)
8th Panzer Division (Kuntzen)
2nd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) (Bader)
XIV Army Corps (Wehrmacht) (Wietersheim)
13th Panzer Division (Rothkirch und Panthen)
29th Motorized Infantry Division (Langermann und Erlencamp)
Reserves
XXXX Corps - Generalleutnant Georg Stumme
4th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) GenLt Erick-Oskar Hansen
87th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) GenLt Bogislav von Studnitz
211th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) GenLt Kurt Renner
263rd Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) GenLt Franz Karl
267th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) GenLt Ernst Fessmann

Eastern Front, 1942

In 1942, Army Group South was in southern Russia on the Eastern Front. For Case Blue (Fall Blau), the
summer offensive of the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht), Army Group South was split into Army
Group A and Army Group B. Army Group A was ordered south to capture the oil fields in the Caucasus.
Army Group A included the following armies:

German 1st Panzer Army

German 11th Army
German 17th Army
Romanian 3rd Army

Eastern Front, 1944-1945

Army Group A was formed a third time on September 23, 1944, in southern Poland and the Carpathian
region by renaming Army Group North Ukraine.
The army group was used to defend southern Poland and Slovakia.
Subordinate were :

9th Army,
4th Panzer Army
the newly formed 17th Army
1st Panzer Army.

After the breakthrough of the Red Army near Baranow on the Vistula during the Soviet Vistula-Oder
Offensive, on January 16, 1945 Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin, the Chief of the Operational Branch of the
Army General Staff (Generalstab des Heeres) gave Heeresgruppe A permission to retreat rejecting a direct
order from Adolf Hitler for them to hold fast. Although Heeresgruppe A escaped encirclement and
regrouped, von Bonin was arrested by the Gestapo on January 19, 1945, and imprisoned.

On 25 January 1945 Hitler renamed three army groups. Army Group North became Army Group
Courland; Army Group Center became Army Group North and Army Group A became Army Group
Center.

Commanders
 Time in
No. Portrait Commander Took office Left office
office

Generalfeldmarschall
1 Gerd von Rundstedt 15 October 1939 1 October 1940 11 months
(1875–1953)

Generalfeldmarschall
10 September
2 Wilhelm List 10 July 1942 2 months
1942
(1880–1971)

Adolf Hitler 10 September

3 21 November 1942 2 months
(1889–1945) 1942

Generalfeldmarschall
4 Ewald von Kleist 22 November 1942 June 1943 6 months
(1881–1954)

General der
Gebirgstruppe
5 June 1943 July 1943 1 month
Hubert Lanz
(1896–1982)

Generalfeldmarschall
(4) Ewald von Kleist July 1943 25 March 1944 8 months
(1881–1954)

6 Generaloberst 25 March 1944 31 March 1944 0 months

Ferdinand Schörner
(1892–1973)
 Generaloberst
28 September
7 Josef Harpe 17 January 1945 3 months
1944
(1887–1968)

Generaloberst
(6) Ferdinand Schörner 17 January 1945 26 January 1945 0 months
(1892–1973)

Chiefs of Staff
 Time in
No. Portrait Chief of Staff Took office Left office
office

Generalleutnant
1 Erich von Manstein 26 October 1939 1 February 1940 98 days
(1887–1973)

General der Infanterie

2 Georg von Sodenstern 6 February 1940 1 October 1940 238 days
(1889–1955)

Generalleutnant
3 Hans von Greiffenberg 10 July 1942 23 February 1943 228 days
(1893–1951)

Generalleutnant
4 Alfred Gause 23 February 1943 13 May 1943 79 days
(1896–1967)

Generalleutnant
(3) Hans von Greiffenberg 13 May 1943 16 July 1943 64 days
(1893–1951)

Generalleutnant
5 Hans Röttiger 16 July 1943 24 March 1944 252 days
(1896–1960)

Generalleutnant
6 Walther Wenck 24 March 1944 22 July 1944 120 days
(1900–1982)

7 Generalleutnant 28 September 15 February 208 days

 Wolf-Dietrich von 1944 1945 †
Xylander
(1903–1945)

References
1. Jackson, J. T. (2003). The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940 (https://archive.org/detai
ls/falloffrancenazi00jack). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280300-9.

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