Army Group South

Name of three distinct German Army groups in the Eastern Front of World War II

Army Group South

German: Heeresgruppe Süd

Briefing at the headquarters of Army Group South at Poltava on 1 June 1942

Active| 1 September – 26 October 1939
22 June 1941 – 9 July 1942
9 February 1943 – 4 April 1944
23 September 1944 – 1 April 1945
Country|  Germany
Branch|  Heer ( Wehrmacht)
Size| On 1 July 1942:
1,210,861 in total[1]
Engagements| World War II

* 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

Commanders
Notable
commanders| Gerd von Rundstedt, Fedor von Bock, Walter von Reichenau, Erich von Manstein

Military unit

Not to be confused with Army Group South Ukraine.

Army Group South (German: Heeresgruppe Süd) 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.[2]

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

[edit]

Soldiers of the Army Group South crossing the Soviet border in Ukraine during 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

[edit]

Meeting between Adolf Hitler (left) and officers in the headquarters of Army Group South at Poltava. 1 June 1942

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.[3] 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.[4]: 386

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

|
|
|
|
|

| Rundstedt, GerdGeneralfeldmarschall
Gerd von Rundstedt
(1875–1953)| 1 September 1939| 26 October 1939| 55 days
(1)|

| Rundstedt, GerdGeneralfeldmarschall
Gerd von Rundstedt
(1875–1953)| 22 June 1941| 1 December 1941| 162 days

| Reichenau, WalterGeneralfeldmarschall
Walter von Reichenau
(1884–1942)| 1 December 1941| 12 January 1942 †| 42 days

| Bock, FedorGeneralfeldmarschall
Fedor von Bock
(1880–1945)| 12 January 1942| 9 July 1942| 178 days

| Weichs, MaximilianGeneralfeldmarschall
Maximilian von Weichs
(1881–1954)| 9 July 1942| 12 February 1943| 218 days

| Manstein, ErichGeneralfeldmarschall
Erich von Manstein
(1887–1973)| 12 February 1943| 2 April 1944| 1 year, 50 days

| Frießner, JohannesGeneraloberst
Johannes Frießner
(1892–1971)| 23 September 1944| 28 December 1944| 96 days

| Wöhler, OttoGeneral der Infanterie
Otto Wöhler
(1894–1987)| 28 December 1944| 6 April 1945| 99 days

| Rendulic, LotharGeneraloberst
Lothar Rendulic
(1887–1971)| 7 April 1945| 30 April 1945| 23 days

## See also

[edit]

* Army Group Centre
* Army Group North

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Liedtke, Gregory. Enduring the Whirlwind: The German Army and the Russo-German War 1941–1943. Wolverhampton Military Studies, 2016, p. 228.
2. ^ Robert Kirchubel (2012). Operation Barbarossa 1941 (1): Army Group South. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 3–10\. ISBN 978-1846036514. Illustrated.
3. ^ Adam, Wilhelm; Ruhle, Otto (2015). With Paulus at Stalingrad. Translated by Tony Le Tissier. Pen and Sword Books Ltd. p. 25\. ISBN 9781473833869.
4. ^ Frieser, Karl-Heinz (2007). "Die Rückzugsoperationen der Heeresgruppe Süd in der Ukraine". In Frieser, Karl-Heinz; et al. (eds.). Die Ostfront 1943/44: Der Krieg im Osten und an den Nebenfronten. Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg. Vol. 8\. Munich: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. pp. 339–450\. ISBN 9783421062352.

* v
* t
* e

Army Groups of the German Army (1935–1945)

* A
* B
* C
* D
* E
* F
* G
* H (Northwest)
* Africa
* Centre
* Courland
* Don
* North
* Ostmark
* South
* Upper Rhine
* North Ukraine
* South Ukraine
* Vistula

* v
* t
* e

Wehrmacht Army Group Rear Areas during the German–Soviet War, 1941–45

Army Group Rear Area Command|

* North
* Centre
* South

Commanding organisations|

* Army High Command
* Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS

| Army Group|

* North
* Centre
* South

|

Commanders|

* Erich Friderici
* Ludwig Kübler
* Kuno-Hans von Both
* Franz von Roques
* Karl von Roques
* Edwin von Rothkirch
* Max von Schenckendorff
* Joachim Witthöft

Security Divisions|

* 201st
* 203rd
* 207th
* 213th
* 221st (Police Battalion (PB) 309)
* 281st
* 285th
* 286th
* 403rd
* 444th
* 454th
* 707th

HSS-PF|

* Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski
* Friedrich Jeckeln
* Hans-Adolf Prützmann

Order Police and SS Detachments|

* Einsatzgruppen (PB 9)

| Police Regiment|

* North
* Centre (PB 307, 316, 322)
* South (PB 45, 303, 314)
* Special Purpose (PB 304, 315, 320)

|

SS Brigade|

* Cavalry
* 1st Infantry
* 2nd Infantry

|

Milestones|

* Hunger Plan
* Hitler's speech of 30 March 1941
* Criminal orders (Barbarossa Decree * Commissar Order * Guidelines for the Conduct of the Troops in Russia)
* Mogilev conference
* Nazi security warfare

Major crimes|

* Babi Yar
* Kamianets-Podilskyi massacre
* Persecution of Soviet prisoners of war

War crimes trials|

* High Command Trial
* Kharkov Trial
* Krasnodar Trial
* Minsk Trial
* Riga Trial
* Ukase 43

Related articles|

* The Holocaust
* War of annihilation
* War crimes of the Wehrmacht
* Myth of the clean Wehrmacht

Historiography|

* Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945
* Hitler’s Bandit Hunters
* Hitler's Generals on Trial
* Hitler's War in the East 1941−1945
* Marching into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust
* The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Israel

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