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. As the invasion of Germany commenced, Eisenhower had a total of 90 full-strength divisions under his command, with the number of armored divisions now reaching 25. These figures do not include POWs that died or were released during this period. The 1st Army's area, on the other hand, was composed of rough, heavily forested terrain with a poor road network. 2nd Infantry Division was to defend the Corps Rear Area and prepare a last line of defense along the Western bank of the Weser river. Also looking forward to going home, tens of thousands of freed forced laborers and Allied prisoners of war further strained the American logistical system. 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. 3rd Training Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers. By midnight, infantry units had pushed the boundary of the bridgehead more than 5 miles (8.0km) inland, ensuring the unqualified success of the first modern assault crossing of the Rhine. Then, on the move to West Germany would join the 1st Artillery Brigade. All the armies assigned to cross the Rhine had elements east of the river, including the Canadian 1st Army in the north, which sent a division through the British bridgehead at Rees, and the French 1st Army in the south, which on 31 March established its own bridgehead by assault crossings at Germersheim and Speyer, about 50mi (80km) south of Mainz. Nevertheless, the 7th Army broke out of its Rhine bridgehead, just south of Frankfurt, on 28 March, employing elements of three corpsthe XV Corps to the north, the XXI Corps in the center, and the VI Corps to the south. Active Edge: The Army, Germany and the Cold War There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). GitHub export from English Wikipedia. By the end of the day, the units that had taken Leipzig joined the rest of the 1st Army on the Mulde, where it had been ordered to halt. [35], In addition to the poor roads, the 30th Division's breakout attempts were also hampered by the German 116th Panzer Division. The rest of the 9th Army would remain in reserve until the bridgehead was ready for exploitation. 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. The German forces there were simply in less disarray than those to the north. WW1 military Stereoview card British Army Gurkhas in battle at Chapelle If they held out for a year or more, dissension between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies might give them political leverage for some kind of favorable peace settlement. When we go to war, we have fourteen golden and bejewelled crosses borne before us instead of banners; each of these crosses is followed by 10,000 horsemen, and 100,000 foot soldiers fully armed, without reckoning those in charge of the luggage and provision. Positioned on the North German Plain, it is the command element of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG). 98 Squadron - Fassberg Middle East Air Force (Ismailia and Abu Sueir) . IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO STAY ANONYMOUS OR KEEP ALL CONTENTS PRIVATE PLEASE STATE THIS CLEARLY ON SUBMISSION: All rights reserved. The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II. [20], The Allied forces along this line were organized into three army groups. [16] Also on 4 May, after a shift in inter-army boundaries that placed Salzburg in the 7th Army sector, that city surrendered to elements of the XV Corps. Following this primary assault, which XII Corps would undertake, VIII Corps would execute supporting crossings at Boppard and St. Goar, 2530 miles (4048km) northwest of Mainz. During the fighting west of the Rhine up to March 1945, the German Army on the Western Front had been reduced to a strength of only 26 divisions, organized into three army groups (H, B and G). 11th Signal Regiment Royal Corps of Signals. Further north the airborne landings during Operation Plunder in support of the 21st Army Group's crossing of the Rhine were probably not worth the risk.[who?] Crossing Of The Rhine In The Final Months Of WW2 - warhistoryonline This decree of 5 August was followed by a decree dated 19 October (Fontainebleau Decree) ordering the destruction of all British merchandise found in territories occupied by Napoleon, included within which were the states of the Confederation. Jonathan Biney - Logistics Supply Specialist (LSS) & Health - LinkedIn [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. PDF The Original British Army of the Rhine - Orbat Field-Marshal Bernard Montgomery's 21st Army Group was supplied with the task of advancing into Germany in the Niederrhein (Lower-Rhine) area, which eventually resulted in both the operations 'Veritable' and . "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. The main thrust beyond the river was to be made in the north by Montgomery's 21st Army Group, elements of which were to proceed east to a juncture with the U.S. 1st Army as it made a secondary advance northeast from below the Ruhr River. British Army of the Rhine There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine ( BAOR ). 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. For the period 1 March 1945-20 April 1945 they recorded 343,321 killed and wounded in the East (62,861 killed, 280,460 wounded) versus 22,598 killed and wounded in the West (5,778 killed, 16,820 wounded), an East vs. West ratio of about 15:1 in killed and wounded. Meanwhile, Operation Widgeon began 2 miles (3.2km) north of Wesel as the 2nd Army's 1st Commando Brigade slipped across the river and waited within 1 mile (1.6km) of the city while it was demolished by one thousand tons of bombs delivered by RAF Bomber Command. These commands consisted of units of all three services and were commanded by one or 2-star rank flag officers. By 9 April, both the 9th and 1st Armies had seized bridgeheads over the Leine, prompting Bradley to order an unrestricted eastward advance. The last date on which the Army did not contain either a Guard's Brigade or Division as an operational unit was in 1920. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. 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. [55] The British and Americans contemplated an airborne operation before the attack. This structure was in force until the 1992 amalgamation of Royal Irish Rangers and Ulster Defence Regiment, after which 3rd Infantry Brigade returned to control its traditional area of County Armagh and County Down. 60th Communications Zone Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The first wave of boats was halfway across when the Germans began pouring machine-gun fire into their midst. CONTENTS OF EMAILS MAY BE DISPLAYED ON THIS SITE (BUT IN AN ENCRYPTED FORMAT TO DETER SPAMMERS) TO BENEFIT HISTORY. [62], Media related to Western Allied invasion of Germany at Wikimedia Commons. Includes 25 armored divisions and 5 airborne divisions. By then, the paratroopers had taken all their first day's objectives in addition to 3,500 prisoners. 52nd Field Squadron (Construction), 22nd Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, 516th Specialist Team (Bulk Petrol), Royal Engineers, RAF Gtersloh, 1st Postal & Courier Regiment, Royal Engineers, Hannover (in support of 1 (BR) Corps), 11th Postal & Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers, Verden (in support of 1st (BR) Armoured Division), 13th Postal & Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers, Soest (in support of 3rd (BR) Armoured Division), 14th Postal & Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers, Herford (in support of 4th (BR) Armoured Division), 3rd Postal & Courier Depot, Royal Engineers, Dsseldorf (in support of Communication Zone [CommZ]). At nine o'clock in the evening on Sunday, September 17, 1944, Harzer received the order to defeat all the British on the north side of the Lower Rhine with his division. 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. The two 9th Army divisions tasked for the assault concentrated in the Rheinberg area south of Wesel. At the top of the Army organisation is the Army Board of the Defence Council. Bradley had three American armies, the U.S. 1st Army (Courtney Hodges) on the left (north), the U.S. 3rd Army (George S. Patton) on the right (south), and the U.S. 15th Army (Leonard T. Gerow). Victory in Europe | National Army Museum There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine ( BAOR ). Recce Intelligence Centre (Gtersloh), Intelligence Corps. 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. 9th Field Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (V). The Battle of Arnhem through the eyes of German commander Walter Harzer wikipedia.en/Gothic_Line_order_of_battle.md at main chinapedia [50], While the Allied armies in the south marched to the Alps, the 21st Army Group drove north and northeast. . . This is known as the Central Europe Campaign in United States military histories. [58], For their part, captured German soldiers often claimed to be most impressed not by American armor or infantry but by the artillery. This secondary drive would also give Eisenhower a degree of flexibility in case the northern attack ran into difficulties. 61st Station Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Still, by 11 April 7 Army had penetrated the German defenses in-depth, especially in the north, and was ready to begin its wheeling movement southeast and south. The . 35th Base Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Such reinforcement units are indicated in the list below in italics followed by the higher command they were to reinforce in Germany in brackets. Postal and Courier Depot, Royal Engineers, Central Volunteer HQ Royal Engineers (Postal and Courier Services). 4th Guards Infantry Brigade (Iserlohn)6th Infantry Brigade (Mnster)7th Armoured Brigade (Soltau)11th Infantry Brigade (Minden)12th Infantry Brigade (Osnabrck)20th Armoured Brigade (Detmold)Berlin Brigade (Berlin)In 1968 6th Infantry Brigade was relocated back to Great Britain, only to return in the Autumn of 1970. 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. 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. After overcoming stiff initial resistance, XV Corps also advanced beyond the Rhine, opposed primarily by small German strongpoints sited in roadside villages. Alfred Price. Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. 12th Royal School of Military Engineer Regiment Corps of Royal Engineers. However, Montgomery believed that the paratroopers would quickly link up with the advancing river assault forces, placing the strongest force within the bridgehead as rapidly as possible. [33], Another important aspect of Montgomery's plan was Operation Varsity, in which two divisions of Major General Matthew Ridgway's XVIII Airborne Corps were to make an airborne assault over the Rhine. There will be no changes to personnel numbers, resourcing, cap badges or locations. British Army - Order of Battle Lt Gen Ivan Jones, Commander Field Army (CFA), described plans for rebalancing his command which will see changes to the structure of the Field Army's primary. [5] Its original function was to control the corps districts which were running the military government of the British zone of Allied-occupied Germany. But, the site and the Forum are not solely for the ex-services community. This site is maintained by a Cold War history enthusiast, for other Cold War . [25], When Allied soldiers arrived in a town, its leaders and remaining residents typically used white flags, bedsheets, and tablecloths to signal surrender.

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