Army Group B

Army Group B was the name of four distinct German army group commands that saw action during World War II.
The first Army Group B was created on 12 October 1939 (from the former Army Group North) and fought in the Battle of France on the northern flank. It was responsible for a part of the German invasion of Belgium and the majority of the German invasion of the Netherlands. In the later stage of that campaign ("Case Red"), it again advanced on the German right flank towards the Somme river, the city of Paris and the Franco-Spanish border. After 16 August 1940, it was deployed to East Prussia and to the General Government in German-occupied Poland. When Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941, Army Group B was renamed on the same day to become "Army Group Center".
The second Army Group B came into existence on 9 July 1942, when Army Group South was split into two army groups, named Army Group A and Army Group B. Army Group B was responsible for the northern flank of the German 1942 summer offensive towards the Volga river and the Caucasian oilfields. Its most famous operational target was the major city of Stalingrad. Beginning on 21 November 1942, the army group had its lines repeatedly pierced by Red Army counterattacks ("Operation Uranus"), developing into the encirclement crisis during the Battle of Stalingrad that ended with the destruction of the German 6th Army trapped in the city. Army Group B was organizationally weakened by the creation of Army Group Don, which was inserted into the line between Army Groups A and B to alleviate the crisis at Stalingrad. After additional pressure was applied to the army group by the Soviet Voronezh–Kharkov offensive (January – March 1943), the army group was dissolved on 9 February 1943 and its subordinate formations divided between Army Group Center and the newly-reestablished Army Group South (formerly Army Group Don).
The third Army Group B was formed on 19 July 1943 using former Army Group B personnel as well as Task Force Rommel and deployed to northern Italy. Here, the staff was used on 26 November 1943 to create OB Südwest ("Army Group C").
On the same day, 26 November 1943, another Army Group B command was created at the coast of the English Channel in German-occupied France. After the Allied Normandy landings in June 1944, Army Group B initially commanded the northern wing of the new Western Front. After Army Group H was created in the German-occupied Netherlands in November 1944, Army Group B instead took the center of the Western Front, located between Army Group H to the north and Army Group G to the south. It is notable on the Western Front as the army group to oversee the German Ardennes Offensive ("Battle of the Bulge"). Eventually, Army Group B surrendered on 17 April 1945 in the Ruhr pocket.
First deployment (1939–41)
Army Group B was initially created on 12 October 1939, when the former Army Group North, which had participated in the Invasion of Poland, was renamed. The initial commander of the army group was Fedor von Bock, who had already held the command over Army Group North during the campaign in Poland.
Army Group B was assembled during the period of the Phoney War in the Lower Rhine area, along the German-Dutch border and the German-Belgian border. In the initial OKH draft for the attack against France, Army Group B was assigned the Schwerpunkt role, but the intervention by senior officers (notably Erich von Manstein) from its southern neighbor, Army Group A, resulted in a shift in the German planning starting in January to February 1940. Army Group A was now accorded the operational focus, and Army Group B became a formation with a support and auxiliary role. With 29⅓ divisions, it was clearly smaller than its southern neighbor with 44⅓ divisions (whereas Army Group C in the far south on the French border received only 17 divisions). Army Group A also received preferential treatment in terms of access to reserve formations. Whereas Army Group A received seven armored divisions and three motorized infantry divisions, Army Group B was significantly weaker at three each.
The army group participated in the German invasion of the Netherlands and the German invasion of Belgium. In the second part of that campaign ("Case Red"), Army Group B again found itself on the right-hand flank of the German forces and advanced towards the Somme river and to the French Atlantic coast.
After the successful conclusion of the Western campaign, the army group initially remained on occupation duty in German-occupied France, but was redeployed to German-occupied Poland starting on 16 August 1940, where it took charge of German forces in East Prussia and the General Government, in proximity to the demarcation line with the Soviet Union.
On the day Germany invaded the Soviet Union ("Operation Barbarossa"), 22 June 1941, Army Group B was renamed "Army Group Center".
Second deployment (1942–43)
On 9 July 1942, the previous Army Group South was split in two, resulting in the creation of a new Army Group A as well as the creation of a new Army Group B. Whereas Army Group A was led by a new army group command that had been covertly prepared behind the lines (as "Staff Anton"), Army Group B remained in charge of the previous Army Group South's command formation.
Army Group B advanced northeastwards (whereas Army Group A moved south into the Battle of the Caucasus) to approach the Don and Volga rivers, with particular goals at the Soviet cities of Stalingrad and Astrakhan. After the forward formations of the army group got themselves entangled in the Battle of Stalingrad, a Soviet counterthrust ("Operation Uranus") left the German 6th Army encircled inside the city, on the Volga west bank. Several major formations (German 6th Army, Romanian 4th Army, German 4th Panzer Army) were transferred away from Army Group B and attached to the newly-formed Army Group Don in November 1942. After another Soviet breakthrough on the Don river on 14 January 1943 (Voronezh–Kharkov offensive), Army Group B was pulled out of the line on 9 February 1943. Its remnant subordinate formations were distributed either to the Army Group Center or to the new Army Group South (previously Army Group Don).
Third deployment (1943)
After Army Group B was pulled out of the Eastern Front, its remaining staff elements were combined on 19 July 1943 with another staff, Task Force Rommel, named after its leading officer Erwin Rommel (whose Army Group Afrika had recently been decisively defeated with the ends of the Tunisian campaign). Rommel on the same 19 July became the commander of Army Group B.
The army group was deployed to northern Italy, where much of its staff was restructured into Army Group C ("Supreme Commander South West") on 26 November 1943.
Fourth deployment (1943–45)
On the same day that the staff of Army Group B was dissolved in Italy (26 November 1943), an army group high command by the same name was created in German-occupied France.
After the Western Allies' Normandy landings (6 June 1944), Army Group B became the northern army group in the German line on the Western Front. Günther von Kluge assumed command of the army group on 19 July 1944, but was soon replaced by Walter Model on 17 August. Moving to the Low Countries, Model with his HQ located at Oosterbeek close to Arnhem, was surprised on 17 September by the start of Operation Market Garden. The army group also participated in the Battle of the Bulge.
Army Group B was isolated in the Ruhr Pocket in northern Germany, and after being divided up into smaller and smaller sections, the final section surrendered to the Allies on 21 April 1945. Model committed suicide the same day rather than be tried by the Soviets for war crimes committed on the Eastern Front.
Subordinate formations
References
B
Military units and formations established in 1939
Military units and formations disestablished in 1943