page_title: Army Group Vistula
section_title: Establishment and history
hierarchical_section_title: Army Group Vistula / Establishment and history
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Im Hauptquartier der Heeresgruppe Weichsel Personen hinter Hitler von links: Generalleutnant Wilhelm Berlin; General der Artillerie im OKW Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim; Kommandeur der Luftflotte 6 Generalmajor Franz Reuß; Kommandeur einer Flieger-Div. General der Flakartillerie Job Odebrecht, Kommandierender General des II. Flak-Korps (mot) Generalleutnant Theodor Busse&#160;; Oberbefehlshaber der 9. Armee
context_page_description: Army Group Vistula was an Army Group of the Wehrmacht, formed on 24 January 1945. It lasted for 105 days, having been put together from elements of Army Group A, Army Group Centre, and a variety of new or ad hoc formations. It was formed to protect Berlin from the Soviet armies advancing from the Vistula River.
context_section_description: Heinz Guderian had originally urged the creation of a new army group as an essentially defensive measure to fill the gap opening in German defences between the lower Vistula and the lower Oder.
  The new Army Group Vistula was duly formed from an assortment of rebuilt, new and existing units. Guderian intended to propose Field-Marshal Maximilian von Weichs as commander. However, in a reflection of Hitler's desire to transfer control of the conflict from the Wehrmacht to the SS, Heinrich Himmler was appointed. Himmler, who lacked any real military knowledge, proved inadequate to the task; General Gotthard Heinrici replaced Himmler as commander of Army Group Vistula on 20 March, subsequent to its participation in the German offensive codenamed Operation Solstice and the following defence against the Soviet East Pomeranian Offensive.
  The Army Group's only offensive action was Operation Solstice, the failed attempt to relieve the fortress of Kustrin late in March 1945, during which the subordinate XXXIX Panzer Corps took heavy casualties.
  Under the command of Heinrici, parts of the army group fought through the Battle of Berlin and Battle of Halbe, with some of its elements not surrendering until the end of the war in Europe on 8 May 1945. Army Group Vistula's strength was in the region of 500,000 troops; in general, the army group was poorly equipped, many of its units being little more than the 'paper' formations typical of the German military at the end of World War II. Indeed, when first set up it was found that the army group lacked many essential facilities, such as proper maps or a headquarters signals detachment—the sole means of communication being Himmler's private telephone.
caption: Briefing at the headquarters of Army Group Vistula
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