17th Army ( Wehrmacht ) The German Seventeenth Army ( German : " 17 . Armee " ) was a World War II field army . Operational history . On 22 June 1941 , the 17th Army was part of Army Group South ( " Heeresgruppe Sud " ) when Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa ( " Unternehmen Barbarossa " ) and invaded the Soviet Union . From 1 July , the Hungarian " Fast Moving Army Corps " ( " Gyorshadtest " ) was subordinated to the 17th Army . The 17th Army was engaged in some very heavy fighting with Soviet forces in southern Russia . Along with 1st Panzer Army , the 17th Army encircled Soviet forces near Uman in central Ukraine during the Battle of Uman . Approximately 100 , 000 Soviet troops were captured . Afterwards , the 17th Army and other German formations encircled even more Soviet troops during the Battle of Kiev . Approximately 450 , 000 were captured and , afterwards , Marshal of the Soviet Union ( " Marshal Sovietskovo Soyuza " ) Semyon Budyonny was dismissed from duty . After Kiev , the German focus shifted towards Moscow and the Battle of Moscow . Most of Army Group South suspended offensive operations for the rest of 1941 . In 1942 , Army Group South was to spearhead the German summer offensive in Russia known as Case Blue ( " Fall Blau " ) . The 17th Army was to give flank protection to 1st Panzer Army as it struck towards the Don River . From June to July , the German 17th Army , the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia , and the Romanian 3rd Army were organized as " Army Group Ruoff " ( " Heeresgruppen Ruoff " ) . In August 1942 , what he considered slow progress , caused German dictator Adolf Hitler to re - organize his forces . Hitler sub - divided Army Group South into two new army groups : Army Group A ( " Heeresgruppe A " ) and Army Group B ( " Heeresgruppe B " ) . Army Group A included the 17th Army , the 1st Panzer Army , and the 4th Panzer Army . Army Group B included the 2nd Army , the 6th Army , the Italian 8th Army , and the Hungarian 2nd Army . By October 1942 , the Romanian 3rd Army and the Romanian 4th Army were added to further bolster Army Group B . While Army Group B struck towards Stalingrad , Army Group A and the 17th Army attacked towards the Caucasus oilfields in what was to be known as the Battle of the Caucasus . However , by December with Soviet forces en - circled the 6th Army at Stalingrad , Army Group B withdrew from Southern Russia but 17th Army was ordered to hold the Kuban bridgehead . Hitler demanded a three - mile road and rail bridge across the Strait of Kerch in spring 1943 to support a push through the Caucasus to Persia , although the Cable Railway ( Aerial tramway ) which went into operation on July 14 with a daily capacity of one thousand tons was adequate for the defensive needs of the 17th Army in the Kuban bridgehead . Because of frequent earth tremors , vast quantities of extra - strength girders would be required , and their transport would curtail shipments of military material to the Crimea . By October 1943 , the 17th Army was forced to retreat from the Kuban Bridgehead across the Kerch Strait to Crimea . During the following months , the Red Army pushed back the German Army ( " Wehrmacht Heer " ) in the southern Ukraine . In November 1943 , they eventually cut off the land - based connection of 17th Army through the Perekop Isthmus . Hitler forbade a sea evacuation of 17th Army because he thought the Soviets could use the Crimea to launch air attacks against Romanian oil refineries . However , by the end of 1943 , the Soviet began landing troops in Kersh Strait and , by 10 April 1944 , moving troops near the Sivash and together with an attack at the Perekop Isthmus forced 17th Army to fall back to Sevastopol . The German Supreme Command of the Armed Forces ( " Oberkommando der Wehrmacht " , or OKW ) intended to hold Sevastopol as a fortress , much as the Red Army had done during the first battle for the Crimea from 1941 to 1942 . Inadequate repair to the defenses of Sevastopol made this impossible and , on 9 May 1944 , Sevastopol fell in less than one month after the start of the battle . The Army lost much of its heavy equipment in the Crimea . Considerable losses were suffered in terms of men lost in battle and losses associated with the sea evacuation . The Army was subsequently reorganized and continued to fight on the Eastern Front , including in the Battle of Bautzen . References . < br >