Army Group A
Army Group A (Heeresgruppe A) was the name of several German Army Groups during World War II. During the Battle of France, the army group named Army Group A was composed of 45½ divisions, including 7 armored panzer divisions. It was responsible for breaking through the heavily-forested Ardennes region. The operation, which was part of "Fall Gelb" (Case Yellow), was resoundingly successful for the Germans, as the army group outflanked the best troops of France and its allies, eventually leading to France's surrender. In 1942, Army Group South on the Eastern Front against the Soviet  Union was split into Army Group A and Army Group B, and Army Group A was responsible for the invasion into the Caucasus. In 1945, months before the fall of Nazi Germany, Army Group A was renamed Army Group Centre. Western Front, 1940. During the German invasion of the Low Countries and France Army Group A was under the command of Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt and was responsible for the break-out through the Ardennes. It was composed of 45½ divisions, including the 7 panzer divisions of Panzer Group Kleist. Order of Battle Erlencamp) Eastern Front, 1942. In 1942, Army  Group South was in southern Russia on the Eastern Front. For Case Blue ("Fall Blau"), the summer offensive of the German Armed Forces ("Wehrmacht"), Army Group South was split into Army Group A and Army Group B. Army Group A was ordered south to capture the oil fields in the Caucasus. Army Group A included the following armies: Eastern Front, 1944-1945. Army Group A was formed a third time on September 23, 1944, in southern Poland and the Carpathian region by renaming Army Group North Ukraine. The army group was used to defend southern Poland and Slovakia. Subordinate were  : After the breakthrough of the Red Army near Baranow on the Vistula during the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive, on January 16, 1945 Colonel Bogislaw von Bonin, the Chief of the Operational Branch of the Army General Staff ("Generalstab des Heeres") gave Heeresgruppe A permission to retreat rejecting a direct order from Adolf Hitler for them to hold fast. Although Heeresgruppe A escaped encirclement and regrouped, von Bonin was arrested by the Gestapo on January 19, 1945, and imprisoned. On 25 January 1945 Hitler renamed three army groups. Army Group North became Army Group Courland; Army Group Center became Army Group  North and Army Group A became Army Group Center.