| Army Group South | |
|---|---|
| German:Heeresgruppe Süd | |
 Briefing at the headquarters of Army Group South atPoltava on 1 June 1942 | |
| Active | 1 September – 26 October 1939 22 June 1941 – 9 July 1942 9 February 1943 – 4 April 1944 23 September 1944 – 1 April 1945 |
| Country |  Germany |
| Branch |  Heer ( Wehrmacht) |
| Size | On 1 July 1942: 1,210,861 in total[1] |
| Engagements | World War II |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Gerd von Rundstedt,Fedor von Bock,Walter von Reichenau,Erich von Manstein |
Army Group South (German:Heeresgruppe Süd) was the name of one of threeGerman Army Groups duringWorld War II.
It was first used in the 1939September Campaign, along withArmy Group North to invadePoland. In theinvasion of Poland, Army Group South was led byGerd von Rundstedt and hischief of staffErich von Manstein.
Two years later, Army Group South became one of three army groups into which Germany organised their forces forOperation Barbarossa. Army Group South's principal objective was to captureSoviet Ukraine and its capitalKiev.[2]
In September 1944,Army Group South Ukraine was renamed Army Group South in Eastern Hungary. It fought in Western Hungary until March 1945 and retired to Austria at the end of the Second World War, where it was renamedArmy Group Ostmark on 2 April 1945.
Ukraine was a major center of Soviet industry and mining and had the good farmland required for Hitler's plans forLebensraum ('living space'). Army Group South was to advance up to theVolga River, engaging a part of theRed Army and thus clearing the way for theArmy Group North and theArmy Group Center on their approach toLeningrad andMoscow respectively.
To carry out these initial tasks its battle order included theFirst Panzer Group (Gen. Kleist) and the GermanSixth (Gen. Reichenau),Seventeenth (Gen. Stülpnagel) andEleventh Armies (Gen. Schobert), Luftlotte 1 (Keller) and the RomanianThird andFourth Armies.
In preparation forCase Blue, the 1942 campaign in southern Russia and the Caucasus, Army Group South was split into two army groups:Army Group A andArmy Group B.[3] Army Group A was ordered south to capture the oil fields in theCaucasus.
In February 1943,Army Group Don and the existingArmy Group B were combined and re-designated Army Group South. A newArmy Group B became a major formation elsewhere. TheGerman Sixth Army, which was destroyed in theBattle of Stalingrad, was re-constituted and later made part of Army Group South in March 1943.
By the end of December 1943, the strength of Army Group South had been reduced to 328,397 German soldiers, joined by another 109,816 allied soldiers and non-German volunteer troops.[4]: 386
On 4 April 1944, Army Group South was re-designatedArmy Group North Ukraine. Army Group North Ukraine existed from 4 April to 28 September.
In September 1944,Army Group South Ukraine was re-designated Army Group South. Atthe end of World War II in Europe, Army Group South was again renamed; asArmy Group Ostmark, the remnants of Army Group South ended the war fighting in and aroundAustria andProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Army Group Ostmark was one of the last major German military formations to surrender to the Allies.
| Army Group | Army | Corps | Division | Remarks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South GenFriessner | German Sixth Army GenFretter-Pico | IV Panzer Corps LtGenKleeman | 24th Panzer Division | ||||||||||
| LXXII Army Corps LtGenSchmidt | 76th Infantry Division | ||||||||||||
| Hungarian VII Army Corps MajGen Vörös | Hungarian 8th Reserve Division | ||||||||||||
| Hungarian 12th Reserve Division | |||||||||||||
| III Panzer Corps LtGenBreith | 1st Panzer Division | ||||||||||||
| 13th Panzer Division | |||||||||||||
| 23rd Panzer Division | |||||||||||||
| Feldherrnhalle Panzergrenadier Division | |||||||||||||
| 22nd SS Cavalry Division Maria Theresa | |||||||||||||
| 46th Infantry Division | |||||||||||||
| 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion | |||||||||||||
| German Eighth Army GenWöhler | German XVII Army Corps LtGenKreysing | German 8th8th Jäger Division | |||||||||||
| Hungarian 27th Infantry Division | |||||||||||||
| Hungarian 9th Frontier Brigade | |||||||||||||
| Hungarian IX Army Corps BrigGen Kovács | German 3rd Mountain Division | ||||||||||||
| Hungarian 2nd Replacement Division | |||||||||||||
| German XXIX Army Corps LtGenRöpke | German 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer | ||||||||||||
| German 4th Mountain Division | |||||||||||||
| Hungarian Second Army LtGen von Dalnoki (Attached to German Sixth Army) | Hungarian II Army Corps MajGen Kiss | Hungarian 2nd Armored Division | |||||||||||
| Hungarian 25th Infantry Division | |||||||||||||
| German 15th Infantry Division | |||||||||||||
| Hungarian Group Finta BrigGen Finta | Hungarian 7th Replacement Division | ||||||||||||
| Hungarian 1st Replacement Mountain Brigade | |||||||||||||
| Hungarian 2nd Replacement Mountain Brigade | |||||||||||||
| Army Reserve LtGen von Dalnoki | Hungarian 9th Replacement Division | ||||||||||||
| Hungarian Third Army LtGenHeszlényi | Hungarian VIII Army Corps MajGen Lengyel | Hungarian 23rd Reserve Division | |||||||||||
| Hungarian 5th Replacement Division | |||||||||||||
| Hungarian 8th Replacement Division | |||||||||||||
| Hungarian 1st Armored Division | |||||||||||||
| German LVII Panzer Corps LtGenKirchner | 4th SS Panzergrenadier Division | ||||||||||||
| Hungarian 20th Infantry Division | |||||||||||||
| Hungarian 1st Cavalry Division | |||||||||||||
| Army Reserve LtGenHeszlényi | Hungarian Szent László Infantry Division | ||||||||||||
| No. | Portrait | Commander | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Rundstedt, GerdGeneralfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt (1875–1953) | 1 September 1939 | 26 October 1939 | 55 days |
| (1) | | Rundstedt, GerdGeneralfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt (1875–1953) | 22 June 1941 | 1 December 1941 | 162 days |
| 2 |  | Reichenau, WalterGeneralfeldmarschall Walter von Reichenau (1884–1942) | 1 December 1941 | 12 January 1942 † | 42 days |
| 3 |  | Bock, FedorGeneralfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock (1880–1945) | 12 January 1942 | 9 July 1942 | 178 days |
| 4 |  | Weichs, MaximilianGeneralfeldmarschall Maximilian von Weichs (1881–1954) | 9 July 1942 | 12 February 1943 | 218 days |
| 5 |  | Manstein, ErichGeneralfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein (1887–1973) | 12 February 1943 | 2 April 1944 | 1 year, 50 days |
| 6 |  | Frießner, JohannesGeneraloberst Johannes Frießner (1892–1971) | 23 September 1944 | 28 December 1944 | 96 days |
| 7 |  | Wöhler, OttoGeneral der Infanterie Otto Wöhler (1894–1987) | 28 December 1944 | 6 April 1945 | 99 days |
| 8 |  | Rendulic, LotharGeneraloberst Lothar Rendulic (1887–1971) | 7 April 1945 | 30 April 1945 | 23 days |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
