| 1er Corps d'Armée | |
|---|---|
| Active | 27 August 1939 − 10 July 1940 16 August 1943 – 30 April 1946 c.1960s – 1990 |
| Country |  France |
| Branch | French Army |
| Type | Corps |
| Part of | First Army (France),Seventh Army (France) |
| Engagements | World War I, World War II |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Adolphe Guillaumat Henri Martin Émile Béthouart |
The1st Army Corps (French:1er Corps d'Armée) was first formed beforeWorld War I. DuringWorld War II it fought in theBattle for France in 1940, on the Mediterranean islands ofCorsica andElba in 1943–1944 and in the campaigns toliberate France in 1944 and invade Germany in 1945.
The Corps saw service throughout the entirety of World War I. During theBattles of St. Quentin and Guise, the 1st Corps forcedKarl von Bülow's2nd Army into retreat in what historian Stuart Robson called "the last old-style Napoleonic infantry charge in history." This forcedAlexander von Kluck to divert the1st Army as a reinforcement, preventing theImperial German Army from encirclingParis and overrunning France under theSchlieffen Plan.[1]
The Corps participated in theBattle of Passchendaele as part of theFirst Army. At the time, the Corps comprised the1st Division,2nd Division,51st Division and162nd Division.[2][3] Its troops came from the 1st military region of the Metropolitan Army, which covered thedépartements ofNord &Pas-de-Calais.[4]
1st Army Corps was constituted on August 27, 1939, inLille under the command ofMajor General Sciard[5] as part of the Frenchmobilization for war. Initially assigned as part of theFirst Army, the corps was transferred to theSeventh Army and moved to coastal regions nearCalais andDunkerque by mid-November 1939. On May 10, 1940, the Corps commanded the 25th Motorised Infantry Division (25e DIM) in addition to its organic units.[6]
With the German invasion violating the neutrality of Belgium andthe Netherlands on May 10, 1940, the 1st Army Corps moved into Belgium with the goal of gaining contact with theDutch Army. This was achieved on May 12 nearBreda, but the general failure of the Allies to hold the German advance mandated early retreats so that the 1st Army Corps would not be cut off. Breda fell to the Germans on May 13 and the corps conducted a fighting withdrawal through Dorp andWuustwezel to the fortified zone ofAntwerp, Belgium. From May 15 to 17, the corps defended theScheldt Estuary with the 60th Infantry division and 21st Infantry Division (60e DI and 21e DI), but was ordered to retreat into France on May 18.[7]
The period from May 19 to 26 saw the corps falling back to the line of the riverSomme, where the French Army intended to make a stand. Because of German advances, the 1st Army Corps had to deploy its divisionalreconnaissance units to cover positions on the river that the slower-moving infantry divisions (4th Colonial Infantry Division - 4e DIC, 7th North African Infantry Division - 7e DINA, and the 19e DI) could occupy. The corps reached positions near Le Hamel, Aubigny and along the road betweenAmiens andSaint-Quentin. During May 24 to 25, troops of the corps seized and lost Aubigny twice.[8] The Germans had held onto a large bridgehead atPeronne. The Germans broke out of this bridgehead on June 5, 1940, and continued their advance into the heart of France. A counter-attack by armored elements of the corps on June 6 was halted by the Germans.
From June 9, the corps was involved in withdrawals that were meant to form lines of defense along the riversAvre,Oise,Nonette,Seine, andLoire. The crossing of the Oise River was made under German air attack, some bridges were destroyed by theLuftwaffe, and portions of the corps' infantry had to surrender north of the Oise.
After the Germans crossed the Loire on June 18, the 19e DI of the corps was largely destroyed nearLa Ferté. This was followed by capture of the bulk of the infantry of the 29th (29e DI) and 47th Infantry Divisions (47e DI) on June 19 near Lamotte-Beuvron.[9] The final week of the campaign was a constant retreat for the remnants of the corps, with elements crossing the riverDordogne nearBergerac on June 24, 1940. The following day, an armistice was declared and the corps assembled in the region of Miallet andThiviers.
On July 1,Brigadier General Trancart[10] assumed command of the corps. The 1st Army Corps was demobilized on July 10, 1940.
The 1st Army Corps was reconstituted on August 16, 1943, in Ain-Taya,French Algeria. Now commanded by Lieutenant General Martin[11] the primary combat units of the corps were provided American equipment and weapons as part of the rearmament of the FrenchArmy of Africa.
During theAllied invasion of Italy the 1st Army Corps, comprising Headquarters,4th Moroccan Mountain Division (4e DMM), the 1st Regiment of MoroccanTirailleurs (1er RTM), the 4th Regiment of MoroccanSpahis (4e RSM) (light tank), the2nd Group of Moroccan Tabors (2e GTM), the Commandos de Choc battalion and the 3rd Battalion, 69th Mountain Artillery Regiment (69e RAM),[12] landed onFascist-occupied Corsica in the same month. To the south, the German90. Panzergrenadier-Division and theReichsführer-SS assault infantry brigade were evacuatingSardinia and landing on the southern coast of Corsica. Wishing to cut off the German troops, and informed on September 10, 1943, that theRoyal Italian Army troops on Corsica were willing to fight on the side of the Allies, the French launched OperationVésuve and landed elements of the 1st Army Corps atAjaccio on September 13, meeting Corsicanpartisans who also wanted enemy troops off the island.
German GeneralFridolin von Senger und Etterlin[13] hoped to obtain reinforcements with which to hold the island. After the Germans began disarming Italian soldiers, General Magli[14] of the Italian Army ordered Italian forces to consider the Germans as an enemy rather than as allies. Thereafter, Italian units on the island cooperated with the French forces. Surprising the ItalianFriuli Division in the northern port ofBastia on the night of September 13, 1943, the SS troops took 2,000 Italian prisoners and secured the port from which the Germans could evacuate their forces. Although supported by theRoyal Navy, the French were unable to land forces quickly enough on Corsica to prevent the bulk of the German troops from reaching their exit ports on the east coast of the island. The final combat took place around Bastia, with the island secured by French forces on October 4, 1943. The bulk of the German forces had made good their escape. The Germans took 700 casualties and lost 350 men to POW camps. The Italians lost 800 men in the fighting (mostlyFriuli Division troops), and the French had 75 killed, 12 missing, and 239 wounded.[15] From October 1943 until May 1944, the 1st Army Corps defended Corsica, conducted training, and moved units between Corsica and North Africa. On April 18, 1944, the 1st Army Corps was subordinated to Generalde Lattre's[16]Armée B.
Following the liberation of Corsica, the French proposed to invade the island ofElba, possession of which would allow the Allies to dominate by gunfire ships in thePiombino Channel and vehicles on the coastal road of theItalian Peninsula, both transportation arteries essential to the supply of GermanWehrmacht forces in western Italy. Initially, the proposal was denied by GeneralEisenhower,[17] who considered it a dispersal of resources while the planning for theAnzio landings was underway. After British General SirHenry Maitland Wilson[18] took over the Mediterranean Theater, however, attitudes at Allied headquarters changed and the operation was approved.[19] By this time, though, the Germans had strongly fortified Elba, an island dominated by rugged terrain in any case, making the assault considerably more difficult.
At 0400 hours on June 17, 1944, the 1st Army Corps assaulted Elba in OperationBrassard. French forces comprised the 9th Colonial Infantry Division (9e DIC), two battalions of Frenchcommandos (Commandos d'Afrique andCommandos de Choc), a battalion and supplementary battery of the Colonial Artillery Regiment of Morocco (R.A.C.M.) and the 2nd Group of MoroccanTabors (2e GTM), in addition to 48 men from "A" and "O" commandos of the Royal Navy.[20] FrenchChoc (lightly armed fighters who had the mission of operating behind enemy lines) units landed at multiple points before the main landing force and neutralized coastal artillery batteries. Landing in theGulf of Campo on the south coast, the French initially ran into difficulties because of the German fortifications and extremely rugged terrain that ringed the landing area. Falling back on an alternate plan, the landing beach was shifted to the east, nearNercio, and here the troops of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division seized a viable beachhead. Within two hours, French commandos reached the crest of the 400-meter Monte Tambone Ridge overlooking the landing areas. The RN commandos boarded and seized the GermanFlak shipKöln and also landed to guide in other troops headed for the beaches, but a massive blast from a German demolition charge killed 38 of their men.Portoferraio was taken by the 9th Division on June 18 and the island was largely secured by the following day. Fighting in the hills between the Germans and the Senegalese colonial infantry was vicious, with the Senegalese employingflamethrowers to clear entrenched German troops.[21]
The Germans defended Elba with two infantry battalions, fortified coastal areas, and several coastal artillery batteries totaling some 60 guns of medium and heavy caliber. In the fighting, the French seized the island, killing 500 German and Italian defenders, and taking 1,995 of them prisoner. French losses were 252 killed and missing, and 635 men wounded in action, while the British lost 38 of their 48 commandos, with nine others wounded by the blast of the demolition charge.[21]
Following the successfulOperation Dragoon landings in southern France, the headquarters of the 1st Army Corps was assembled atAix, France on September 1, 1944, to command troops as a subordinate corps of the First Army. 1st Army Corps was now under the command of Lieutenant GeneralÉmile Béthouart,[22] a veteran of the1940 campaign in Norway and an officer who had actively assisted theAllied landings in French North Africa in November 1942. For the remainder of the war in Europe, many French divisions would be subordinated to 1st Army Corps, but the divisions that spent the most time with the corps were the2nd Moroccan Infantry Division (2e DIM), the9th Colonial Infantry Division (9e DIC), the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division (4e DMM), and the1st Armoured Division (1re DB).
The 1st Army Corps drove north along the east bank of the riverRhône, but the push lacked strength as the 4e DMM was still deploying to France (and would be further engaged securing the alpine frontier with Italy for several months) and the 1re DB was still assembling insouthern France. In mid-September, the corps secured the Lomont Mountains, a range about 130 kilometers (81 mi) long running from the riverDoubs to theSwiss border. German resistance was spotty in September, but rapidly coalesced in front of the Belfort Gap, a corridor of relatively flat terrain that lies between theVosges andJura mountains on the Swiss frontier, and a gateway to the riverRhine. Operating with one division and experiencing the same logistics problems as other Allied units in Europe, the advance of the 1st Army Corps was slowed in front of the Belfort Gap by the German11. Panzer-Division.
Compounding the distance that supplies had to travel from the ports in southern France were the north–south railway lines with destroyed bridges and sections of track. Early October 1944 also saw the unseasonably early arrival of cold and wet weather more characteristic of November. All of these factors served to force a halt to the 1st Army Corps' advance in October while the corps improved its supply situations and resolved manpower issues caused by the French high command's decision to rotate the Senegalese troops to the south and replace them withFrench Forces of the Interior manpower. The supply situation had improved by early November, coinciding with orders from General Eisenhower, now in charge of all Allied forces in northwestern Europe, directing a general offensive all along theWestern Front.
Believing that the relative inactivity of 1st Army Corps meant the corps was digging in for the winter, the Germans reduced their forces in theBelfort Gap to a single, not-at-full strength infantry division. The 1st Army Corps launched their attack to force the Belfort Gap on November 13, 1944. By a stroke of fate, the French attack caught the German division commander near the front lines, who perished under a hail of Moroccan gunfire.[23][24] The same attack narrowly missed capturing the commander of the GermanIV. Luftwaffen-Feldkorps. Although desperate German troops formed islands of resistance, most notably at the fortified city of Belfort, troops of the 2e DIM, 9e DIC, and the 1re DB pushed through gaps in the German lines, disrupting their defense and keeping the battle mobile. French tanks moved through the Belfort Gap and reached the Rhine atHuningue on November 19.
The battle cut off the German308. Grenadier-Regiment on November 24, forcing the German troops to either surrender or intern themselves in Switzerland. On November 25, 1st Army Corps units liberated bothMulhouse (taken by a surprise armored drive) and Belfort (taken by assault of the 2e DIM). Realizing the German defense had been too static for their own good, General De Lattre (commander of the First Army) directed both corps of his army to close on Burnhaupt in order to encircle the GermanLXIII. Armeekorps (the formerIV. Luftwaffe Korps). This maneuver succeeded on November 28, 1944, and resulted in the capture of over 10,000 German troops, crippling theLXIII. Armeekorps.[25] French losses had also been significant, and plans to immediately clear the Alsatian Plain of German forces had to be shelved while both sides gathered strength for the next battles.
The November offensives of the French First Army and theU.S. Seventh Army had collapsed the German presence in Alsace to a roughly circular pocket around the town ofColmar on the Alsatian Plain. ThisColmar Pocket contained the German19. Armee. As the southernmost corps of Allied forces innorthwestern Europe, the French 1st Army Corps now faced the Rhine at Huningue and held Mulhouse and the southern boundary of theColmar Pocket. A French offensive in mid-December designed to collapse the Colmar Pocket failed for lack of offensive power and the requirement to cover more of the Allied front line as U.S. units were shifted north in response to theArdennes Offensive. On January 1, 1945, the Germans launchedOperation Nordwind, an offensive with the goal of recapturing Alsace. After the U.S. Seventh and French First Armies had held and turned back this offensive, the Allies were ready to reduce the Colmar Pocket once and for all.
The 1st Army Corps led the attack against the Colmar Pocket on January 20, 1945. Fighting in woodlands and dense urban areas, the 1st Army Corps' attack stalled after the first day, meeting a German defense in depth and attracting19. Armee reinforcements. By the end of the month, however, other attacks by U.S. and French forces against the Colmar Pocket had forced the Germans to redistribute their troops, and an early February attack by the 1st Army Corps moved north through weak German resistance, reaching the bridge over the Rhine at Chalampé and making contact with theU.S. XXI Corps atRouffach, south of Colmar. The final German forces in the 1st Army Corps' area retreated over the Rhine intoBaden on February 9, 1945. Thereafter, the thrust of the Allied offensive moved to the north, and the 1st Army Corps was assigned the defense of the Rhine from the area south ofStrasbourg to the Swiss frontier until mid-April 1945.
On April 15, 1st Army Corps was given the mission of crossing the Rhine, traversing theBlack Forest, and sweepingSouth Baden ofGerman Army troops. The 4e DMM drove directly onFreudenstadt, an importantBlack Forest road junction, capturing it on April 17, 1945. The 9e DIC, crossing the Rhine north ofKarlsruhe, raced south along the east bank of the Rhine and then swung east, paralleling the course of the Swiss frontier. From Freudenstadt, the 4e DMM turned south and met the 9e DIC near Döggingen on April 29, cutting off the GermanXVIII. SS-Armeekorps in the Black Forest. Frantic attempts at escape by the encircled German troops came to naught among French roadblocks and the formidable terrain of the forest, and they were left no options save death or surrender.
From Freudenstadt, elements of the 1re DB pushed east and south, capturingUlm on April 24, and then pushed south again with elements of the 2e DIM into the Alps, crossing into Austria and marching intoSankt-Anton on May 7, 1945. Elements of the 5e DB and the 4e DMM drove southeast along the north shore ofLake Constance, capturingBregenz and then turning east toward Sankt-Anton. The following day wasVE Day, ending Allied military operations in Europe.
During the course of its operations in France and Germany in 1944 - 1945, the 1st Army Corps lost 3,518 men killed, 13,339 wounded, and 1,449 missing, for a total of 18,306 casualties. Although not all casualties inflicted on the Germans by 1st Army Corps are known, the corps is credited with taking 101,556 Germans prisoner during the campaigns to liberate France and invade Germany.[26]
After VE Day, the 1st Army Corps occupied Baden along with parts ofWürttemberg and Austria as theFrench occupation zone in Germany, with corps headquarters initially inRavensburg. On July 16, 1945, the 1st Army Corps was renamed "Army Corps of the South" (French:Corps d'armée sud). General Béthouart became the commander of French forces in Austria and the High Commissioner for France in Austria until 1950. 1st Army Corps was inactivated on April 30, 1946.
It was reformed later during theCold War, with corps headquarters being atNancy in 1970.[27] In 1977, the corps was fused with the6th Military Region, and the artillery commandant took up quarters in the Chateau of Mercy (Ars-Laquenexy). Genérals Faverdin, Bonmati, D'Hulst, BARASCUD, MARTINIE and DELISSNYDER succeeded him there.[28] By 1984 the corps headquarters and military region HQ had been split again.
From circa 1965 to 1978 the corps included the 8th Division (with 4th and 14th Brigades) until the 8th Division, later the 8th Armoured Division, was disestablished in the small divisions reorganisation of the late 1970s.[29]
The10th Armoured Division was created on 1 August 1977 atChâlons-en-Champagne (part ofChâlons-sur-Marne (at that time)). It formed part of the 1st Army Corps.
In 1989 it had its HQ at Metz with the1st Armoured Division atTrier (Germany), the7th Armoured Division atBesançon,12th Light Armoured Division atSaumur, and the14th Light Armoured Division atMontpellier. The headquarters staff of the 12e Division légère blindée was to be mobilized in time of war from theArmoured and Cavalry Branch Training School headquarters in Saumur.[30]
The corps was again disbanded in 1990, seemingly on 1 July 1990.[31]
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