5. Armee 5th Army
Seal mark of the High Command of the 5th Army - News Officer
Active	2 August 1914 – 30 January 1919
Country	German Empire
Branch	Imperial German Army
Type	Field army
Engagements	World War I Western Front
Commanders
Notable commanders	Crown Prince Wilhelm
Insignia
Abbreviation	A.O.K. 5

The5th Army (German:5. Armee / Armeeoberkommando 5 / A.O.K. 5) was afield army of theImperial German Army duringWorld War I. It was formed on mobilization in August 1914 seemingly from theVII Army Inspection. The army was disbanded in 1919 during demobilization after the war.^[1]

In August 1914 the command of 5th Army was assigned toCrown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, heir to theHohenzollern throne, with GeneralSchmidt von Knobelsdorf serving as his chief of staff, and would remain thus until late 1916. The opening hostilities on theWestern Front saw the Crown Prince's 5th Army, along with the neighboring 4th Army (commanded byAlbrecht, Duke of Württemberg), acting at the center of theSchlieffen plan attack into Belgium and France. On 21 August 1914, in what became known as theBattle of the Ardennes, the 4th and 5th Armies advanced into theArdennes to counter a thrust by the French 3rd and 4th Armies. Over the next two days 5th Army played a major part in halting the opposing French forces. By 23 August, after taking heavy losses and being outmaneuvered strategically, the two French armies were driven into retreat. Following the German 5th Army's victory in theBattle of the Ardennes it moved toVerdun, where it would remain until 1918. In February 1916 the Crown Prince's 5th Army would launchOperation Gericht, the German offensive that began theBattle of Verdun, one of the bloodiest and longest battles in history. Late in 1916, after suffering terrible losses in its efforts atVerdun, GeneralMax von Gallwitz assumed control of 5th Army. Before the close of the war 5th Army fought in several noteworthy actions, including theBattle of Saint-Mihiel, in September 1918, when it was defeated by theAmerican Expeditionary Force underJohn J. Pershing. The Fifth Army continued to oppose the AEF'sMeuse-Argonne Offensive until the Armistice of 11 November 1918. At the end of the war it was serving as part ofHeeresgruppe Gallwitz.^[2]

By the end of the war, the 5th Army was organised as:

The 5th Army had the following commanders during its existence:^[4]

• Armee-Abteilung or Army Detachment in the sense of "something detached from an Army". It is not under the command of an Army so is in itself a small Army.^[6]
• Armee-Gruppe or Army Group in the sense of a group within an Army and under its command, generally formed as a temporary measure for a specific task.
• Heeresgruppe orArmy Group in the sense of a number of armies under a single commander.

• 5th Army (Wehrmacht) for the equivalent formation inWorld War II
• German Army order of battle (1914)
• German Army order of battle, Western Front (1918)
• Schlieffen Plan

• Cron, Hermann (2002).Imperial German Army 1914–18: Organisation, Structure, Orders-of-Battle [first published: 1937]. Helion & Co.ISBN 1-874622-70-1.
• Ellis, John; Cox, Michael (1993).The World War I Databook. Aurum Press Ltd.ISBN 1-85410-766-6.

• Field armies of Germany in World War I
• 1914 establishments in Germany
• 1919 disestablishments in Germany
• Military units and formations established in 1914
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1919
• Wilhelm, German Crown Prince

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