british army of the rhine order of battle

With the Soviets at the door of Berlin, the western Allies decided any attempt on their behalf to push that far east would be too costly, concentrating instead on mopping up resistance in the west German cities. This secondary drive would also give Eisenhower a degree of flexibility in case the northern attack ran into difficulties. . Brigade groups took over from divisions as the smallest operative units. The Army must remain adaptable and evolve as a fighting force. After what had been initially a one man attempt to discover more about the British Army of the Rhine, to which he had never served under, there is now a full team in place determined towards preventing this precious history drifting into obscurity. On that day, Eisenhower instructed Patton to halt the 3rd Army at the Mulde River, about 10mi (16km) short of its original objective, Chemnitz. [36], Adding to the Germans' woes, the 6th Army Group made an assault across the Rhine on 26 March. [35], Although the armored division bolstered his offensive capacity within the bridgehead, Simpson was more interested in sending the XIX Corps across the Wesel bridges, as Montgomery had agreed, and using the better roads north of the Lippe to outflank the enemy in front of the 30th Division. The largest difference was in the period from 1-10.4.1945, for which the Heeresarzt recorded 63,386 killed and wounded in the East (12,510 killed, 50,876 wounded) vs. only 431 in the West (100 killed, 331 wounded), an East vs. West ratio of about 147:1 in killed and wounded. 221st (BAOR) EOD Company, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Communications Zone Ordnance Depot, Antwerp, Belgium, Forward Stores Depot, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Dulmen. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), which was responsible for the northern portions of the central front in West Germany, had been judged to be capable of holding out for as little as two days. The deployment and distribution of the divisions of the Wehrmacht and subordinate units of allies on March 1, 1945. The British army has never excelled at swift advances, and the Guards Armoured Division mandated to dash for the Rhine was better suited to conduct last-ditch, last-man infantry defensive actions than to emulate General Erwin Rommel's panzers. 2 Postal and Courier Regiment, Royal Engineers. Many of the units stationed in the United Kingdom were to move immediately to Germany to reinforce British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in case of war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Nevertheless, the 7th Army broke out of its Rhine bridgehead, just south of Frankfurt, on 28 March, employing elements of three corpsthe XV Corps to the north, the XXI Corps in the center, and the VI Corps to the south. While the U.S. Ninth and First Armies held their ground from Magdeburg through Leipzig to western Czechoslovakia, Eisenhower ordered three Allied field armies (1st French, and the U.S. Similarly, the term Corps can be applied toa maneuver headquarters that controls multiple divisions (no such entity was active as of 2012) or a administrative headquarters for units in afunctional area, broadly similar to the US Army's Branches. 21st Army Group gave their strength on 5 May 1945 excluding US forces as 9248 tanks and 6584 guns. The battle was a victory for the Allies, and resulted in the capture of over 250,000 German soldiers. Births, marriages and deaths in the armed forces - The National Archives 11th Signal Regiment Royal Corps of Signals. After the end of the Second World War the British Army was drastically reduced in manpower to such an extent that the former British Rhine Army consisted of only two British divisions, the 7th Armoured Division and the 2nd Infantry Division. Still, by 11 April 7 Army had penetrated the German defenses in-depth, especially in the north, and was ready to begin its wheeling movement southeast and south. By 9 April, both the 9th and 1st Armies had seized bridgeheads over the Leine, prompting Bradley to order an unrestricted eastward advance. The British 2nd Army advanced towards Hamburg, crossing the River Elbe on 29 April 1945 and pushing on towards Denmark and the Baltic. BAOR was armed with tactical nuclear weapons and supported by Royal Air Force Germany. 21st Army Group was then instead ordered to move northeast toward Bremen and Hamburg. 529 Air Support Specialist Team Corps of Royal Engineers. US General George Marshall estimated about 263,000 German battle deaths on the Western Front for the period from 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945, or a longer period. The 12th and 6th Army Groups were to mount a subsidiary offensive to keep the Germans off balance and diminish their ability to stop the northern thrust. The French retired in good order. [49], Following the capture of Nuremberg, the 7th Army discovered little resistance as the XXI Corps' 12th Armored Division dashed 50mi (80km) to the Danube, crossing it on 22 April, followed several days later by the rest of the corps and the XV Corps as well. At nine o'clock in the evening on Sunday, September 17, 1944, Harzer received the order to defeat all the British on the north side of the Lower Rhine with his division. Rdiger Overmans, Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. The first British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was created in March 1919 to control troops in the British occupation zone along the Rhine. This guide will help you find records at The National Archives relating to military operations planned and carried out by the British Army since the end of the Second World War up until. [22], In addition, there was the matter of the Ruhr. There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). For example, Patton potentially could have made his initial Rhine crossing north of Mainz and avoided the losses incurred crossing the Main.[who?] The British Rhine occupation force British Second and Fourth Armies were selected to make the advance and to commence on 17 November 1918. Uniquely and rather confusingly, the Infantry, which is a collection of regiments, was organized in 1957 into Brigades, which were not fighting formations but rather provided depots for training recruits to the three or four regiments within the Brigade. The three infantry battalions were rotated every two years, and the armoured squadron was detached from a BAOR armoured regiment based in West Germany. When the 4th Armored Division and elements of the 89th Infantry Division captured the small town of Ohrdruf, a few miles south of Gotha, they found the first concentration camp taken by the Western Allies. . Its been seven years since Waltersons first acquired the Forces of Valor brand from its former owner, Unimax. By the last week of April, it was well known that the Soviets were close, and dozens of American patrols were probing beyond the east bank of the Mulde, hoping to meet them. HQ Wales District & Signal Troop, Royal Signals. British Army | Military Wiki | Fandom There are: VG Division the newly introduced Volks (People's) Grenadier Divisions. British Army formations & units [1939-1945] - unit histories Ziethen's corps arrived late at Waterloo and linked up with Wellington's flank. This structure was in force until the 1992 amalgamation of Royal Irish Rangers and Ulster Defence Regiment, after which 3rd Infantry Brigade returned to control its traditional area of County Armagh and County Down. On 25 August 1945, it was redesignated as the British Army of the Rhine (B.A.O.R. These rapid advances on the Eastern Front destroyed additional veteran German combat units and severely limited German Fhrer Adolf Hitler's ability to reinforce his Rhine defenses. [22], Also focusing Eisenhower's attention on the southern drive was concern over the "National redoubt." and comes complete with a manual big enough to be deemed as an offensive weapon i.e. In the battle of Ligny Ziethen faced Vandamme's III Corps. British Army of the Rhine - Wikipedia First, his headquarters received reports that Soviet forces held a bridgehead over the Oder River, 30 miles (48km) from Berlin. Entering in the night, the commandos secured the city late on the morning of 24 March, although scattered resistance continued until dawn on the 25th. Simpson, in turn, ordered a combat command of the 2nd Armored Division, which had just reached Beckum, to make a 15mi (24km) advance southeast to Lippstadt, midway between Beckum and the stalled 3rd Armored Division spearhead. I am interested in general European theatre, which will cover the Europe itself, Mediterranean and Middle East. German resistance, initially rather determined, dwindled rapidly. 5 (Gibraltar 177983) Field Battery, 94th Locating Regiment Royal Artillery. Combat Service Support units: These units provide essential support services both in combat and in peacetime. These were based in various former German Army barracks in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westfalia. [44], The Elbe River was the official eastward objective, but many American commanders still eyed Berlin. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Sub-units are generally about 100 personnel strong. 79th Railway Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport. To accomplish both objectives, Patch's 7th Army on Devers' left was to make a great arc, first driving northeastward alongside Bradley's flank, then turning south with the 3rd Army to take Nuremberg and Munich, ultimately continuing into Austria. In total they were to consist of 16 Divisions in four Corps (out of the current British total in Europe of 61 and 16), together with appropriate cavalry, air resources and extended lines of communication. [12], Following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the permanent deployment of British Army units in Germany began to be phased out, with the last military base handed back to the German Bundeswehr in February 2020. 50 Construction Field Squadron Corps of Royal Engineers, 62 Chief Engineer Command (Works) [Water utilities, water development, and well drilling], 63 Chief Engineer Command (Works) [Electrical power generation and distribution, originally utilities and force protection], 64 Chief Engineer Command (Works) [Fuels, fuel production, and distribution], 156th Provost Company, Royal Military Police, Colchester, 7th Ordnance Battalion, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Colchester. The three complementary British Army Divisions harness the wide range of British Army capabilities, providing choice to the Government in defence of the UKs interests. Outline of the British Army at the end of the Cold War Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Unfortunately, because of pressure from the Germans in the northern part of the 2nd Army bridgehead, the British were having trouble completing their bridges at Xanten and were, therefore, bringing most of their traffic across the river at Wesel. Botch on the Rhine | Max Hastings | The New York Review of Books Use the search function to locate the Order of battle by title or file name. Home [baor-locations.org] On 6 May, the Polish 1st Armoured Division seized the Kriegsmarine naval base in Wilhelmshaven, where General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the fortress, naval base, East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions. As heavier equipment was ferried across the Rhine, both divisions began pushing east, penetrating 36 miles (4.89.7km) into the German defensive line that day. Even when the hopelessness of the German situation became obvious to his most loyal subordinates, Hitler refused to admit defeat. [6] The Army Department consisted of four components: the General Staff, the Adjutant General's department, which dealt with recruiting, and also had the Provost Marshal (Army), a brigadier, reporting to him, though the RMP headquarters was at Roussillon Barracks, Chichester;[7] the Military Secretary's department, and the Quartermaster General's department. With the surrender of the German Army on 9 May 1945, the 21st Army Group became an army of occupation. Originally, Eisenhower had planned to draw all his forces up to the west bank of the Rhine, using the river as a natural barrier to help cover the inactive sections of his line. They include the Adjutant-Generals Corps, the Army Medical Services, the Royal Logistics Corps and the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. [36], Simpson began by moving elements of the XIX Corps' 2nd Armored Division into the XVI Corps bridgehead on 28 March with orders to cross the Lippe east of Wesel, thereby avoiding that city's traffic jams. Following this primary assault, which XII Corps would undertake, VIII Corps would execute supporting crossings at Boppard and St. Goar, 2530 miles (4048km) northwest of Mainz. 21 Field Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps, 32 Field Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps, Hannover, 83 Field Medical Equipment Depot, Royal Army Medical Corps, Hannover. Also on 28 March, elements of the U.S. 17th Airborne Division operating north of the Lippe River in conjunction with British armored forcesdashed to a point some 30mi (48km) east of Wesel, opening a corridor for the XIX Corps and handily outflanking Dorsten and the enemy to the south. The Brigade of Guards was reformed on 14 July 1948 as the administrative depot for the regiments of foot guards. [22], For several reasons, Eisenhower began to readjust these plans toward the end of March. On 4 April, the day it shifted to Bradley's control, the 9th Army began its attack south toward the Ruhr River. In Berlin, the Reichsbanner resistance organization identified possible drop zones for Allied paratroopers and planned to guide them past German defenses into the city.[56]. A captain of the 506th wrote, "At one point the men were so weary that [on] the order to rest . HQ British Forces Brunei & Brunei Signal Troop, Detachment 24 Postal and Courier Squadron, Royal Engineers, 9th Signal Regiment (Radio), Royal Signals, at, 259 (West) Signal Squadron (responsible for communications in the west of the island). [42], Meanwhile, the remaining Allied forces north, south, and east of the Ruhr had been adjusting their lines in preparation for the final advance through Germany. Thus, he decided to feint at Mainz while making his real effort at Nierstein and Oppenheim, 910mi (1416km) south of the city. Panzer General.Best described as "thorough", these games are strictly off limits to anyone who couldn't tell you . Active Edge: The Army, Germany and the Cold War [26], On 19 March, Eisenhower told Bradley to prepare the 1st Army for a breakout from the Remagen bridgehead any time after 22 March. Once this was done, the 21st Army Group would take Lbeck and Wismar on the Baltic Sea, cutting off the Germans remaining in the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, while the 6th U.S. Army Group and the 3rd Army drove south into Austria. German resistance everywhere was sporadic, and the hastily mounted counterattacks invariably burned out quickly, causing few casualties. Isby and Kamp, Armies of NATO's Central Front, 1985, 251-255. During the Cold War NORTHAG was NATO's forward defence in the Northern half of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). 44th District Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, HQ South-West District & 243 (Southern) Signal Squadron, Royal Signals, Bulford, Permanent Planning Group Joint Force Headquarters, Bulford. In addition, since Berlin and the rest of Germany had already been divided into occupation zones by representatives of the Allied governments at the Yalta Conference, Eisenhower saw no political advantage in a race for Berlin. Patton knew that the most obvious place to jump the river was at Mainz or just downstream, north of the city. The 2nd Army's XII Corps and the 9th Army's XVI Corps began the main effort about 02:00 on 24 March, following a massive artillery and air bombardment. The 6th United States Army Group was an Allied army group that fought in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.Made up of field armies from both the United States Army and the French Army, it fought in France, Germany, Austria, and, briefly, Italy.Also referred to as the Southern Group of Armies, it was established in July 1944 and commanded throughout its duration by General . Chapter XII: The Rhineland Campaign, 1945 - United States Army Center In the center of the front, defending the Ruhr, Kesselring had Field Marshal Walther Model commanding Army Group B (15th Army and 5th Panzer Army) and in the south Paul Hausser's Army Group G (7th Army, 1st Army and 19th Army). In the north, from the North Sea to a point about 10 miles (16km) north of Cologne, was the 21st Army Group commanded by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. In a departure from standard airborne doctrine, which called for a jump deep behind enemy lines several hours prior to an amphibious assault, Varsity's drop zones were close behind the German front, within Allied artillery range. Meanwhile, the 9th and 1st Armies began preparing converging attacks using the east-west Ruhr River as a boundary line. On 4 May, the 3rd Army's V Corps and XII Corps advanced into Czechoslovakia, and units of the VI Corps met elements of Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott's U.S. 5th Army on the Italian frontier, linking the European and Mediterranean Theaters. An hour later, at 03:00, the 79th Infantry Division began its crossing upriver, achieving much the same results. Order 1977, SI 1977 No. The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II. During the three days leading up to Montgomery's attack, targets in front of the 21st Army Group zone and in the Ruhr area to the southeast were pummeled by about 11,000 sorties, effectively sealing off the Ruhr while easing the burden on Montgomery's assault forces. 30th District Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, HQ South-East District & 251 Signal Squadron, Royal Signals, Aldershot, 640 Signal Troop (Electronic Warfare), Royal Corps of Signals, at, B Squadron (assigned to 3rd Commando Brigade, Royal Marines), C Squadron (assigned to protect key government personnel and the, Falklands Band of the Parachute Regiment (Large Infantry Band), 50 Field Squadron (Construction) [to 39 Engineer Regiment, RE]. 2nd Infantry Division was to defend the Corps Rear Area and prepare a last line of defense along the Western bank of the Weser river. In the British Army division-level formations are administrative or deployable formations. At the very beginning of 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, had 73 divisions under his command in North-western Europe of which 49 were infantry divisions, 20 armored divisions and four airborne divisions. Phantom Force Of Western Front (Rec. 1st Division provides specialist soldiers and equipment to develop other nations armies, deal with disaster and humanitarian crises worldwide and enable our warfighting division. 71st Movement Control Squadron, Royal Corps of Transport, 602nd Transport Unit, Royal Corps of Transport, Antwerp, Belgium. [57], The crossing of the Rhine, the encirclement and reduction of the Ruhr, and the sweep to the ElbeMulde line and the Alps all established the final campaign on the Western Front as a showcase for Western Allied superiority over the Germans in maneuver warfare. 60th Communications Zone Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Involved in battle of El Alamein and the invasion of Sicily. This decree of 5 August was followed by a decree dated 19 October (Fontainebleau Decree) ordering the destruction of all British merchandise found in territories occupied by Napoleon, included within which were the states of the Confederation. "Now we will have roughly one-sixth of that number. By 13 April, the 9th Army had cleared the northern part of the pocket, while elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps' 8th Infantry Division reached the southern bank of the Ruhr, splitting the southern section of the pocket in two. (see. . Still, despite the terrain and German machine-gun and 20 millimetres (0.79in) anti-aircraft cannon fire, VIII Corps troops managed to gain control of the east bank's heights, and by dark on 26 March, with German resistance crumbling all along the Rhine, they were preparing to continue the drive the next morning. Within 21st Army Group the Canadian First Army (under Harry Crerar) held the left flank of the Allied line, with the British Second Army (Miles C. Dempsey) in the center and the U.S. 9th Army (William Hood Simpson) to the south. When we go to war, we have fourteen golden and bejewelled crosses borne before us instead of banners; each of these crosses is followed by 10,000 horsemen, and 100,000 foot soldiers fully armed, without reckoning those in charge of the luggage and provision. Las mejores ofertas para WW1 military Stereoview card British Army Gurkhas in battle at Chapelle #25 estn en eBay Compara precios y caractersticas de productos nuevos y usados Muchos artculos con envo gratis! British Army of the Rhine There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine ( BAOR ). After a day or two, specialized Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) units took over.

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